§ SIR WILFRID LAWSONasked the Under Secretary of State for India, If he would state the names of the British Commission which sat at Simla more than two years ago to consider the Military expenditure of India; whether it is true that the Report recommended the abolition of separate Staffs in the Bombay and Madras armies, and other large reductions in the Military expenditure; whether such Report has yet been published; and, if not, what has caused the delay in doing so; and, whether he has any objection to lay it upon the Table of the House?
§ MR. J. K. CROSS,in reply, said, that the Simla Army Commission was composed of Sir Ashley Eden, Mr. Bernard, Sir Frederick Roberts, Sir Peter Lumsden, General Phayre, General O'Connor, Colonel Baker, Colonel Macgregor, and Major Newmarket. They recommended the abolition of the Commander-in-Chief in the Madras and Bombay districts, with their Staffs, and the substitution, for the present three Commanders-in-Chief in India, of one Commander-in-Chief and four Lieutenant Generals, each with a separate Staff, complete in all departments. That change would not cause any reduction of expenditure; but other changes recommended would have that result. Some of those changes had been carried out, as explained last year by the Secretary of State for War. The Report had not been published, because no final decision had been arrived at. He hoped to include a full 1149 account of this matter in his official Statement on the Indian Budget.