§ MR. ONSLOWasked the Secretary of State for War, If he can lay upon the Table of the House the Telegram and Despatch from the Viceroy of India in Council, which were alluded to by the Noble Lord in this House, on the 31st of July last, in the following words:
I should not be dealing frankly with, the House if I were not to state that the Government of India have informed me by telegraph that they object to India bearing the charge of her contingent, and that they are sending home a Despatch upon the subject;and, again, on the 26th of October last, in answer to a question—Papers will certainly be presented, but the Correspondence with the Indian Government in regard to the employment of the Indian Contingent is as yet necessarily incomplete, and I do not think it desirable to print it in its present state;and, again, on the same subject in answer to a question on November 2nd, the Noble Lord said—The Papers that will be presented will give the House as full an idea as possible of what has taken place;and, whether these Papers will be presented before the Supplementary Estimate for payment of the troops employed in Egypt is moved?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONIn reply to the hon. Member, I have to say that I believe the hon. Member has accurately repeated the statements which I made on those occasions. At that time I was of opinion that it would be necessary to lay upon the Table the greater part of the Correspondence between the Home Government and India on the subject. I was then under the impression that it would be impossible to come to an agreement; but since that time Her Majesty's Government have made a proposal which has been accepted by the Indian Government, and since we have arrived at a satisfactory agreement, I think there would be no good in making public a Correspondence which, in its earlier stages, was somewhat of a controversial character.