§ VISCOUNT EBRINGTON (Devon, Tavistock)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if it is true that the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade has been in the East Indies longer than any other battalion now serving there, having landed at Bombay in November, 1873; whether other battalions that went abroad later have not already come home; and why the return of this battalion, which has been 16 years abroad, and recently on active service in Burmah, has been postponed from the beginning to near the end of the ensuing trooping season?
§ MR. E. STANHOPEThe battalion referred to has been the longest in India, and will come home during the ensuing trooping season. The relief of battalions under the localisation system of territorial regiments must depend in some degree on the going abroad of the other battalions of the same regiments.