§ MR. ROBERT WALLACE (Edinburgh, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Tochi punitive expeditionary forces have orders to distinguish the innocent from the guilty while inflicting punishment for the offence committed against this country; whether Maizar and Sheranni have been demolished and the stores and goods found in them appropriated by the punitive forces; whether any limit has been placed on the number of towns and villages which it is necessary to destroy 1087 and empty of their contents, for punitive purposes; whether any compensation for their losses will be made to innocent survivors when the punitive expedition has successfully completed its labours; and whether non-Military newspaper correspondents are allowed to accompany the punitive expedition?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONUndoubtedly, the punishment to be inflicted by the Tochi field force will be confined to those who either took an active part in the recent treacherous outrage or were assenting parties to it. I have no information as to the demolition of Maizar and Sheranni; but the amount of destruction must depend on the attitude of the guilty tribes. If they submit I hope that few or no villages may be destroyed. If any injury is shown to have been unjustly or inadvertently inflicted the question of compensation will, no doubt, he considered, but in every case the tribe as a whole must be regarded as responsible for the acts of its members. As to the newspaper correspondents I have no information.