§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether the practice of making a 5½-in. howitzer for use in India and a 5-in. howitzer for use in the United Kingdom and the colonies is still persisted in; whether the military advisers of the War Office have sanctioned the use in two branches of Her Majesty's land service of two weapons differing in calibre by half an inch only, but the ammunition of which is not interchangeable; whether the War Office sanctioned the adoption of a different type of gun for Indian service; and whether there is any Minister of the Crown, officer, Committee, or other authority which has power to insist upon uniformity when the War Office and the India Office cannot agree.
*MR. J. POWELL-WILLIAMS (for Mr. Wyndham)The British 5-in. howitzer and the Indian 5.4-in. howitzer are weapons intended for different purposes, the former being primarily a mobile field howitzer drawn by horses, and throwing a 50-lb. shell, the latter a siege howitzer drawn by oxen and throwing a 60-lb. shell. As the latter weapon is designed to meet special Indian requirements, the War Office sees no occasion to press the objections which might have been raised to the adoption of two different patterns 32 of howitzer. In the event of disagreement between the War Office and India Office the point in dispute would be referred to the Defence Committee of the Cabinet.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERAs a matter of fact, was there a disagreement at the time these guns were sanctioned between the India Office and the War Office?