§ SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, whether any provision has been made for assisting officers of the Indian Staff Corps who are engaged in the operations in China to meet the extra expenses entailed upon them by having to organise messes at Tientsin and elsewhere, and provide warm clothing for themselves and their servants, and by the higher price of all stores as compared with India; and whether he will represent to the War Office the similarity of the case of these officers with that of their comrades who were engaged in the Chitral and Tirah campaigns and received a special field allowance of 5s. per diem.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (LORD G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingThere was no special field allowance of 5s. a day to Staff Corps officers engaged in the Tirah and Chitral campaigns. As regards China, Staff Corps officers receive Indian rates of pay and allowances in that country, which compare favourably with the English rates paid to British units in the expedition. But General Gaselee was informed on the 10th of January in reply to a question received from him a few days earlier, that if he would submit proposals for reasonable lodging, fuel, and lighting allowances, they would be transmitted to the War Office for consideration.