§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary of State for India if he will state why the revenue of India has been charged with the whole cost of the barracks at Aden as well as the cost of the stores and ammunition, seeing that when the fortifications were initiated in 1882 it was decided that the expense should be divided equally between Great Britain and India, apart from which the Royal Commission on the Administration of the Expenditure of India recommended in their Report, dated 6th April, 1900, that the United Kingdom should bear one-half of the annual cost of the Aden garrison.
(Answer.) In consequence of alterations in the scheme for special defence works and armaments at Aden, a new arrangement for the division of the charges was made with the Imperial Government in 1889, under which a maximum was fixed for the liability of the Imperial Government, in respect of special defence works and for the liability of India in respect of armaments. The exemption of the Imperial Government from liability for the cost of barracks and stores was a part of this agreement. The recommendation of the Royal Commission refers, as the hon. Member correctly states, to the annual cost of the Aden garrison, not to the charges for special defence works.—(India Office.)