§ MR. JOHN HUTTON (Yorkshire, Richmond)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will explain why the Indian Government recommended that the Army Order, No. 9, of January, 1903, should be limited to troops engaged in the operations previous to 3rd March, 1893; and whether they will extend the date so as to include 630 the Sima Relief Column under Captain Davies, D.S.O., which started from Bhamo in April, 1893, and which was the last expedition that season; and whether he can explain why the Army Order, No. 9, of January. 1903, conferring medals upon troops engaged in India in 1893 has been so long delayed.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The Government of India, with all the facts before them, fixed the 3rd March, 1893, as the date on which active operations in the Kachin Hills ceased. The column under Captain Davies, D.S.O., which left Bhamo for Sima on 12th April, 1903, met with no opposition. The delay in the grant of the medal was due to the fact that, at first, the operations in the Kachin Hills in 1892–3 were not considered to be of sufficient military importance to justify the grant of a medal.