MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)To ask the Secretary of State for India has any portion of the revenues of India been applied, during the past or the present year, to defray the expenses of any military operation carried on beyond the external frontiers of His Majesty's Indian possessions by His Majesty's forces charged upon such revenues; if so, what is roughly the amount of such revenues so applied; and what is the number of His Majesty's forces now employed beyond those external frontiers in Thibet.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) No portion of the revenues of India has been applied during the past or present year to the expenses of military operations beyond the external frontiers of His Majesty's Indian possessions. The numbers of the escort with the political mission to Thibet, and of the troops required to keep open communications, is about 3,000 men.