§ SIR SEYMOUR KINGTo ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that under the regulations lately issued regarding changes of uniform in the Indian Army, officers in the supply 1479 and transport corps have had to purchase a new uniform costing about £60, which they only wear once or twice a year on official occasions, such as a Viceroy's levee; and whether, in view of the official desire to reduce to a minimum the necessary expenses of officers in the Indian Army, he will consider the advisability of substituting for use in India a simpler uniform of khaki or other material suitable to the climate and less expensive.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) All the Orders issued in 1902–3 regarding changes in uniform in the Indian Army provided that tunics then in use might be continued in wear, without alteration, until worn out. The adoption of a new pattern of full dress uniform, as suggested by the hon. Member, would entail considerable expenditure on every officer of the Indian Army affected. As regards the latter part of the Question, officers wear the same coloured uniform as the rank and file of their regiments, and it would be inadvisable to make a change in this respect.