§ *SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can say what is the meaning of the proposed grant in aid of military expenses of £24,600 for Somaliland contained in the Estimates for the coming financial year; to what purposes the corresponding grant of £50,000 in the present financial year was applied, and what proportion it proved to be of the total military expenditure incurred.
§ *EARL PERCYThe grant of £24,600 is to cover (a) the cost of the 6th battalion King's African Rifles which forms the normal military force of the 1255 Protectorate (£20,000) and (b) Charges for pensions and gratuities (about £4,000) to officers and officers' wives and relations, who were killed or wounded in the recent operations. The grant of £50,000 made in 1903–4 covered (a) the cost of the above battalion (about £19,000,) and (b) the repayment to India of the amount of expenditure on buildings, works, etc., and other charges (£31,000) for which the Foreign Office became liable on taking over the administration of the Protectorate in 1898.