§ MR. JOHN HUTTON (Yorkshire, Richmond)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he can state what has lately been the condition with regard to health of the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment at Aden; whether he is aware that many men have died of fever and that on one occasion only one officer was fit for duty; whether the battalion has been detained at Aden beyond its time for want of a transport; and, if so, whether he will explain the reasons why a transport has not sooner been found to bring them home.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) There has been considerable sickness from malaria in this battalion due to service in the Aden Hinterland, and the latest returns of sickness at Aden, those for March, show ninety-nine admissions and one death; this is the only death so reported during 1904. Of the officers five were sick out of nine in March. The battalion was primarily detained for military exigencies in the Aden Hinterland, and subsequently the accident to the "Assaye" caused further delay; this ship will bring the battalion home.