§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND (Clare, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he will state the object of the proposed military expedition into Afridiland; how many men are to be employed; and what the estimated cost is likely to be.
§ MR. MORLEYThe object of the punitive measures against the Zakka Khel is to put an end to the series of raids which armed bands of the tribe have been executing for some months in territory beyond tribal limits under the civil administration of the Government of India. I gave a full statement of these raids on Monday in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh. The force to be employed consists of two brigades, roughly speaking 6,000 men, with a third brigade in reserve. The cost must depend on the length of the operations. I have received estimates, but they are necessarily rough estimates, because, owing to the secrecy involved, estimates have not yet 189 been received from Comptrollers of Accounts.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDWith reference to the notice which I gave to call attention to this subject, I wish to say that action will not be taken by me in consequence of two blocking notices having been put down, one by a warlike Liberal and the other by a pugnacious Tory.
§ *MR. REESAs a personal explanation the all-sufficient excuse for my action is found in the hon. Member's action two days ago when he thought fit soundly to abuse—
§ *MR. SPEAKERThis is an irregular conversation.
DR. RUTHERFORD (Middlesex, Brentford)Will the right hon. Gentleman put the cost of this expedition on the British public instead of on the people of India?
§ MR. MORLEYIf the House of Commons desires it, I will consider that matter.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)What is the proportion of Imperial troops to the native regiments in this expedition? Is it not a fact that while the expedition amounts roughly to 6,000 men on our side, the force of the tribesmen amounts all told to 4,000 men only?
§ MR. MORLEYI do not know how that is; but I hope that my hon. friend does not mean to say that we are only to employ exactly the same number of men as the tribesmen.
§ *MR. BYLES (Salford, N.)Can the right hon. Gentleman now say whether news correspondents will accompany the expedition?
§ MR. MORLEYI am in correspondence with the Government of India on the subject, and I have not yet decided as to my own views.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIf we are rightly informed, this expedition 190 has started. Surely the right hon. Gentleman could have found out from Lord Kitchener whether or not war correspondents were to be allowed to accompany the force.
§ *MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member must put his interruption in the form of an interrogation.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI hope then that the right hon. Gentleman will take my interruption as an interrogation and answer it.
§ MR. MORLEYI cannot myself quite put it in the form of an interrogation.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLThen I will try. Has this expedition started or has it not? Can the right hon. Gentleman not obtain precise information showing whether or not war correspondents have accompanied the expedition? If they do not accompany it we know its object.
§ MR. LUPTON (Lincolnshire, Sleaford)I wish to ask whether is is not the fact that the late Lord Lawrence said that expeditions of this kind were unnecessary?
§ MR. DELANY (Queen's County, Ossory)Is this expedition supplied with explosive bullets?
§ MR. MORLEYI hope not.
§ MR. BELLOC (Salford, S.)The House
§ *MR. REESAs a matter of personal explanation, may I say that the action of the hon. Member for Clare explains my own? Only two days ago he accused the Indian Government of wantonly making war on innocent tribesmen at the expense of its own starving subjects. Such an accusation could only proceed from abysmal ignorance or mischievous—
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order. Under the guise of a personal explanation, the hon. Member is not entitled to make an attack on another Member.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDAfter what the hon. Gentleman has said, I think you will consider, Sir, that I am entitled to a word. I made no attack whatever on the Indian Government. I never mentioned it at all; and the statement of the hon. Gentleman is, therefore, quite unfounded. I still maintain that he is a warlike Liberal.
§ *MR. REESI have no objection to the hon. Member's representation, or misrepresentation, of myself. I believed that I quoted the hon. Member's words; but if in anything I have said there was a personal attack on the hon. Member I regret it. My anxiety was to defend the Government of India.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDAfter what the hon. Gentleman has said, perhaps it is only right for me to say that, if I have said anything—I very readily withdraw the epithet "warlike"; and, for the rest, I hope the hon. Gentleman is a Liberal.
§ MR. LYNCH (Yorkshire, W.R., Ripon)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, whether a military expedition against the Afridis is in preparation by the Government of India; whether he will state to the House the reasons for this expedition; and whether, since the expenditure on this expedition may prevent the reduction of expenditure on the North-West frontier of India, he will appoint a Commission to inquire into the necessity.
§ MR. MORLEYI would refer the hon. Member to my Answer on Monday last to the hon. Member for Mid Armagh for the reasons of the punitive measures being taken against the Zakka Khel. There seems no reason on financial or any other grounds for appointing a Commission to inquire into the necessity for the punitive measures. It would be an abdication of the plain duty of His Majesty's Government.