§ SIR J. JARDINE (Roxburghshire)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether in the present and future years any of the cost of bringing home from India soldiers who have done three years service there, but decline to extend 1694 their services for a longer period in that country, will become a charge on the revenues of India; and whether an item under the head of sea transport for troops of £59,246 5s. relates to such return of soldiers, and if it has been charged to the Indian Treasury.
(Answered by Mr. Buchanan.) I understand this Question to refer to Paragraph 5 of the Second Report of the Committee of Public Accounts. The three years men therein referred to are not soldiers who, having done three years service in India, declined to extend their service in that country, but soldiers who, having enlisted for three years service with the colours and having been sent to India, declined to extend their Army service and had to be brought back to this country. The £59,246 5s. claimed from the War Office represents a portion of the extra cost of transport caused by such short-service men having to be brought home and replaced at the expense of the Indian Treasury. Enlistment for three years with the colours has been discontinued. Such adjustments are exceptional, but the matter has not yet been finally closed.