§ 2. Colonel YATEasked the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the hardships inflicted on officers serving in India by the enforced separation from their wives and families; and whether it is possible now to grant permission to the wives detained in England to join their husbands in India?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI fully realise the hardships to officers and their families, but in the present condition of shipping accommodation and the restrictions imposed on 1431 journeys of women and children by certain routes passages cannot be obtained for more than a small proportion of wives of officers, military or civil, who desire to join their husbands in India.
§ Colonel YATEIs it not the case that women and children are allowed to go to the Cape, and if they are allowed to go to the Cape, could they not be allowed to go viâ the Cape to India?
§ Mr. MONTAGUAs my hon. and gallant Friend knows, the route viâ the Cape is not prohibited, but there is the same difficulty in getting passports owing to shortage of shipping.