§ 1. Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will state the reason why Indians in India are not admitted into the Artillery or Air Forces?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Earl Winterton)I presume that the hon. and gallant Member refers to commissioned rank. His Majesty's Government sanctioned in 1923 the introduction of a scheme, of which I will send him details, intended in the first instance to test the ability of Indians to officer selected units of the Indian Army. They decided that before they could usefully consider the systematic admission of Indian officers to other branches of the combatant services they must be guided by the results of the first step, which, as I have stated, was taken only two years ago.