THE BISHOP OF CARLISLEasked the Secretary of State for India a Question of which he had given him private Notice—namely, Whether his attention had been called to a paper which had been circulated abundantly in this country with regard to certain regulations purporting to come from the office of the Quartermaster General in India concerning a subject which one almost shuddered to mention in their Lordships' House—the provision of women for our soldiers in India. Was the noble Viscount able to make any statement on the subject?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Viscount CROSS)My Lords, I have noticed that a very sensational paper has been extensively published containing facts which I cannot believe are true. The Bishop of Lichfield was good enough to call my attention to this matter some time ago, and I communicated with the Viceroy, who said he would make a most thorough investigation into the matter. I have received private information from the Viceroy that he has done this, but of course that private information is such that I cannot lay it before the House, because it has not come to me in an official form. No doubt it will come to me in this form, and I shall communicate the purport of it to your Lordships. What was stated by my direction in the other House was to the effect that we did not believe that the statements which appeared in that paper were true versions of the facts, 1016 but if any such practice were found to exist as detailed in the paper, we should take care to have the matter stopped.