THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE MARQUESS OF CREWE)Your Lordships may remember that when it was decided that Indian troops should be brought to Europe to join the forces there, I submitted a Motion to the House in similar terms to that which your Lordships now see on the Paper. That was necessitated by a section of the Act of 1858, the great Constitutional Act under which India is now governed, whereby a charge may not be placed upon India in respect of Indian troops serving in other parts of the world without the consent of both Houses of Parliament. Since then various other Indian forces have been sent to different parts of the world, as is quite familiar to the House—in fact, their various destinations have already been mentioned in the course of the speeches which have been delivered this evening. It is my duty, therefore, to submit, with The agreement of the Government of India, a similar Resolution in respect of that fact. The House may remember that on the former occasion I went rather fully into the question and described the various occasions when Indian troops had been employed outside India and the various degrees in which the charge had been placed either upon this country entirely, or upon India entirely, or upon both in varying proportion.
It may fairly be said, I think, that "the direct interest of India"—the phrase that was used by the Commission appointed to inquire into this matter in the year 1899—in the fate of the various places in which operations by Indian troops are being conducted greatly varies. The obvious interest of India is far plainer in some of those places than it is in others, but I venture to submit that, if ever a time comes for making a nice calculation of less or more in that matter of direct interest, this is not the moment to attempt it, and that for the present all that we need do here is to express our appreciative thanks to India for the generous and spontaneous manner in which she comes forward to make this offer of bearing a share of the expenses. Therefore I submit this Resolution to the agreement of the House without further preface.
§ Moved, to resolve, That His Majesty, having directed military forces charged 192 upon the revenues of India to be despatched out of India for service in the war in which this country is engaged, this House, in compliance with Section 55 of Government of India Act, 1858, consents that the ordinary pay and other ordinary charges of any troops so despatched, or that may be so despatched during the continuance of the War, as well as the ordinary charges of any vessels belonging to the Government of India that may be employed in these expeditions which would have been charged upon the resources of India if such troops or vessels had remained in that country or seas adjacent, shall continue to be so chargeable, provided that if it shall be necessary to replace the troops or vessels so withdrawn by other vessels or forces, then the expense of raising, maintaining, and providing such vessels and forces shall be repaid out of any moneys which may be provided by Parliament for the purposes of the said expeditions.—(The Marquess of Crewe.)
§ EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTONMy Lords, I will only say, in a sentence, that I think the noble Marquess is right in attaching at the present juncture a wide and generous interpretation to the phrase "the interest of India"; that the present moment would be an inopportune one to enter into any minute discussion of such a topic; and that we may certainly renew on this occasion the support which we gave to a similar Motion in the month of September last.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.