KARACHI TROOP TRAIN INCIDENT. (Hansard, 22 July 1920)

§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (LORD SINHA)

My Lords, from the evidence before the Court of Inquiry it appears that on the troop train to which this Question refers there were provided—(1) 1,000 lb. of ice; (2) extra accommodation in that 60 and 30 men respectively were put in the carriages 468 where the full capacity was 72 and 36; (3) a coffee shop; (4) mineral waters.

As to the way in which these comforts came to be provided, the facts are these. (1) Ice was provided at the rate of about 1 lb. per man on General Shaw's orders at the suggestion of the Assistant Director of Medical Services under authority given him by the Regulations; and additional ice was provided by conducting officers on their own responsibility by private arrangements. (2) The "extra accommodation" is merely the special scale laid down by Indian Regulations for journeys of the length and nature of that to be performed by the drafts from the "Ballarat," and required no special authorisation. (3) The coffee shop was organised and the contract for it made on their own initiative and responsibility by the conducting officers who are regimental officers sent by the units for whom the drafts were destined. (4) The mineral waters were placed on the train by the Government ice contractor purely as a private speculation, without the knowledge or sanction of the authorities.

It would not, therefore, be correct to speak of all these arrangements as made by General Shaw on his own authority and in excess of the Regulations. The essential point is that these arrangements proved insufficient, and that action had not been taken to secure that adequate arrangements were made.