§ Sir HERBERT NIELDasked the Secretary of State for War whether he can make any further statement with regard to the return and final demobilisation of men who in the early months of the War re-enlisted, being time-expired soldiers, and were sent to the Mesopotamian front; whether he is aware that they were demobilised from that front in February and March last, and were ordered to return to England viâ Karachi and Bombay, but have been detained compulsorily in India upon the ground of the Indian rioting in April and the operations on the Afghan border in May, though in neither of these cases was the Indian defence force mobilised for active service; and whether he will interfere to prevent the release of civilians in India while men from Great Britain are kept in India and refused the chance of returning to their civil occupations?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLDemobilisation in India has been temporarily suspended. On demobilisation reopening the demobilisable men in India will be sent home as fast as possible, consistent with the shipping available, and the military situation at the time. Twenty battalions are in process of dispatch to India, and on arrival will relieve a corresponding number of men in India. The de-mobilisable men from Mesopotamia, detained in India, will be among the first to come home. As regards the latter part of the question, I understand my hon. and learned Friend to refer to the Indian Defence Force. I am informed that this force is made up of the old Volunteer regiments, and that its training is intended for local defence, and is not such as to enable it to form part of a mobile force in the field.