§ Commander Nobleasked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he is aware that there are British officers serving in the Indian Army who have not had home leave for over six and a half years; and whether steps are being taken to arrange passages for these officers.
§ Mr. A. HendersonI regret that because of the complete stoppage of home leave from India in the early years of war and the resultant accumulation of British officers of the Indian Army who had been without home leave for many years, there are still a number of officers in India who for 61 years have not enjoyed such leave. The difficulty in clearing off the accumulation quickly consists mainly in the impossibility of allowing too many trained officers to be absent from the Indian Army simultaneously, but both the Commander-in-Chief and the Government of India are fully alive to the necessity of allowing these, officers home leave at the earliest possible moment, and a considerable number of such officers are in fact being sent home each month.