"تاريخ الحرب الكبرى استنادًا إلى وثائق رسمية. الحملة في بلاد الرافدين ١٩١٤-١٩١٨. المجلد IV". [و‎‎٢‎٧] (٥٤٠/٥٨)

MESOPOTAMIA COMMISSION
29
As it was known that most of the shortcomings complained
of were in the course of being remedied, the utility and expediency
of such an enquiry at that stage seemed doubtful, among
those holding this view being Lord George Hamilton, the
Chairman of the Commission, who, in a letter published in
“ The Times ” on the 16th July, 1917, explained that he had
only undertaken that duty to avert, as he was informed, a
political crisis. The other members of the Commission, which
was only intended to enquire into a question of administrative
efficiency and was in no sense a judicial tribunal, included
the Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords, four
Members of Parliament, an Admiral and a General. The
General had served in India as a young officer many years
previously, but none of the others had any practical experience
in that country of military or civil administration. Although it
took evidence on oath and called before it such verbal or
documentary evidence as it required, the Commission in its
proceedings did not generally observe the usual rules of
evidence ; nor, apparently owing to the need for haste, did it
give individuals, whose conduct it impugned, opportunity to
hear the whole case against them.
Feeling that its primary duty was to adjudicate upon the
conduct of the higher authorities responsible for the campaign,
and that it was neither intended nor well-fitted to undertake
the functions of a number of courts-martial or military courts
of enquiry, the Commission decided that it was undesirable to
enquire into minor complaints against subordinate officers. It
ascertained that the chief persons connected with the campaign
were either in England or could be brought there, that a great
number of officers who had returned wounded or sick from
Mesopotamia were also at home and that the large amount of
evidence collected in Bombay and Mesopotamia by the
Vincent-Bingley Commission* was at its disposal. Consequently
the Commissioners decided that they would not be justified in
incurring the great delay and expense involved by proceeding
to India and Mesopotamia. This decision was unfortunate, for
it seems clear that in no other way could all the relevant facts
have been ascertained or the difficulties and disadvantages,
under which the operations were carried out, have been
weighed in their true relation to the failures. As it was, between
August 1916 and April 1917, the Commission examined
altogether a hundred witnesses ; but neither the Quartermaster-
General in India nor any of the officers of his branch, which was
directly responsible for all transport arrangements, were called
* Appointed by the Government of India in March 1916, to enquire into
the medical arrangements in Mesopotamia.