'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎98r] (195/248)

UNCORRECTED PROOF.
MESOPOTAMIA COMMISSION
APPENDIX LXII.*
FINANCIAL GRIEVANCES OF INDIAN OFFICERS.
EXTRACTS OF EVIDENCE OF REV. RONALD
IRWIN, D.S.O.
2635. The Chairman. The statement is here made:
“ Officers were put to a great deal of trouble if they were
being invalided home by having to apply for leave, &c.”
Does that mean that after an officer has been passed by
a medical authority as in a condition to be invalided
home, he has to apply to Headquarters for leave ?—
Before any officer leaves India he has to have the special
sanction of the Commander-in-Chief, and we get this paper
down (handing a paper to the Committee) (see Appendix VII.)
and w r e have to submit our applications for leave.
2636. Sir .1. Williamson. It looks as if they were
using a peace form for war ?—Yes. The amount of
trouble that we were put to was too ridiculous, really.
2637. The Chairman. I understand that after a man
has been invalided home by the medical authority, he
has to apply to the military authority in Bombay, who
sends his application to Simla, where it has to be passed
by the Commander-in-Chief himself before the man can
leave ?—Yes, that is so.
2638. General Sir N. Lyttelton. By the Commander-
in-Chief himself ?—I know that I was told that no one
could leave India until the Commander-in-Chief, had
actually had his name before him and people were held
up for several days owing to that.
2639. The Chairman. Did any serious consequences
ensue to any invalided officer, to your knowledge, by
reason of his being so detained ?—I would not like to say
that, my Lord.
2640. But great delay occurred ?—Yes, in certain cases.
As regards my own case and the officers of whom I speak,
we were so tired of the hospital there that we got the
Commander-in-Chief’s sanction, but did not wait for the
sanction of the G.O.C. at Poona.
2641. How long was it in your case ?—After I was
boarded, about seven days. We had another form to fill
up which I have never used till this day. (The form was
handed in, see Appendix VII.)
2660. If I may represent a grievance, my Lord, by
certain widows whose husbands have died of sickness,
and not killed by wounds, but who died, for instance,
from cholera, some of them are not getting the gratuity
which they otherwise would have got.
2661. The Chairman. Otherwise?—If their husbands
had died from wounds they would get £600 down in the
case of Lieutenant-Colonels, but they have not got that
at all, nor have they got the gratuity for their children,
and they are only getting an intermediate pension instead
of the full pension.
2661a. If a man dies from cholera or disease, his widow
will not get as big a pension as if he died from a wound ?—
No.
2662. Lord H. Cecil. Is that peculiar to the Indian
Army, or is it so throughout the armies in France and
Mesopotamia ?—I am not sure, but it is more especially
so with regard to those out there. There is not death
to the same extent from cholera elsewhere.
* The number of this Appendix has been unavoidably
changed, see Report, p. 117.
(C 48—220)
EXTRACTS FROM EVIDENCE OF GENERAL SIR G.
YOUNGHUSBAND. K.C.M.G., K.C.I.E.
11123. The Chairman. (19) . . . and every second
British officer appeared to have some grievance or other
about his pay.
(20) To illustrate the latter perhaps I may quote my
own case. I was appointed to command the 7th (Meerut)
Division, an existing vacancy on the permanent Indian
Establishment caused by the resignation of Lieut.-
General Sir Charles Anderson. The pay of an Indian
Division is Rs.3,500 a month, and that salary would have
been drawn had I been stationed at Meerut. But because
I commanded the Meerut Division in service my salary
was reduced to Rs.3,000 per mensem. General Keary,
who succeeded Lieutenant-General Sir H. Watkis in
command of the 3rd (Lahore) Division, was similarly
treated. It seems, somehow, not quite just that an officer
fighting for his country should be paid less than one
peacefully serving at Rawal Pindi or Secunderabad. We,
therefore, asked for a re-consideration of this ruling,
writing on March 4th, 1916, but so far (September 14th)
no answer has been received.
Note. —An answer was received later from the Military
Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief in India, saying
that the matter had been fully considered, and the full
pay could not be granted. No reasons were given.—
G, J. Y.
11233. You say in your statement that there was a
dislike to coming under the Indian Government ?—Yes,
they did dislike it intensely.
11234. Was it assumed that the Indian Government are
less liberal than the British Government ?—Yes, I should
think it was so. Nobody wants to go under them.
11235. General Sir N. Lyttelton. You mean the British
troops ?—Any troops, the British especially hate going
under them.
11236. Admiral Sir C. Bridge. Do you mean less liberal
treatment in respect of money or decorations ?—Illiberal
treatment all round.
11237. General Sir N. Lyttelton. Do you mean that is
a feeling that generally exists ?—Yes.
11238. Always ?—Yes, during this war.
11239. I have been a long time in India under Govern
ment myself, and then the feeling was that we were glad
to come under it ?—Yes, but that is all changed now.
11240. The Chairman. In my day, the English regi
ments were rather glad to get to the Indian Establishment,
because as a rule they got liberal allowances, and so on.
Has there been a great change of late years ?—Certainly,
because they are so very well done in France as regards
everything.
11241. But in India has there been a change ? Do you
think allowances have been cut down, or that there is
more cheeseparing in India than there was ?—Expenses
of all sorts have gone up very much. It is not a popular
service now. In the last ten years they could not get
officers to go out there to command a division or a brigade,
whereas, at the time you mention, it was sought after.
11242. General Sir N. Lyttelton. Very much so. Have
you served in India in peace time lately ?—I have been
there nearly 40 years.
A