'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.' [‎66r] (131/248)

129
Sharing tht War Expenses.
29. The Indian Government have now offered £100,000,000. Previously the whole
expenses of the Indian Expeditionary Forces in France, Egypt, East Africa and Meso
potamia, over and above the normal peace expenditure of the Indian Army, had fallen
upon Great Britain alone ; and the Indian Government was content to let this be so,
making no protest, no offer even to help in our need.
War Taxation,
30. Till this year there has been no raising of the Indian income-tax, no war-profit
tax.
Compulsory Service for Whites and Eurasians.
31. This too has come about only since Lord Hardinge and Sir Beauchamp Duff left
India, 12 months after compulsory service was enacted in England.
Combing-out of the Civilian Officials.
32. At the time of the Return put before us, probably July, 1916, only 182 civilian
officials, less than 1 per cent, of the available men, had been given leave to join the Indian
Army Reserve, and then only according to Sir Beauchamp Duff, for service in India itself.
This Sir Beauchamp attributed to the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. in this country. It may be so, and
I am not clear that there has as yet been any marked change in this matter.
Mobilization of Industry.
33. We had evidence that the barge-building yards at Calcutta and Bombay were
lying empty for the first year of the war. The Tata Steel Works were continuing to pro
duce steel rails for Indian railways. It was only late in 1916 that Government control
of the works of the Tata Company and the Bengal Iron and Steel Company was introduced
as in Great Britain.
Restriction cf Imports.
34. This seems not to have occurred to the Indian Government till this year, but they
had no necessity to keep up the exchange. The series of Government demands that were,
however, made on the home country without the perception that they could not possibly
be carried out argues a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of war.
The raising of new Units for the Army.
35. No new units were raised till this year, although the population of India is
315,000,000, of whom about 50,000,000 come from fighting races.
Commissions for Native Officers.
36. Although they were very short of officers in the Indian regiments, executive
commissions were still, as before the war, withheld from the natives of India. Indeed,
even now it is not the King’s commission, but the Viceroy’s that is given to the native
cadet in the new army. We had no evidence, however, that this omission was not the
fault of the War Office at home.
Frank Co-operation with the Princes and People of India.
37. This, which would have meant so much to England and India, was not adopted.
Instead even the Viceroy’s Executive Council was passed over, and the Viceroy and
Commander-in-Chief governed and thought alone. No generous appeal for help was
made to India, no more generous attitude shown to India. On the last point 1 do not
know that there has as yet been any change.
Supply of Shell and Stores from India.
38. This has only recently been taken seriously in hand. With America, Japan
and Australia to draw on by submarine-safe routes, the steps could have been taken as
well in 1915, and a safe supply to Mesopotamia by a short route would now have been
available. Colonel Collins, M.P., observed, even last September, that the clothes of the
coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. in Mesopotamia were marked as coming from Manchester.
(C 48—176)
R