Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in the House of Lords on
Tuesday asked for information about the North-West frontier, which is still disturbed. He urged the Government to improve the roads and to extend the railways, so that by the use of motor and rail transport the garrisons might be more easily supplied than they are now, when long and unwieldy camel caravans invite attack from raiders. Lord Sydenham referred to the Bolshevik and Turkish intrigues among the wild tribes, who were now well armed. Lord Chelmsford said that many of the tribesmen were ex-soldiers of disbanded regiments ; frontier militia men, too, had deserted, taking their rifles with them. The Indian troops after the war were not yet so efficient as the old Indian army. The Mahsud country had been occupied, but it was another thing to occupy the whole of so difficult a region. Lord Lytton, speaking for the Government, said that the frontier authorities would in future place less reliance on the local levies and militia. The railway up the Khyber Pass to Lundi Kotal was being rapidly completed, and roads for motor transport and for armoured cars were being made. Lord Lytton hinted that the work was restricted only by financial considerations. The Indian Government have always practised on the frontier those petty economies which are costly of life and treasure.
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