Lord Hardinge defended himself in the House of lords on
Tuesday against the strong criticisms of the Mesopotamian Report. He said that the Commission did not give nearly enough prominence to the unexampled effort of India at the outset of the war. During 1914 and 1915 thin Government of India had been continually pre- occupied with a succession of risings on the frontier and risks of risings in the interior. The military expenditure of India before the war had exceeded the maximum fixed by the Nicholson Committee, but he recognized that all ordinary financial considerations should have been waived if the Secretary of State and the India Council you'd have given their consent. His original objection to the first advarave. on Baghdad could not be maintained in the face of the along political reasons urged from London. The inadequacy of the river transport was not revealed till it was too late to make it good. As for the terrible medical breakdown, he confessed to having been completely deceived by the misleading reports from the front. But ar Govemor.General he must of course accept the responSibility. '
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