§ MR. CARBUTTasked the Under Secretary of State for India, To state under what circumstances Captain I. W. Otley, R.E. was appointed (see Government of India Gazette notification, No. 106, dated 28th April 1883) a superintending engineer, 3rd grade, in the Public Works Department, in supersedure of twenty civil engineers of greater seniority; and, if Her Majesty's Government approve of the action of the military heads of the department in India filling almost all the administrative posts in the public works with officers of Royal Engineers; also under what particular circumstances Lieutenant G. K. Scott Moncrieff, R.E. Assistant Engineer, 1st Grade, Indian Public Works Department, was appointed (see "Gazette of India," 9th May 1883) a Deputy Consulting Engineer for Guaranteed Railways, in supersedure of twenty-seven senior officers, nine of whom were 2nd Grade Assistant Engineers for one and a-half years before Lieutenant G. K. Scott Moncrieff, R.E. entered the Public Works Department; also to state what experience on Railways Lieutenant Scott Moncrieff, R.E. has had which renders him a proper officer to be consulted on Railway matters; and, to inquire whether Her Majesty's Government approves of the appointment of Military Officers, without experience, to such posts, at a time when economy might be effected by employing some of the many duly qualified Civil Engineers in the Department, who are senior to Lieutenant Scott Moncrieff, R.E.?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSThe Government of India do not furnish the India Office with particulars respecting appointments such as those referred to in the Question of my hon. Friend. I am unable to state what reason there may have been for the appointment of Lieutenant Scott Moncrieff. Such appointments are not made by "the military heads of the Department," as my hon. Friend seems to suppose, but by the Government of India, who, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, may be relied on to make a fit choice of officers for particular posts.