LORD WYNFORDrose to put a Question, of which he had given notice, respecting appointments to the Local Indian Staff Corps. He wished to know, Whether, the Royal Warrant having issued for the formation of a Staff Corps at each Presidency of India, will there be, upon transfer of any officer of the local armies from regiments retained as effective, promotion to the officers remaining in that regiment, by the step being filled up as on a vacancy by death or other casualty? There was a good deal of anxiety on this subject, as it was generally believed that much of the want of discipline among the regiments in India was to be attributed to the want of officers in those regiments.
EARL DE GREY and RIPONsaid, he must decline to answer fully the Question of the noble Lord, as it would require him to give an explanation of the arrangements that were about to be made in the Indian army, and which were not yet completely determined upon in detail. He would, therefore, content himself with saying that, as the system in India previous to the amalgamation of the Queen's and the local army was that when an officer in the local army received staff or political employment, he was not thereby removed from the strength of his regiment, and no promo- 545 tion of junior officers took place in consequence, the same rule would be followed now, and when an officer was appointed to the staff corps from any regiment in the local army promotion would not necessarily take place in that regiment.