COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 21 March 1876)

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
said, that as he had already intimated, he 346 thought there was much to be said in favour of the suggestion of the noble Duke (the Duke of Argyll), that the three Members of the Council who were to be appointed under this Bill should not hold their offices "during the pleasure of Her Majesty." On the other hand, he did not think there was any sufficient ground for limiting the number of years during which the persons to be appointed might hold the office. When the Council was created in 1858 it was enacted that all the Members should hold office "during good behaviour." It was found, however, that in the case of the Councillors appointed on the ground of Indian experience, the value of that experience diminished with the length of subsequent residence in this country; and in 1869 the noble Duke (the Duke of Argyll) introduced the provision limiting the term of office on the Council of India to 15 years. But there was a minority of the Council composed of Members appointed not on the ground of Indian experience, but on that of professional qualification, and there was no reason why the value of professional qualifications should diminish in the way that of Indian experience did, or why the same principle should not be applied to the additional Members of Council as was applied in the case of County Court Judges and other judicial officers who were appointed during good behaviour. The professional qualifications were generally legal qualifications. He proposed to introduce a change in the Bill by striking out the words "during Her Majesty's pleasure," the effect of which would be that the three Councillors to be appointed under it would hold office "during good behaviour, "as was the case with the Councillors appointed under the Act of 1858.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL,
while admitting the difference which the noble Marquess had pointed out between the Members appointed on the ground of Indian experience and those appointed on the ground of professional qualifications, was still disposed to think that, as a rule, the Members ought not to hold the office after 15 years. To the old Indians the work was easy and highly 347 interesting; and as the salary was £1,200, while their retiring pension was only £500, some of them hung on to the last. He believed that if the pension bore a larger proportion to the salary, Members would be found more willing to retire. He thought the noble Marquess would scarcely hold that there was no interval after which the professional qualifications of a lawyer became less valuable. If not, it would not be desirable that even the legal Members of the Council should hold on too long. On the second reading, the noble Marquess expressed himself as personally desirous that a pension for their services on the Council should be secured to all the Members. As the expenses of the Council of India were paid not out of English, but out of Indian money, and as the home charges of the Government of India were often thrown in our face, it might not, perhaps, be desirable to go too far in the way of liberality—even though, as a matter of fact, there was no ground for the charge of extravagance to which he had just referred; but he thought the question of raising the amount of the pension might be considered. This, however, was a matter which he was willing to leave to the noble Marquess.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
concurred with the noble Duke (the Duke of Argyll) as to what he had said about the home charges. In "another place" his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for India had shown that those charges were less now than in the days of the East India Directors. As to the longevity of lawyers, he did not think age diminished much their usefulness or vigour of intellect. For example, there was still on the Council one who had been appointed under the old system—he alluded to Sir Erskine Perry, and no one could say that time had in any way diminished his qualifications. There was force in what the noble Duke had said about Members holding on too long; but, on the whole, it was better to run that chance than the chance of losing a good man by a provision making retirement obligatory at the end of 15 years.