§ MR. RICHasked the President of the Board of Control whether since the passing of the Act. 16 & 17 Vict. c. 95, any measures have been taken for increasing the European officers in the Sepoy regiments, for checking the drain of the number of regimental officers to civil employments, and for otherwise securing the constant presence, with their regiments, of a greater number of European officers than at the time of the passing of that Act appeared to be the practice in the Indian Army. Also, whether any measures have been taken for raising the general condition of the Native officers, and for opening promotion to the rank of Native officer at a, shorter term than the twenty or thirty years of previous service by which it then appeared ordinarily to be obtained.
MR. VERNON SMITHsaid, he would state, in answer to the question of the hon. Gentleman, that since the passing of the Act, which he had referred to, one captain and one lieutenant had been added to each Sepoy regiment, both of infantry and cavalry, and two captains and two lieutenants to each European regiment of infantry. With respect to the checking the drain of regimental officers to civil employments, he could only say that the Court of Directors had now under their consideration a despatch, which would be submitted to the notice of the Board of Control, placing the state of things in regard to that point upon a better footing, by equalizing the advantages to officers remaining in the regiments with those which a withdrawal form them presented. At the same time, the subject was one which required a great deal of consideration. He might further add that, in accordance with a recent regulation, the officers in the Queen's regiments were competent to obtain staff employment, and that as a consequence the number of Company's officers required for that purpose would be diminished. Respecting his hon. Friend's second question, he was not aware that any measures had been taken with the view of raising the general condition of Native officers, nor did he know that any complaints had been made upon the subject. Nothing had been done in reference to the question of opening promotion to the rank of Native officer at a shorter period than the ordinary term of twenty or thirty years, and he might also remind the hon. Gentleman that the service in India was one in which the system of promotion by seniority prevailed. In the Presidency of Bombay, it was true, promotions from the ranks to some extent took place on the ground of merit, and it certainly might become a matter for consideration how far it would be expedient to extend that system to the other Presidencies. As the question of the hon. Gentleman might have been dictated by the unfortunate occurrences which had recently taken place in India, it might possibly he desirable that he (Mr. Vernon Smith) should state that those occurrences, so far as he was aware, were in no way to be attributed to the absence of the officers from their regiments. He should add the expression of a hope that the public would be under no alarm upon that subject, as, owing to the promptitude and vigour which had been displayed by his noble Friend 1566 Lord Canning, and the excellent demonstrations which had been made upon the occasion of the disbandment of the 19th Regiment by General Hearsey, as well as the eloquent and stirring speech to which that gallant officer had then given utterance, and which, as a sample of military eloquence, he would advise every one to read, the late disaffection among the troops in India had been put an end to, and he felt quite sure any such occurrence would in future be put an end to by the exhibition of the same promptitude and the same vigour as that to which he had just referred.
§ MR. RICHsaid, he trusted he might be allowed to ask whether the increase of the number of officers in the Sepoy regiments had taken place irrespective of the increase in the number of men? He had been induced to put his questions quite independently of recent events in India.
MR. VERNON SMITHsaid, he considered that he had already answered that question in the affirmative on a previous occasion.