§ MR. HANKEYsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary of State for India, whether the recent regulation with respect to candidates for admission to the Civil Service in India, limiting the ages for final examination to twenty two years, is intended to be applied rigidly, so as to exclude any Native of India who may have come to England expressly as a candidate for the Civil Service when the former limit of age was twenty-three, and who may be precluded by this new regulation from now entering the service of the Queen in India?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, the noble Lord who preceded him in office had some time ago laid down the rule limiting the 540 age of candidates. That limitation was based on general grounds, which in his (Sir Charles Wood's) opinion justified the regulation made by the noble Lord. A year and a half's notice had been given of the regulation, which was considered ample enough to prevent any one from being prejudiced by its operation. He was aware that the noble Lord and one of the Civil Service Examiners who took a strong interest in the individual to whom his hon. Friend referred, were desirous, if possible, to relax the rule; but they did not think that they should he justified in departing from the regulation which had been made, and he himself was not prepared to reverse the decision of his predecessor.