§ SIR HARRY VERNEYsaid, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is necessary to retain the present Regulation by which Officers serving in India forfeit their Indian allowance if they quit Asia and come to Europe while they are on furlough of six months; and whether he will direct that where noncommissioned officers of regiments in India are sent home on the completion of their first period of service, and others are appointed in their places, the acting noncommissioned officers shall receive the rates of pay due to the rank they filled from the date of their appointment, without waiting until the discharge of the men in England is notified? Although the Regulation mentioned in his first Question might have been a proper one when the journey from India to this country occupied six months, he did not think that it was reasonable to retain it now that the transit could be made in five weeks, so that an officer having six months leave might come home and spend three or four months of it with his family. At least the Commander-in-Chief in India ought to have power to permit officers to come home if he thought proper. The subject to which his second Question referred was a mere matter of justice. He had received a letter from an officer commanding a regiment in India, who informed him that he had under his orders ten acting sergeants and corporals who would not receive the pay belonging to their respective ranks until the discharge of the non-commissioned officers whom they had succeeded had been sent to India. He thought that this was very unfair, and hoped that the right hon. Gentleman would promise that the system should be changed.
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, that Indian pay and allowances were given to officers in consideration of the danger which they incurred and the hardships which they suffered while serving in India, and he did not think that it would be fair that the India revenue should be charged with extra pay for a gentleman who was amusing himself in London. As to the second Question of the hon. Baronet, the regulations in force in India were the same 793 as those which were observed in this country, and he saw no reason for altering them. The result of the change suggested by the hon. Baronet would be to create a double establishment of non-commissioned officers when only one was required for the performance of the duty.