MR. HEYGATEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether any Return has been furnished by the Madras Authorities in India showing the effect of the Staff Corps promotions on the Lieutenant Colonels of the local service in that Presidency; what has been the effect on these Lieutenant Colonels by the Brevet Promotions, which were to remedy the supersession caused by the Staff Corps Warrant; and if he will lay upon the table of the House copies of any representations from the Government of India, Madras, or Bombay, and from the Commanders-in-Chief of the Presidencies respecting Army arrangements ordered by the Secretary of State for India in 1861?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODreplied, that in consequence of an Address which was agreed to by the House the other day, the Government had recommended Her Majesty to appoint a Commission to inquire how far the complaints of the officers as to the grievances alleged to have been caused by the measures taken for the re-organization of the army in India had been remedied by the steps taken for that purpose. That Commission was not yet constituted, but arrangements were in progress for its constitution; and he thought it would be far better to leave the matter in the hands of that Commission.