HC Deb 20 March 1868 vol 190 cc1980-1
MR. SURTEES

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether, as Captain B. Hamilton, of the late Indian Navy, having been duly promoted to his present rank after being upwards of thirty-three years in the Service, and guaranteed by the Act 21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, s. 56, his pay, pension, and privileges, the guarantee has not been broken by placing him, for the loss of his professional prospects on the abolition of the Indian Navy, on only the same amount of compensation as that allotted to his juniors in rank and inferiors in amount of pay (namely, the junior Commanders), on the plea that his promotion only took place one month and eighteen days before the abolition of the Indian Navy; whether, as every Officer junior to Captain Hamilton, promoted on the same day as he was, receives a higher amount of compensation than any Officer of an inferior grade (irrespective of length of service of Officers of different grades), the guarantee has not been broken by Captain Hamilton being deprived of this privilege on attaining to his present rank; and, whether, as Captain Hamilton was guaranteed by the Act 21 & 22 Vict. an unemployed pay of £480 per annum as per Indian Naval Code, section 13, paragraph 59, the guarantee has not been broken by placing him on a compensation of only £450 per annum for the loss of his full pay of an average of £1,300 per annum, £50 of this sum being made up by the sale to the Secretary of State for India of Captain Hamilton's right to the reversion of a pension of £800 per annum?

SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE

, in reply, said, he did not think it necessary to go into all the points of the hon. Gentleman's Question. There was nothing special in the case referred to. The officers in question were treated in all respects as other officers of the same rank. There was nothing in the guarantee given which restrained the Government of India from abolishing the Indian Navy, giving pensions to the officers in proportion to their rank and services. There was no violation of the guarantee in that respect. Captain Hamilton was a captain of very short standing, and he came within a certain class of pensions that were offered. He might either have had a pension of £400 a year, with a chance of obtaining a higher, or £450 certain, and after full consideration he accepted £450 absolutely. There was no intention of offering him any more.