§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he would beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India, For an explanation of the discrepancies between the Parliamentary Return, No. 440, respecting the prospective annual number of Officers of the different ranks in the Indian Armies, and Returns drawn up by Officers in India; for instance, the Parliamentary Return states there will be 480 Lieutenants in 1873, while the Returns drawn up by the Officers in India give only 13 Lieutenants—namely, 11 at Bengal, 2 at Madras, and nil at Bombay?
MR. GRANT DUFFsaid, the explanation for which his hon. and gallant Friend asked might be easily given. The fact was, that the Returns in question took no notice of the deaths that must inevitably occur among the officers between the years 1867 and 1873. The Parliamentary Return, on the other hand, took notice of those deaths. The Returns to which his hon. and gallant Friend called their attention, not taking any notice of the death vacancies, took at the same time, of course, no notice of 205 the new appointments by which, those vacancies would be filled. In that way the very startling difference in the results was arrived at.