§ COLONEL ANSONasked the Secretary of State for War, Why Colonel Probyn, holding the local rank of Major General in India, has been gazetted to the Household of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales as Major General Probyn, whereas his rank of Major General, and that of other officers holding the same position, was strictly limited to the East of the Cape of Good Hope, by an arrangement between His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, the Secretary of State for India, and the Secretary of State for War, as published in the London Gazette, June 1870; 734 whether he is aware that the names of Colonel Salmon and other officers of the Staff Corps appear as Major Generals in the Official Indian Army List, although junior to some 300 Colonels in the English Army; and, whether this honorary rank has been conferred upon them by Her Majesty, on the advice of the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief and the Secretary of State for War, or only on that of the Secretary of State for India? He wished to explain that in putting the Questions he had no objection to urge against the appointment of Colonel Probyn to the Household of His Royal Highness. He wished for information only with respect to the title by which he had been appointed.
§ MR. CARDWELLSir, in The London Gazette of March 5, the following announcement was made:—
The Prince of Wales has been pleased to appoint Major General D. M. Probyn, C.B., V.C., of Her Majesty's Indian Army," &c.This is a correct description, although the rank is Indian only; and I am informed that in the days of the India Company the same description would have been given. With reference to Questions two and three, the officers referred to have not received any rank or promotion, honorary or otherwise, and no advice with respect to it has been tendered to Her Majesty. The printing in italics in The Indian Army List is an arrangement of the India Office, made under the authority of a recent Royal Warrant.