§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether any actuarial calculation was made of the value of the annuity of £1,000 given to Sir Donald Stewart at the same time as the calculation was made with respect to Sir Frederick Roberts; and, if not, why this formality was omitted; whether it is not the case that, if Sir Donald Stewart had been treated on the same footing as Sir Frederick Roberts, the sum granted for the surrender of his annuity would have been about £9,868, instead of £12,500, or that, if Sir Frederick Roberts had been treated on the same footing as Sir Donald Stewart, the sum granted to him would have been about £15,827, instead of £12,500; and, if he can state the reasons for which an advantage was given to Sir Donald Stewart over Sir Frederick Roberts in the sum granted to him, as in both cases the recipients had been equally adjudged, as a reward for their services, an annuity of £1,000 a-year for one life, a grant the value of which depends on the age of the annuitant? The actuarial calculation, he added, was based on 58 as the age of Sir Donald Stewart and 49 as the age of Sir Frederick Roberts.
§ THE MARQUES OF HARTINGTONThe exact sum which Sir Donald Stewart would receive on his pension of £1,000 a-year, if commuted at the present time, would be £9,478 if calculated at 5 per cent, or £10,286 if calculated at 4 per cent. But, as I have already stated, the grants made by the Indian Council to Sir Donald Stewart and Sir Frederick Roberts were not precisely 1652 the actuarial value of the cumulation of the £1,000 a-year at the present time. When it was found that difficulties existed in the way of carrying out the original intention of the Indian Council of making a grant to each of these officers, it was considered desirable to substitute for that proposal a grant of a lump sum.
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFHas the noble Lord any objection to giving a Return of all special military grants made by the Indian Government to Indian officers for the last 40 years?