§ MR. ARTTIUR O'CONNORasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is a fact that Serbojee Rajah, of the Palace, Tanjore, was adopted by the senior Ranee and the other Ranees of the late Maharajah of Tanjore; whether the obsequial rites of the late Maharajah were performed by Serbojee Rajah, with the sanction and in the presence of Mr. Forbes, the then Resideut at Tanjore; whether, among the Hindoos, and especially the Mahrattas, the authority of the husband is necessary for legalizing an adoption by the widow; whether the High Court of Madras in May, 1865, confirming a judgment in the District Courts, admitted the status of Serbojee Rajah as the adopted son of the late Maharajah of Tanjore; whether the application by all the fifteen Ranees, dated 12th December 1855, the petitions and mahazernames from the merchants and inhabitants of Tanjore, and the memorials of Serbojee Rajah through his counsel, Mr. Kavanagh, proving the claims of Serbojee to the position and dignity of his adoptive father, the late Maharajah, have been summarily rejected by the Government; and, whether, at the present moment, Serbojee Rajah is living at Tanjore unprovided for, and totally depending upon the charity of friends?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSNearly eight years after the death of the Rajah of Tanjore and the lapse of that State to Government, the senior Ranee wished to adopt Serbojee Rajah as her heir; but Government refused to recognize 1354 any adoption, so far as claims to succession to State property were concerned. A nephew performed the funeral ceremonies of the late Rajah in the presence of the Resident; but it is not known who this nephew was. Nothing is known at the India Office of the judgment of the High Court in May, 1865. The various Memorials presented soon after the lapse of the State to Government were fully considered and rejected, as was also Mr. Kavanagh's recent Memorial. Serbojee's name cannot be traced in the list of Tanjore pensioners, and nothing is known at the India Office as to his pecuniary means.