§ MR. KING (Hull, Central)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, with reference to the case of Brigade Surgeon James Ross, of the Madras Army, compulsorily retired in 1885, Whether, having entered the service of the East India Company in January 1857, and served two months after reaching the age of 55, his retirement was enforced under regulations which have been made subsequently to the Act of the 21st and 22nd Vic, c. 105, s. 55 (commonly known as the "Henley Clause"), in violation of that section, which provides that those serving in the Military Forces of the East India Company are 201
to be entitled to the like privileges and like advantages as regards promotion, and otherwise, as if they had continued in the service of the said Company;if he would explain to the House on what grounds an exception, expressly made by Act of Parliament in favour of Officers then in the service of the Company, is set aside in this case on the authority of the regulations made in 1858 and 1860; whether such action of the Military authorities is legal; and, whether steps cannot be taken to place him on the footing to which he appears to be entitled by virtue of the "Henley Clause."
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. STAFFORD HOWARD) (Gloucester, Thornbury)The action of the Military Authorities—that is, of the Government of Madras—in the case of Brigade Surgeon Ross was legal. The clause of the Act referred to has never been held to bar Her Majesty's Government from a reasonable exercise of the power, which the Court of Directors possessed and used, of altering, in the interests of the public service, the conditions under which their officers were employed. The promotion of officers of the Indian Medical Service has not been altered for the worse; but it was found, following the rule in Her Majesty's Service, essential to efficiency to limit the service of officers of the Executive grade to the age of 55 years, capable, however, on the production of a certificate of perfect efficiency, of an extension to the age of 58 years. This certificate Brigade Surgeon Ross did not obtain, and he was accordingly retired under the regulation which has been in force for nearly 27 years. But whilst, with a corresponding service under the rules in force when he joined the Indian Medical Department, he would have been entitled to a retiring pension of £250 a-year, he now receives one of £500.