§ MR. KING (Hull, Central)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the Rules for Pensions affecting the Uncovenanted Service in India are governed by a Resolution of the Government of India, No. 1,555, dated 1st July 1870, embodying a Despatch of 18th May 1855; and, whether that Resolution is still in force; and, if not, how or when it was abrogated; whether, in that Resolution, while the pay of the Uncovenanted Civilian is stated in rupees, his pension is invariably designated in sterling money, with the explanation prefixed to the Resolution itself that "whenever in the following Resolution a pension is stated in sterling the equivalent in rupees is meant at two 968 shillings the rupee;" and, whether Uncovenanted Civilians are legally entitled to demand that their pensions shall be paid in sterling; and, why the pensions are not so paid by the Government of India?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)All propositions contained in the Resolution of July 1, 1870, which is still in force, are to be found in the Rules by which the pensions of the Uncovenanted Service are governed. The limits within which pensions may be granted are, in the Resolution, designated in pounds sterling. The note of explanation alluded to has been inserted in a compilation of Rules called the Civil Pension Code, but was no part of the original Resolution. In the opinion of the Secretary of State, uncovenanted civilians are entitled to have their pensions paid only at the varying rate of exchange.