§ MR. BUCHANAN (Edinburgh, W.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the late Secretary of State, the Earl of Kimberley, recalled the suspension of Mr. Crole, Collector of Madura, and ordered the Madras Government to restore him to an office of corresponding rank and emolument to that of which he had been deprived when suspended; whether Viscount Cross further ordered that Mr. Crole's salary for the six months during which he had been suspended should be refunded to him; whether the Madras Government has transferred Mr. Crole from the Executive branch of the Service, in which he has served with distinction for 24 years, to the judicial branch, in which he has no experience and no claim for promotion; and, whether the Judge-ship at Arcot, in which Mr. Crole has been appointed, is inferior in rank and emolument to the Collectorship of Madura held by him before his suspension?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)After Mr. Crole had been suspended for rather more than six months the Earl of Kimberley directed that the supension should then cease, and that Mr. Crole should be employed again—hut not in Madura—as soon as there was a fitting opportunity in an office of corresponding rank and emolument. On further evidence Viscount Cross made the order referred to in the second paragraph of the Question. The Executive and Judicial branches of the Service are parallel, with corresponding rank and emoluments. It rests entirely with the Local Governments to decide in which branch any particular officer shall, for the time being, be employed. I am informed that the Judgeship at Arcot is exactly equivalent in rank and emolument to the Collectorship at Madura.