§ COLONEL HUGHES-HALLETT (Rochester)asked the Tinder Secretary of State for India, "Whether the "Madras Military Fund," established in 1823 by the Court of Directors of the East India Company for the support of the widows and orphans of the officers of the Madras Army, and formed by compulsory contributions from all the officers, is still in existence, and in what form; whether, in 1858, after the Indian Mutiny, there was a capital of over £1,000,000, and a surplus of assets over liabilities of 0£123,760; whether the actuaries pointed out that this surplus was increasing at the rate of £10,000 annually; whether this surplus was handed over to the Secretary of State for India, after the Honourable East India Company had been merged into the Government of the Crown; and, if so, what became of it; whether any, and what, surplus has accumulated since 1858, and what has become of it; whether he will lay upon the Table Copies of the Correspondence that took place between the Secretary of State for India and the Government of India, or of Madras, relative to the taking over the administration of the Fund; whether it was in consequence of the amalgamation of the late East India Company's Forces with Her Majesty's Army that the Secretary of State at that time suggested that the future management of the "Madras Military Fund" should be handed over to him; and, whether there is anything in the Act of Parliament directing the Secretary of State for India to assume such management, or to prevent the Secretary of State for India from appropriating to the use of the 1144 subscribers and their families any surplus which may be now found to exist?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)the assets and liabilities of the Madras Military Fund were transferred to the Secretary of State for India in Council by the Act 29 Vict., c. 18. The Rules of the Fund are still in existence, and the pensions and allowances granted by the Rules form a direct charge on the Revenues of India. In the Report of the actuaries, dated January 31, 1863,' it was estimated that the surplus on April 30, 1858, was £123,760, and that it was increasing at the rate of about £10,000 per annum. Subscriptions and donations were consequently reduced 10 per cent from June, 1864. When the Fund was handed over to the Government in 1864 the surplus was estimated at £132,000. This surplus was absorbed by the grant of large concessions made to the subscribers in the shape of increased benefits by the Secretary of State. The capital of the Fund was absorbed in the Revenues of India from the date of its transfer to the Secretary of State for India in Council, and no separate account has since been kept. There is no objection to this Correspondence being published. It was in consequence of the changes made in the constitution of the Indian Army that notice was given by the Secretary of State for India in Council that he was willing to take over the Fund. The transfer was, however, the voluntary act of the subscribers, carried by the majority of votes required by the Rules. The Act of Parliament authorizes the Secretary of State to assume the management of the Fund, and does not preclude him from granting benefits in addition to those secured by the Act. In accordance with this provision increased benefits were granted in 1867 which absorbed the estimated surplus in the Fund at the date of the transfer.