§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR (Kincardine)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, If he could obtain, for the information of Parliament and the subscribers, a statement of the present position of the Military Funds of Madras, Bengal, and Bombay, with the result of the operation of these Funds since they were taken over by the Secretary of State, commencing with the assets and liabilities (annuitants, subscribers, & c.) of these several Funds as they were left by the respective managements, and showing the changes therein, as well as the effects of the beneficial arrangements granted by the Secretary of State, with the balance of assets and liabilities, & c. now remaining, and, if possible, an approximate statement of the results when liabilities are calculated to cease?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham), in reply, said, he found, upon inquiry, that since the assets and liabilities of these Funds were taken over by the Secretary of State they had been treated no longer as in existence as separate Funds, but merged in the general Revenues of India. He was told it would now be impossible to give a statement of what would be the position of these hypothetical Funds, if they had continued to exist, without collecting at great cost a mass of information, some of which would have to be obtained, if at all, in India. When the assets were taken over the actual value of each subscriber was ascertained, and full settlement was at the time made.