§ MR. KING (Hull, Central)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the Public Service Commission, which was presided over by Sir Charles Aitchison, and has recently taken a vast amount of evidence, was originally ap- 544 pointed simply to take evidence on the question of the admission of natives to certain branches of the Civil Service; whether the evidence taken was permitted, in effect, to embrace the entire question of a re-construction of the Civil Service of India, and among them the Uncovenanted Service; what number of representatives of the Uncovenanted Service were appointed on the Commission, and how many members of the Covenanted Service, and how many natives respectively, acted on the inquiry; and, when the Report of the Commission is expected to be ready?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The objects of the Public Service Commission wore originally defined in a Resolution of the Government of India, dated October 4, 1886. The statement implied in the Question is substantially correct. The Secretary of State has no official knowledge of the evidence taken; and is, therefore, impossible to express any opinion as to the correctness of the statement implied in the second Question. The Commission originally appointed consisted of six members of the Covenanted and one of the Uncovenanted Civil Service; six Natives, one of whom is a High Court Judge; and three other members, one of whom is Sir Charles Turner, late Chief Justice of Madras. By a Resolution of March 8, 1887, the Commission has been re-constituted for the purpose of more detailed inquiry, and I am unable to say when the Report may be expected.