HC Deb 30 July 1888 vol 329 cc730-1
SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE(for Mr. KING) (Hull, Central)

asked the Under Secretary of State for India, (1) Under what Retiring Rules, citing the number and dates of warrants, orders, or despatches now in force, officers of the Indian Army get retiring allowances; (2) are officers residing in India excluded from the benefit of existing Retiring Rules; (3) whether the despatch of the Secretary of State (No. 407, of December 8, 1881), which related explicitly by the words of the despatch to "retiring allowances," superseded all these existing Retiring Rules for officers of the Indian Army, and come into force in July, 1882; (4) whether, and if so on what grounds, the Retiring Rules laid down in the above-mentioned despatch are limited by the practice of the Indian Government, by an alleged order or "principle," which was in force in 1854, and was applicable to a state of circumstances which does not now exist; (5) whether the despatch of the Secretary of State (No. 407 of December 8, 1881), in Clause 15, stated that every officer of 38 years' service will be entitled to "retiring allowances" of £1,124 17s. 6d. per annum; and, (6) whether the Secretary of State will continue to sanction the payment of such allowance to officers resident in India in a reduced currency, while paying officers residing out of India the full amount of such allowance in sterling?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)

1. The rates of pensions of officers of the Indian Army are contained in Royal Warrant, January 16, 1861; Secretary of State's despatches, No. 159, August 8, 1866; No. 252, August 4, 1881; No. 404, December 8, 1881. 2. No. 3. It came into force on July 1, 1881, and did not supersede existing Rules. 4. The Secretary of State does not admit that these Rules are limited by the practice of the Government of India. 5. The "colonel's allowance" is not, in the view of the Secretary of State, a retiring allowance. 6. The Secretary of State is not prepared to make any alteration in the Rules regarding the rates of colonels' allowances.