§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether there is an absolute rule fixing for a year the rate of exchange at which furlough pay and absentee allowances are issued in this country; and, if not, whether the Secretary of State will consider the propriety of fixing for the remainder of the current financial year a more equitable rate than that now ruling, the effect of which appears to be that officers on leave are losers to the amount of 9 per cent, as compared with the rate of exchange in India?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST, Chatham)Yes; there is a rate of exchange fixed at the beginning of each financial year, which is not altered whether exchange rises or falls. Officers can draw their furlough pay in India if they consider it advantageous to do so.