§ MR. GROTRIAN (Hull, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Secretary of State has repeatedly enjoined on the Government of India that, in the Public Works Department of India, fair treatment should be meted out, as between the Civil and Military Officers, in the matter of promotion and in other matters; and that, by notification 89 G. in the Gazette of India, of 13th January, 1890, a resolution was published, in which it was stated that the number of appointments sanctioned for the Military Works and Public Works Departments were distributed as follows:—one chief engineer and six superintending engineers for the Military Works Department, to 13 chief engineers and 32 superintending engineers in the Civil Department; and it was announced that
The Governor General in Council had been pleased to rule that in future there shall be a separate scale for the promotion of chief and superintending engineers of the Military and Public Works Departments respectively:whether he is aware that in the following month a Circular 390 G. of 26th February, 1890, was issued by the Government of India in the Public Works Department to the Military Works Department, stating that superintending engineers in that branch (i.e. Royal Engineer Officers on Military duty) would be eligible for appointments as chief engineers in the Provincial Works Branch of the Public Works Department; and whether these contradictory orders have been issued with the assent of the Secretary of State; and, if not, whether he will direct a withdrawal of notification No. 390 G. of 26th February, 1890?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (SIR JOHN GORST, Chatham)The subject of the distribution of promotion and appointments as between the Civil and Military Offices in the Public Works Department of India has already engaged the attention of the Secretary of State, who is in communication with the Government of India on the question.