§ SIR G. CHESNEY (Oxford)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State is aware that the civil engineers serving under the Indian Government who entered Cooper's Hill in 1875 receive their furlough allowances at the official rate of exchange, whereas those of previous years receive theirs in sterling; whether he is aware that in the autumn of 1874 a prospectus giving particulars of the entrance examination to be held in 1875 for admission to Cooper's Hill, with an appendix thereto giving particulars regarding the regulations then in force for the Public Works Department as to leave, pensions, &c, was issued in the official Cooper's Hill Calendar, published under the authority of the Secretary of State; whether his attention has been called to the particulars and regulations regarding furlough allowances given in the appendix to this prospectus taken from Sections 10 and 11 of the Civil Leave Code, which provides that officers on furlough are entitled to be paid their furlough allowances at the Home Treasury of the Government of India in sterling; and also to a subsequent prospectus for the year 1875, which was issued from the India Office, the appendix to which contained in addition to Sections 10 and 11 of chap. iii. of the Civil Leave Code, Section 26 of chap. x. of the Code which provides that furlough allowances paid at the Home Treasury shall be paid at the official rate of exchange, and whether any warning of the addition of this condition was given to candidates for examination; whether, since Sections 10 and 11 of chap. iii. of the Civil Leave Code contain the only regulations as to payment of furlough allowances at the Home Treasury inserted in any prospectus published prior to the second prospectus of 1875, it is upon that 402 ground that the civil engineers who joined the Public Works Department through Cooper's Hill prior to 1875 are paid their furlough allowances in sterling; whether the Secretary of State has received complaints from engineers who entered Cooper's Hill in 1875 that they were misled by the prospectus published in the Cooper's Hill Calendar; and whether ho is prepared to saction their furlough being now paid at the Home Treasury in sterling?
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. G. RUSSELL,) North Beds.1. All Indian civil engineers receive their furlough allowances in sterling; but those who entered the Indian Civil Engineering College before 1875 have their allowances converted into sterling at 2s. to the rupee, while those who entered in 1875 and subsequent years receive theirs at the official rate for the year. 2. Yes; but the Calendar is not a work supplied officially to candidates. 3. Yes; the Secretary of State's attention has been called to those regulations. The appendix, as published in the Calendar, said that the officers, when on ordinary furlough, would receive a leave allowance equal to half their average salary, the maximum being £200 a quarter; and, when on other than ordinary, £120 a quarter, or one-fourth of average salary, whichever was the less. The prospectus for 1875 issued from the India Office said further that, if payment was taken at the Home Treasury, leave allowances would be converted into sterling at the rate of exchange annually fixed. There is no reason to doubt that this prospectus was given to everybody who made inquiries at the India Office about the examination for 1875. 4. Civil engineers who joined the College before the prospectus of 1875 was issued are allowed to have their furlough pay at the rate of 2s. the rupee, because the Secretary of State was advised that their having paid the College foes and passed the examination had given them a legal right thereto. 5. Yes. 6. Not at 2s. the rupee.