§ MR. HANBURYI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether, when the large saving to the Government of India was effected through the institution of station hospitals and the abolition of forage allowances to certain medical officers, it was fully understood by all parties concerned that, in accordance with universal precedent and custom in India, a certain amount of the said saving would be returned as charge pay or staff allowance to medical officers, especially brigade-surgeons in charge of the hospitals, in recognition of the increased responsibilities—military, medical, and financial—imposed upon them; whether it is on record that the claim by these officers for such allowance was considered by the India Office in 1888 to be a just claim; what were the grounds for refusing it; and whether it will now be re-considered?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLERI am not aware of any understanding that a portion of the saving effected by the institution of station hospitals in India and the abolition of forage allowance to certain medical officers would be returned as charge pay to the medical officers in charge of such hospitals. There is no record that the claim for such allowance was considered by the Secretary of State for India in 1888 to be a just claim. It was refused on the ground that the pay and allowances fixed for the Army Medical Department in India were intended as remuneration in full for all duties which might devolve on officers of that department. There is no intention of re-considering the previous decision.