HC Deb 02 January 1894 vol 20 c644
MR. CAINE (Bradford, E.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India if the Secretary of State for India will consider the desirability of assisting the depleted finances of India by discontinuing the charges of the Ecclesiastical Department, amounting to Rx.161,596?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. GEORGE RUSSELL,) North Beds.

The cost of the Ecclesiastical Establishment consists almost entirely of the pay and establishments required for the Army. The question was fully examined by the Select Committee of the House of Commons on East India Finance in 1872 and 1873. The charge is now slightly lower than it was in 1873, notwithstanding an increase of 10 per cent. in the established strength of the British Force in India.

MR. CAINE

I beg to give notice that I will, on the earliest possible occasion, move— That, in the opinion of this House, the charges of the Ecclesiastical Department of the Government of India, being borne by taxation raised almost entirely from persons of the Mussulman faith, are an unjust and unnecessary burden upon the Revenues of the Indian Empire and ought to be discontinued.