§ MR. JEFFREYS (Hampshire, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India will he explain why Major Parsons has been promoted by the authorities in Burma to be a deputy commissioner of the first grade over the heads of all other officers in other grades who were senior to Major Parsons; and whether he has sanctioned this action of the Burma authorities.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONThe circumstances of Major Parsons' case, which was brought before me by the Government of India in October 1898, were very complicated, and the question as to the position which he ought to hold in the service was a difficult one. After careful consideration, I decided that he should be treated as a supernumerary in every grade, above the lowest to which he might be appointed. The effect of this decision, which appears to have been duly carried out, is that his own reasonable expectations will be fulfilled, but that his successive promotions have not interfered and will not interfere with those of the other officers in the Burma Commission.