§ SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether, before the passing of the Act for the Abolition of Purchase in the Army, officers, on being granted direct commissions in the Army, paid a sum of money to the Government by way of purchase of such commission; whether any of the officers who so obtained their first commissions in the Army were afterwards transferred for service under the Government of India in the Bengal, Bombay, or Madras Staff Corps, now combined in the Indian Army; and whether, on such transfer, the whole or any portion of the sum paid by such officer for his first commission was credited to the Government of India.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) In reply to the first part of the Question, some officers paid for their first commissions and some obtained them without purchase. The payment, however, was not made to the Government but to the officer whose commission was sold. The reply to the second part of the Question is in the affirmative, and to the third part of the Question in the negative.