§ MR. HART-DAVIES (Hackney, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether in view of the fact that in the Bombay and Bengal Presidencies, daughters of deceased members of the Indian Civil Service draw as pensions £100 a year if living in England and 60 rupees a month, which amounts to £48 a year, if living in India, and that this difference is due to the fact that at the time this arrangement was made the rupee was worth about 2s. 3d., he will, now that the value of the rupee is only 1s. 4d., take measures to equalise the pensions drawn in India and those drawn in England.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) The rates of pension drawn from the Bombay and Bengal Civil Funds by the children of subscribers resident in India and in England, respectively, were fixed by the subscribers, and no alteration in either rate was suggested when the funds were transferred to Government, though the rate of exchange had then fallen to about 1s. 8d. The Funds have no surplus assets, and the increase in the rupee value of pensions paid in England has already thrown a charge on the revenues of India. I am not prepared further to increase this charge by raising the rates of pension payable in India.