§ SIR SEYMOUR KING (Hull, Central)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Inspector-General of Police in Burma, in which he states that the constant drain on the department cannot but adversely affect its working, that there are no less than one district superintendent of police, nine assistant superintendents of police, and twenty inspectors seconded for service in other departments; and that from every district comes the cry for assistant superintendents of police and experienced inspectors, and he has been hard put to it to meet the demands made; and whether the Indian Government have explained to him how these facts are consistent with their recommendations to him of the necessity for transferring officers from the Burma police to other provinces, and particularly with the transfer of one to Madras superseding a number of officers in that service who have recently petitioned the Secretary of State.
§ (Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) I have referred to the passage in the Inspector-General's Report mentioned in 1027 the Question. The facts stated in it are not inconsistent with a state of congestion in the higher ranks of the police service in Burma, due to the large number of officers whom it was necessary, on the annexation of Upper Burma twenty years ago, to recruit at the same time. It is to remedy this congestion that special measures have been taken, involving in some cases transfers of senior officers to other provinces.