§ SIR W. J. COLLINS (St. Pancras, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for India 1216 whether his attention has been called to the fact that under Section 56, c. 106, of 21 and 22 Viet., officers of the East India Company's military forces were guaranteed pay,. pensions, allowances, and privileges, and the like advantages as regards promotion, and otherwise, as if they had continued in the service of the said company; whether officers of the unemployed supernumerary list continue to receive promotion as if they had continued in the company's service; and, if not, from what date such promotion ceased to take effect and on what grounds.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) Promotion in and to the rank of general officer on the unemployed supernumerary list of the Indian Army was gradually discontinued after 1893, as being inconsistent with the system of promotion by selection which was then introduced. Before the transfer of India to the Crown, promotions to the rank of general officer had always been made by the Sovereign and not by the East India Company. The regulations under which such promotion was made followed generally those in force in the British service; and the section of the Act quoted in the Question did not affect the power of the Sovereign to modify these regulations in the interests of the service.