§ MR. HART-DAVIES (Hackney, N.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the reorganisation of the Public Works Department as regards the separation between the Imperial and provincial services has been sanctioned by the Home Government and carried into effect by the Government of India; whether the Secretary of State is aware of the dissatisfaction caused in the provincial ranks of the service by what they regard as an unjust discrimination between engineers recruited in England and those recruited in India; and whether he proposes to take any steps in the matter.
§ MR. BUCHANANThe reorganisation of the Public Works Department separating the cadres of the imperial and provincial services has been sanctioned by the Secretary of State and introduced in India. Separation of the 2121 imperial and provincial cadres is in accordance with the recommendation of the Public Service Commission of 1887, and has been adopted in several of the other Departments of the Government of India. The Secretary of State is aware that this measure has given rise to some dissatisfaction among the provincial engineers; but, if there is ground for modifying details of the reorganisation scheme, local governments will no doubt address the Secretary of State through the Government of India.
§ MR. HART-DAVIES (Hackney, N.)Is the Indian Office willing to receive representations on the subject from the Government of India?
§ MR. BUCHANANWe will wait and see what representations are made.