§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State for India is aware of the dissatisfaction on the part of the first, second, and third-grade clerks of the Royal Indian Marine with their conditions of service, and of the fact that during the last ten years their petitions to the Government of India Marine Department and to the Viceroy praying for the provision of a compassionate family pension in the event of loss of life on duty, for an increase of pay, and a set of special leave and pension rules have been refused; that the request of the clerks for the 94 provision of a compassionate family pension in the event of their meeting with death in the execution of duty was sent with the recommendation of the director of the Royal Indian Marine in November, 1901, to the Marine Department of the Government of India, which, however, refused to entertain it, although under the provisions of the Indian Marine Act of 1887 these clerks were made subject to the strict discipline, penalties, and risk of combatant service, and that while the pay of the gunners and carpenters in the Royal Indian Marine has recently been raised, the pay of the clerks has remained unchanged, while though in a combatant service they are deprived of the privileges of the Marine regulations, being governed by the Civil Service regulations in the particulars of leave and pension; and whether, having regard to the fact that these clerks are chiefly natives and Catholics from Goa and that the branches of the Indian Marine of similar rank, whose members are in enjoyment of greater privileges, are chiefly composed of Europeans and Protestants, the Secretary of State for India will consider the propriety of the appointment of a commission to inquire into the grievance of these clerks.
§ MR. BUCHANANThe Secretary of State has no information on the subject but he will make inquiry.