DR. RUTHERFORDI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Secretary of State is aware that the number of Europeans in the Punjab municipalities' service has increased within the last ten years; that out of five appointments carrying salaries of over £15 per month in the municipality of Lahore not one is held by an Indian, and that out of twelve appointments with salaries of £8 a month only two are held by Indians; and whether this state of things has the approval of the Secretary of State for India.
§ MR. BUCHANANMunicipal Committees in the Punjab under the Punjab Municipalities Act of 1891 appoint their own servants, and the Secretary of State has no detailed information as to the numbers, rates of pay, or nationalities of such employees. The Lahore Municipal Committee is composed of twenty Indians 930 and ten Europeans. On the committees of other municipalities the Indian element is still more predominant. The Secretary of State does not feel called upon to express an opinion on the mode in which the committees exercise their powers.