§ Mr. RAMSAY MACDONALDasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will state the exact position of officers in the old provincial service of 941 the survey of India in relation to the new provincial service; whether he is aware that the officers of the old service who joined before 1904, but passed as high an examination as is set for applicants to the new service, and who carry out equal, if not more important, duties than the officers of the new service, are not allowed to be transferred to the now service with its greater emoluments; whether he is aware that this disability has given rise to a certain amount of discontent; and whether favourable consideration will be given to the matter with a view to putting these older servants on an equal footing with the more recent entrants into the service?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Montagu)The old provincial service of the Survey of India is now a closed service, but the pay and prospects of its members are not affected by the creation of a new provincial service with better initial salaries and a higher educational standard. The new service was created on the recommendation of the Survey Committee of 1905, which reported unfavourably of the educational qualifications of the then existing provincial service and of its capacity for responsible work. The standard prescribed for entrance to the new service is that of the degree examinations of Indian Universities or the competitive entrance examination of the Rurki Civil Engineering College. For the old provincial service lower qualifications were accepted. Memorials from members of the old service asking to be transferred to the new service have been received by the Government of India, and have been inquired into by a committee; but no report on the service has yet reached the Secretary of State-Indian Service Force.