HC Deb 13 November 1912 vol 43 c1970
20. Mr. SWIFT MacNEILL

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he is aware, that Sir Frederick Upcott, the chairman of the Indian Hail-way Board, recently visited India, when he investigated the claims of the engineers of the East India Railway for increased pay, having regard to the enhanced cost of living in that country and the responsibility attached to their position, and that, in consequence of his recommendations, the Board of the East India Railway in London sanctioned a scale of increases, which the railway engineers considered adequate, but the Railway Board of India, whose approval is necessary before such increases become law, rejected the home board's proposals on the ground that they would cause discontent among the staff of other railways worked by private companies in India; and whether, having regard to these circumstances and to the fact that the pay of the engineers of the Public Works Department and of the police has been considerably increased, the Secretary of State for India will use his good offices for the removal of this grievance in securing the scale of pay for the railway engineers approved by the home Board?

The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Harold Baker)

The reason mentioned by the hon. Member was not the only one that weighed with the Railway Board, in deciding not to sanction the increase in salaries proposed by the directors of the East India Railway Company for the engineering staff of that line. The Board took into consideration the market rate of remuneration prevailing in India for that class of employment, and other similar circumstances. The Government of India, with the technical advice of the Railway Board, are responsible to the Secretary of State in Council for the control of the working expenses of Indian Railways, and in this case the Secretary of State does not propose to take any action.