§ 5. Colonel YATEasked the Under-Secretary for India whether he is aware that had Lieutenant Bowers been serving in a vessel of the Royal Indian Marine at the time of his death he would have been in receipt of pay equivalent to £160 a year, and that further allowances might have brought his total emoluments up to £220 a year; that had Lieutenant Bowers left a widow and children they would have been entitled to a pension of £40 and £45 a year each, respectively, or a total of £130, and, as he died in the execution of duty, to a further compassionate allowance of £75 and £15 a year each, respectively; and whether, considering the fact that the sum of £300 a year had been granted to the widow and sister-in-law of Dr. Wilson, and that Lieutenant Bowers was the only son of his widowed mother and that she and her two daughters are indifferently provided for, he will ask the Government of India to reconsider the proposed grant of £50 a year to Lieutenant Bowers' mother and £25 a year to each sister and suggest that, in view of the circumstances attending the death of this officer, they should make a more generous grant for his family and treat his mother and sisters as if they had been his widow and daughters and grant them at least the pension of £235 a year to which a widow and daughters might have been entitled?
§ Mr. MONTAGUIn determining the Grants to be made from Indian revenues to the relatives of Lieutenant Bowers the Secretary of State in Council dealt with the circumstances of the case as they existed, not as they might conceivably otherwise have been. Lieutenant Bowers was not married, and did not leave a widow and children. His pay when he left India was £120 a year, and his mother and 756 sisters were by no means wholly dependent on him. The Grants that have been made to them more than satisfy the Prime Minister's undertaking that dependent relatives would be placed in as good a pecuniary position as they would have been had no disaster taken place, and the Secretary of State would not be justified in asking the Council of India to agree to a heavier charge being placed upon Indian revenues.
§ Colonel YATEWith reference to that reply, does not the right hon. Gentleman think that differential treatment of this sort between members of the Indian services and members of the British service tends to bring discredit upon the Indian Government and the India Office, and also to lower the tone of the Indian services generally?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI think if the hon. and gallant Gentleman will look into the conditions of this gallant officer's pay and circumstances, and note the provision made for those left behind, he will see—as I think has been acknowledged in most quarters—that the Government of India has dealt generously in the matter.
§ Colonel YATEDoes the hon. Gentleman think that these terms of the Government of India carry out Captain Scott's last wishes?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is a matter of opinion. The Under-Secretary has stated the facts; the hon. and gallant Member can draw his own inference and I can draw mine.