§ 88. Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for War if he will say, in the case of how many of the officers of the General List serving in India between 1857 and 1866 who were, by the General Orders under which they entered the service, confirmed by the General Order of 1864, promised a scale of promotion and terms which would yield a pension of £1,124 17s. 6d., have been, under an Order issued in 1882, paid only £750; what was the authority for this latter Order altering the terms on which those officers entered the Army and reducing their pension in breach of the preceding Orders; what is the total saving effected to the present date by this alteration in the terms of service; from how many survivors is this deduction of pension 712 now exacted; what is the annual saving thus effected; whether this saving is deemed to compensate the State for the odium of having broken its contract with its own soldiers after thirty-eight years' service; and whether there is anything special in the case of Major-General Waller to justify the withholding of £374 yearly from the pension officially assured to him?
Mr. BAKERThe officers mentioned by the hon. Member, of whom Major-General J. E. Waller was one, were appointed, not to the Service of the East India Company, but to Her Majesty's Indian Service, subject to any alterations in the conditions of service that might be decided on. The Secretary of State for India cannot admit that by the General Order of 1864, or any other Order, they were promised, or any one of them was promised "a scale of promotion and terms which would yield a pension of £1,124 17s. 6d. per annum." There has been no breach of Orders or Contract, and, therefore, no money has been saved by Government through any such breach.