§ 20. Mr. KINGasked how many chaplains were appointed between 1st January, 1915, and 30th June, 1915, to serve on the Indian establishments on the recommendation of the Board of Selection constituted in 1914; how many similar appointments were made in the corresponding period in 1914; whether all the appointments made during the present year were to offices that had become vacant; how many, if any, were to newly created offices; what was the total of the salaries attaching to all the appointments made; and whether the whole or any part of this expenditure is being borne by the non-Christian population of the Empire of India?
Mr. ROBERTSThe answer to the first and second inquiries is one and six respectively The answer to the third inquiry is Yes, and the fourth does not therefore arise. The total of the initial salaries attaching to the seven appointments I have mentioned is £2,704 a year. The expenditure is defrayed from the general revenues of India.
§ Sir J. D. REESIs it not the case that the British Government, when they took over the government of India, took the unprecedented step of confirming the native religions' vast endowments, which, according to all precedents, they might have confiscated?