COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 20 April 1866)

§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGH
said, he entirely approved the objects of the Bill, which was entirely in accordance with the spirit of the guarantee clause in the Act of Parliament, that the persons interested in the Military Funds of India should not suffer by the transfer of India to the Crown. Upon these grounds the present Bill was a matter of policy, because it must tend to the well-being of the social and moral condition of the army to tranquillize the minds of those who were interested in the administration of these Funds. He had no particular account of the Military Fund in Bombay. In Bengal it amounted to a very large sum. There was an unsettled account between the Government and the Fund of not less than £500,000. If the question of the exchange of India were decided in favour of the Fund, the Fund would be solvent; if otherwise, the condition of the Fund would be one of great difficulty. The Fund at Madras was decidedly solvent. He was informed that negotiations had taken place between the Directors of the Fund and the Indian Office, and that there was a disposition on the part of the Government of India to deal liberally with those interested in this Fund. It was the belief of the Government that under the Bill as it was originally laid upon the table, the Council of India would have ample power of dealing with this question. On looking at the Bill, however, he found that this would not be the case, and he had therefore prepared an Amendment enlarging the powers of the Council of India. To this Amendment he understood the noble Earl was prepared to accede. The Fund was one of the most complicated nature. It was understood by the administrators that honour, and not law, alone was to be their guide. They were, indeed, bound not to go to law, but to abide by the decision of the Court of Directors. The agents for these several Funds had, indeed, acted in the character of a friend—as the Lord Chancellor might act in the Court of Chancery in the interest of the widows and orphans who might come 1753 before the Court. Their position was thus very different from that of the Government. He thought it desirable in the first instance that the Government should make use of the existing machinery for administering the Funds, so that the claimants should not find any change in the mode of proceeding, and so that everything might be conducted in the same manner as hitherto, It must be understood that the applicants were either widows or orphans, who had often no friends to act for them, and these unfortunate persons would otherwise be compelled to employ agents of their own. He trusted that the noble Earl would adopt the existing machinery, at least for a time, until the Indian Office could form its own establishment, and until the clerks could learn the manner in which the Funds had been administered. The widows and orphans would thus find no change to their disadvantage. It was impossible in the face of what was going on not to apprehend that these Funds would be materially diminished at some future day.

§ LORD LYVEDEN
said, he entirely agreed with the noble Earl's Amendment, and merely rose to ask his noble Friend at what time he would lay before the public his scheme of compensation to Indian Officers.

EARL DE GREY AND RIPON
said, he was not in a position to give an answer to his noble Friend, but he hoped to be able to do so before long. The subject was now receiving his serious attention. With respect to the Bill, he was glad to find that it met with the approbation of the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Ellenborough). It was his desire and that of the Indian Council to deal with those who were interested in the Funds in the most liberal spirit, and he agreed with the noble Earl that it was not desirable to preclude the Council from giving greater advantages to the subscribers, if upon mature investigation it should be thought reasonable to do so. He therefore accepted the noble Earl's Amendment.