§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHasked the noble Earl the Secretary of State for India, If he was now prepared to state what arrangements had been made for the management of the Indian Military Funds now transferred to the Crown?
EARL DE GREY AND RIPONsaid, he was now in a condition to inform the noble Earl what arrangements were proposed to be made for the administration of those funds. They were these—A small separate department would be added to the Financial Department of the Indian Office, and a gentleman would be attached to it to take the charge of the new department. He would be assisted by a consultative Committee composed of four officers, who would be the immediate representatives of the four Funds handed over to the Crown. He (Earl de Grey) had before expressed his earnest wish to give every security to the subscribers to those Funds, that they themselves and their families would be treated with the utmost courtesy and consideration by the Government; and that the future management of the Funds should be conducted much in the same way as hitherto. It appeared to him that by instituting a consultative Committee of this description those objects would be secured, and that the officers so appointed would be able to give confidence as to the manner in which the Funds would be administered. Two of the funds were already administered by officers in this country appointed by the subscribers; and the two gentlemen who now hold that position would naturally be the persons selected to act on the part of the two Funds connected with Bengal. The other two funds were now administered in this country by private firms, and it would be his earnest endeavour to find two officers, one of the Madras army and the 744 other of the Bombay army—who would command the confidence of their brother officers. He trusted to be able to make such a choice as would be satisfactory to the subscribers of the Funds. It was his object in the appointment of the consultative Committee that those funds should be administered on the same principle as that on which they had hitherto been administered.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, that it was plain that the arrangements explained by the noble Earl had been conceived in a spirit of justice and consideration to the officers. He hoped that the appointment of the consultative Committee would be satisfactory; his only apprehension was that those at its head would be unable to conduct the business unless they had the assistance of the clerks already experienced in the matter. Connected with the Funds there were a variety of complicated questions to be considered, and he feared that however able a man the gentleman selected for the head of the Department might be, he would fail in details unless he had such assistance. He hoped, therefore, the noble Earl would be able to obtain the aid of practically experienced persons, at least at the commencement of the new arrangement.
EARL DE GREY AND RIPONsaid, that he should not be able to make use of the clerks, as he was bound in regard to established clerks by the Order in Council, though it might be possible to employ them temporarily at the first starting of the new arrangement.