§ Sir HENRY CRAIKasked the Under Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that members of the Indian Civil Service appointed to the Punjab are at a disadvantage compared with members of the same service appointed to the United Provinces, Lower Bengal, Eastern Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, the rates of pay for many grades being lower than those attached to similar grades in these other provinces; whether the dissatisfaction due to this inequality has been represented by numerous memorials addressed to the Government of India; and whether the Secretary of State will cause inquiry to be made into the circumstances with a view of rectifying any inequality of treatment?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe rates of pay for the Indian Civil Service in different provinces are not, and never have been, uniform. The Secretary of State has not 1475W received from the Government of India any intimation that discontent has been caused in the Punjab by the fact that in some grades the pay differs from that of corresponding posts elsewhere. But it has been recognised that owing to a block of promotion, junior members of the service in that province were in an unsatisfactory position, and the Secretary of State in Council sanctioned last year a proposal of the Government of India for improving the pay of nine assistant commissioners.