§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the General Order 632, of 1864, as a final settlement, fixed the status of the officers of the general list who had entered the Indian Army after 1858, and expressly assured them promotion through every grade as if the whole of the Native Army of India had been kept up, including, as admitted by Mr. Fowler in 1895, the rank of colonel with colonel's allowances; on what grounds, and by what authority, the rights thus assured were, in 1882, withdrawn from all except thirteen of these officers; if the withdrawal was defensible, why was the appeal of the injured officers, when supported by 200 Members of Parliament in 1896, for an inquiry into their claims not granted; from how many officers of the same standing as the favoured thirteen are the rights assured to all now withheld; what are the annual and total savings thus effected; and, if those remaining officers are not to be given either what was promised to them or an inquiry into their claim, will he explain why?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe. General Order, No. 632, of 1864, stated that the effect of certain measures sanctioned for the relief of the East India Company's Army would be to assure to every officer, including those who had entered the Native Army after it came under the Crown and up to the end of 1861, his promotion through every grade, as though the whole of the Native Army had been kept up, and to maintain his pensionary rights. It was a statement of anticipated results rather than a definite guarantee. The right of succession to colonels' allowances under the East India Company was not a right which could be enjoyed by every officer.614W There was a fixed establishment of these allowances, and succession to them was only attainable as death vacancies occurred. In 1861 it was calculated that the establishment of colonels' allowances in the Company's army had been equal to one-thirtieth of the total number of officers composing that army, and it was then decided that eventually the senior officers of the Indian Army under the Crown should have an establishment of colonels' allowances calculated at one-thirtieth of the number, with succession to death vacancies as they occurred. As, however, no general list officer could succeed to the colonels' allowances until 1896, the actual establishment of those allowances to be fixed for officers of the general list was not definitely laid down until 1883. It was then ascertained that the total number of officers who had ever joined the general list was 630. From this number those who had left the general list and had joined the Staff Corps or the new Line regiments, and had thus become eligible for colonels' allowances on lists other than the general list, were deducted. They numbered 232. There remained 398, and this latter number included not only the officers serving in 1883, but all those who had died, retired, or resigned the service between 1858 and 1883. This number, 398, divided by 30, gives an establishment of thirteen colonels' allowances for the general list, to which officers succeed in turn as death vacancies occur. I am unable to ascertain that an appeal from the general list officers in 1897 received support from 200 Members of Parliament, but it is on record that when a Motion for a Select Committee to inquire into the subject was made in this House on 27th April, 1897, it was defeated by 174 votes to 55. It is not admitted that general list officers have been at any time deprived of any right which was at any time promised them and, therefore, the remainder of the question does not arise.