§ Mr. CURRIEasked the Secretary of State for India whether the requirement made by the India Office that money due to the widow and children of a Scottish officer in a native Indian regiment dying on active service with the British Army in a foreign country in respect of annual contributions to the Indian Military Service Family Pensions Fund is peculiarly and exclusively English estate, and that the same cannot be paid by the India Office unless the title granted to the representatives by the Supreme Court in Scotland is resealed in the English Probate Court has been drawn to his notice; whether the requirement rests upon statutory authority and, if so, upon what authority, or whether it rests upon a mere practice or habit at the India Office which can be brought to an end by an Order of the Secretary of State; whether the practice of the India Office is to exercise discretion as to the enforcement of this requirement in certain cases and its non-enforcement in others; and whether he proposes to permit the continued existence of such a practice?
§ Mr. CHAMBERLAINWhen money is payable from the India Office to the estate of a deceased officer whose will was proved in Scotland, the law requires that the Scottish Confirmation should be re-sealed in England. The only exception is when the sum payable does not exceed £100. In such cases there is statutory authority to pay to the personal representatives of the deceased without probate. I have no discretion in the matter.