§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Secretary of State for India (l) whether a British Service officer appointed on the staff of an Indian formation of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force receives only British rates of pay, whilst 1993W an Indian Army officer appointed to a British formation also only gets British rates of pay; and why such expedients are adopted to reduce the pay of officers serving in more arduous, unhealthy, and dangerous fields than that which falls to the lot of the Army in India; and (2) why British officers serving in India have their pay reduced on proceeding to the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force?
Captain GUESTI have been asked to answer these questions. A British Service officer who was not in India on the 4th August, 1914, and therefore was not promised that he should retain his Indian pay, draws the British rate of Staff pay if appointed to an Indian formation. An Indian Army officer appointed to a British Staff draws the British rate, or may retain the Indian rate of his substantive appointment if more advantageous. In neither case is there any reduction of an officer's existing emoluments. These decisions have been arrived at after the fullest consideration of the difficulties arising from the clashing of the British and Indian pay codes in mixed forces in the various theatres of war. As regards my Noble Friend's second question, the rate of pay of British regimental officers is at identical Indian rates whether serving in India or Mesopotamia.