THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 239

All Officers of the Cavalry and Infantry of the
Indian Army, with the exception of those who entered
upon the new conditions of service and are borne
upon a general list, will be allowed to enter the Staff
Corps of their respective Presidencies upon the con-
ditions above laid down, from the date of receipt of
this Despatch, without being subjected to previous
examination.

(5.) All Officers now in the several Staff Corps,
and all who may join them under the terms
of this Despatch, will be entitled to the
Colonel's allowance after twelve years' service
in the grade of substantive Lieutenant-
Colonel, without reference to any fixed
establishment of Colonels with Colonel's allow-
ance, the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel
attained to under the regulations published in
general order by your Government, No. 632,
dated 4th August, 1864, being however con-
sidered a substantive rank for this purpose,
and allowed to count towards the above period.

62. All the regulations at present existing relating
    to admission to, and promotion in, the Staff Corps,
    will be still applicable to Officers hereafter entering
    the several Staff Corps, other than those of the Indian
    Army, who join under the terms laid down in this
    Despatch.

63. Having now disposed of the several complaints
    made by Officers of the Indian Army, and considered
    by either of the Royal Commissions with reference to
    the Parliamentary guarantee, I shall address your
    Excellency in a separate Despatch upon the subject
    of the claim made by many of the Officers to compen-
    sation for money, contributed by them towards the
    regimental retireing funds. These claims cannot
    justly be supported by any reference to that guarantee,
    and therefore they were not entertained by Lord
    Cranworth's Commission; but Her Majesty's Govern-
    ment are unwilling to leave to the Officers generally
    any ground of complaint which they can, consistently
    with their duty, remove, and therefore they have
    determined that the representations mada by the
    Officers in regard to this matter shall receive further
    consideration.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) CRANBORNE.

Military, No. 160.

India Office, London, 8th August, 1866.

To His Excellency the Right Hon. the Governor-
General of India in Council.

SIR, - Para. 1. By my Despatch No. 159 of this
day's date your Excellency was informed that it was
my intention to address you in a separate Despatch
on the subject of representations made by many
Officers of the Indian Army respecting their claim to
compensation for the loss of money contributed by
them, prior to the re-organization of that Army,
towards their regimental retiring funds.

2. I find that since the year 1837, when the Court
   of Directors suspended the operation of an order
   prohibiting such proceedings, many Officers of the
   Indian Army have been in the habit of contributing
   from time to time sums of money towards the pur-
   chase of the retirements of their regimental seniors,
   for which sums they hoped to receive an equivalent,
   either in the shape of actual promotion, immediate or
   prospective, or by the receipt of a similar contribu-
   tion in the event of their own retirement from the
   service.

3. This practice though not in every branch of the
   service wholly discontinued, has, it is alleged, been
   virtually put a stop to by the measures connected
   with the formation of the several Staff Corps, and the
   re-organization of the Indian Army.

4. In a petition addressed to the House of Com-
   mons by Brevet-Major Sweet, of the Madras Native
   Infantry, and ordered to be printed, it is stated as
   follows, alluding to a General Order by the Govern-
   ment of India, dated the 2nd May, 1838:--

"On the faith of this General Order, your peti-
tioner has invested large sums of money at different
times, borrowed often at a very high rate of interest,
in assisting his seniors to retire, in the sure and
certain hope that in his turn to retire from the service
he would receive it back again."

And in the same petition, in allusion to the appoint-
ment of certain of his brother Officers to the Staff
Corps-

"The consequence of which is that your petitioner
is not only deprived of that promotion to which he is
entitled in accordance with the rules regulating pro-
motions in the Indian Army, and guaranteed to him
by Act 21 and 22 Vic., cap. 106, and 23 and 24 Vic.,
cap. 100, but he also loses all the money that he has
expended at different times in assisting his seniors
through his regimental bonus fund."

5. It appears from the report of the proceedings
   of Parliament that numerous petitions from Officers
   of the Indian Army, similar in substance to that from
   Major Sweet, have been presented to the House
   during the present Session.

6. That the late Court of Directors should have
   withdrawn a prohibition which formerly existed to
   the practice of purchasing the retirement of officers
   cannot, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government,
   be admitted to establish a claim to compensation
   under the Parliamentary guarantee, on the plea that
   changes in the organization of the Army have operated
   to interfere with the continuance of a practice of this
   purely private and permissive character.

7. Upon this point the decision of Lord Cran-
   worth's Commission, formed after very careful con-
   sideration of the subject, must be considered as
   conclusive.

8. That Commission reported upon the subject in
   the following terms:----

Para. 58. "But it is impossible to understand the Parliamen-
tary guarantee to extend to this case.
The privileges and advantages which
Parliament undertook should be preserved to the Army
under the Crown as they had existed under the East
India Company were privileges and advantages exist-
ing between the Company on the one hand, and the
Army on the other. The Company was no otherwise
a party to this system of giving a bonus on retire-
ment than as they may be considered to have given
an express assurance that they would not interfere to
prevent it, unless under circumstances of financial
pressure, and with due notice. All that could be
asked of the Crown is to assume the same passive
state which had existed on the part of the Company.
But the system being illegal, it is impossible to under-
stand Parliament as having meant to guarantee the
continuance of a practice which is contrary to law."

10. It was stated, however, in my Despatch of this
    date, No. 159, that, "Her Majesty's Government are
    unwilling to leave the Officers generally any ground
    of complaint which they can consistently with their
    duty remove." They have, therefore, resolved upon
    authorizing your Government to investigate the
    claims of Officers on the above account.

11. With this view the following course will be
    adopted:-

A Committee will be formed at each Presidency,
for the purpose of investigating and reporting upon
claims of this nature on the part of Officers borne on
the strength of the Indian Army on the 18th
February, 1861.

12. An Officer proposing to retire from the service,
    or having retired since 18th February, 1861, and