To
No. 96 OF 1896.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
FINANCE AND COMMERCE DEPARTMENT.
PENSIONS AND GRATUITIES.
F 2084 1896 607
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD GEORGE FRANCIS HAMILTON,
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India.
No. 9391 REC
Simla, the 15th April 1896.
Rest 4 MAY 36
MY LORD,
5811195
WE have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Lordship's despatches No. 229, Financial, dated 26th December 1895, and No. 9, Financial, dated 16th January 1896, regarding the grant of a pension to Mr. C. V. Creagh, C.M.G., in respect of his service in the Punjab Police.
9. In reply to a reference we made to the Accountant General of the Punjab we received a letter, of which a copy is forwarded for Your Lordship's information, in which it is stated that Mr. Creagh did not render so much as one complete year of pensionable service in India. He is not therefore eligible for any pension from Indian revenues.
3. With reference to Your Lordship's remark that no arrangement appears to have been made in regard to Mr. Creagh's Indian pension at the time of his transfer to colonial service, we transmit, for Your Lordship's information, extracts from correspondence on the subject. In a letter to the Government of India, No. 651, dated 30th November 1866, the Government of Hong Kong enquired whether the Government of India were willing to allow Mr. Creagh, who was then an Assistant Superintendent of Police in the Punjab, to take service in Hong Kong without prejudice to his position in the Indian Service. In reply, the Government of India stated that they could not allow Mr. Creagh's service in China to count as service in India, or towards pension, but that they would not object to the retention of Mr. Creagh's name on the Police List of the Punjab so as to give him the option of returning to the Punjab Police within a limited period of, say, two or three years. The Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, writing to Mr. Creagh on the 30th November 1866, informed him of the purport of the communication to the Government of India of the same date and then stated-" It is, however, very probable that this request may be one impossible to comply with, and you will then have to consider whether the prospect of £400 per annum here, with quarters, offers a sufficient inducement for abandoning your career in India." It was finally arranged that Mr. Creagh should receive the first vacancy that might occur after his return, should he come back within five years, with restoration to the rank and position he would have occupied in case he had remained.
We have the honour to be,
[MY LORD,
Your Lordship's most obedient, humble Servants,
(Signed) ELGIN.
G. S. WHITE.
J. WESTLAND,
J. WOODBURN.
M. D. CHALMERS,
A. CADELL.]
7574
RECEIVED
2 INDIA OFFICE
- 1 MAY 1896