OCCASIONAL NOTE

Demobilised officers of the Indian Army Reserve are experiencing some difficulty in getting fair treatment at the hands of the Army pay authorities. The most prominent of their grievances appears to arise out of the manner in which the rate of payment of gratuities is calculated. At Home, under pressure of public opinion, gratuities are on the basis of four months’ full pay for the first year’s service and two months’ full pay for subsequent years, while the rate is determined, at the officer’s preference, by the rank he held at demobilisation or on November 11. In India the gratuity is the equivalent of three months’ pay for the first year of service and one month’s pay for subsequent years. The main grievance, however, concerns the “dodge,” for it is no other, by which the rate of assessment to gratuity is, at the last moment, reduced in the case of officers serving temporarily in a rank higher than their own, by their sudden reversion to normal rank a few days, or at most weeks, before demobilisation. An I.A.R. officer of the substantive rank of captain who has enjoyed the temporary rank of major through the greater portion of his last year of service will suddenly find his post of adjutant, depot commander, etc., abolished or filled by a regular office of his acting rank within a few days of his actual demobilisation. His gratuity is then calculated on the basis of his earlier service.

TRAGEDY ON THE HOOGHLY

A sad drowning fatality took place on the Hooghly, on Tuesday, when the second officer of the dredger, Balari, was found drowned in the ship’s tank on board the vessel. It appears that the deceased, Sydney Lyons, was the second officer of the Balari. Early on Tuesday morning, the vessel left port and shortly after 10 A.M., she anchored at Hooghly Point. The day being a holiday, there was no work done on board. At about 3-30 P.M. the deceased told one of the other officers that he was going to have a swim in the ship’s tank. At about 5 P.M., he was missed, and a search was made for him, with the result that his body was found floating in the tank in about 12 feet of water, his clothes being found near the edge of the tank on the deck. The deceased was the eldest son of the late Sergeant Lyons of the Calcutta Police.

OPIUM SMUGGLING IN THE DOCKS

During the early hours of Tuesday morning, head Constable Mahomed Yeasin Khan, noticed two taxis with Chinamen draw up near Nos. 25 and 26 sheds, Kidderpore Docks. He watched the taxis from a short distance, and saw about six or seven Chinamen alight, each carrying a fairly big parcel. The officer then came up and caught hold of the Chinaman nearest to him. A struggle ensued, whereupon, one of the other Chinamen came to the rescue of his comrade and struck the police officer a blow on the arm with the blunt part of a hatchet. The officer let go his grip and the prisoner bolted, leaving his bundle behind. The officer took charge of the bundle and removed it to the Dock police office, where it was found to contain 20 seers of opium. The matter is under enquiry.

AMRITSAR NATIONAL BANK MURDER CASE

LAHORE, JUNE 4

Judgment was delivered on June 2nd by Colonel Irvine’s Martial Law Commission in the Amritsar National Bank murder case, in which twenty-one persons were charged with offences under Sections 121, 302, 436, 396, 147, 149 and 412 I.P.C. for attacking the National Bank, murdering Messrs. Stewart and Scott of the Bank, sacking and burning the Bank, and looting a godown containing cloth and other goods to the value of several lakhs of rupees. All the accused were convicted. Twenty were sentenced to death and forfeiture of property and one to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment.

CALCUTTA POSTAL PEONS

The Hon. Mr. G.R. Clarke, Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs, who arrived in Calcutta from Simla yesterday informed an Associated Press representative that the question of providing quarters for postal peons had been engaging his attention and that if the Bengal Government agreed it was proposed to obtain a site in Amherst Street for the construction of a proper hostel for postal peons. In the meantime the Director-General will grant a home allowance to peons until the quarters are ready. Mr. Clarke has written letters of thanks to Mr. Pickford, Mr. Kirkham and Dr. S.P. Sarbadhicary expressing warm appreciation of the services rendered by the Anglo-Indian and Bengalee Boy Scouts and the members of the Calcutta University Corps during the recent postal strike.