EAST INDIA (INDIA STORE DEPARTMENT, LONDON). RETURN to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 17th December, 1925;-for, RETURN of the REPORT on the WORK of the INDIA STORE DEPARTMENT, LONDON, for the year 1924-25." India Office, } A. HIRTZEL, 18th December, 1925. J Under-Secretary of State for India. (Mr. Wardlaw-Milne.) Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed, LONDON: PRINTED & PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H. M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W.1: York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; or 120, George Street, Edinburgh; or through any Bookseller. 1926 Price 1s. net, LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY TO THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR INDIA TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIES AND LABOUR, DATED 14TH SEPTEMBER, 1925. In accordance with the request contained in your letter No. S. 483, dated 25th September, 1924, I am directed by the High Commissioner to forward the first Annual Report on the working of the India Store Department in London, covering the financial year 1924-5, submitted by the Director-General of Stores. The Report gives a full account of the activities of the Store Department in London, and the High Commissioner hopes that it will be useful to the various Departments of the Government of India, to Provincial Governments, to Members of the Indian Legislature, and to the general public in India. Sir Atul Chatterjee has been concerned with the working of the Department for only three months during the year under report. He has devoted considerable attention, both to the general lines of policy followed in the Department and to its detailed work. He hopes in the course of the current year to obtain a fuller experience of the operations of the Department, and he has only a few brief observations to offer on the present Report. 2. The Director-General has furnished interesting particulars, in para. 4 of the Report and in Appendix C, of the distribution of the orders placed during the year among the different countries in Europe and America from which the stores have been drawn. The High Commissioner has carefully examined the system of publicity given to the requirements of the Indian Governments, as explained in paras. 32-4 of the Report. He is satisfied that leading manufacturers in all parts of Europe and America receive due notice of the larger requirements of the India Store Department and that adequate competition is secured in the tenders offered. This matter receives continuous personal attention from the High Commissioner, and he will not hesitate to adopt modifications in the present system should they be required in the interests of economy or efficiency. In this connection Sir Atul Chatterjee would like to draw attention to the fact that in the case of many large orders considerable economy could be secured if the stores were not required for urgent delivery. The Store Department in London is often compelled to accept higher tenders in order to secure quick delivery. It is realised that in many instances speedy delivery of the stores in India is required for important reasons, but Sir Atul Chatterjee thinks that it will be useful if consuming Departments in India would give earnest and continued attention to the possibility of forecasting their requirements in good time in order that the Store Department in London might secure the placing of orders at a favourable time both for price and delivery. The Director-General has referred, in para. 31 of his Report, to the important question of speeding up supplies, and has specified various causes of delay which are beyond the control of the London Department. The High Commissioner wishes to add that instances have come to his notice where delays have been caused by incomplete and unsatisfactory specifications in the indents received, and in some cases, even after orders have been placed, instructions have been received for very radical changes in the specifications. The High Commissioner has instructed the Director-General of Stores to report glaring cases of this nature for reference to the Government of India. 3. The Director-General has discussed, in paras. 7-10, the cost of the Department and the incidence of the charges. I am to state that the High Commissioner hopes to make a fuller examination of this question during the course of this year. The taking over of the supplies required for the East Indian Railway and the Great Indian Peninsula Railway should reduce the percentage of overhead charges. In considering the cost of the Department it has to be remembered that it is not a mere purchasing agency, but employs a highly-qualified technical staff for the purposes of test, inspection, and advice. (See para. 20 of the Report and Appendix J.) Without the entertainment of this staff it would be impossible to maintain the high quality of the stores purchased through the Department or to secure ultimate economy in the transactions. The High Commissioner trusts that steps will be taken by the consuming departments in India to encourage their indenting officers freely to consult the technical staff of the India Store Department in London with regard to their requirements. Apart from correspondence from such officers in India, the Director-General would welcome visits from officers interested in the work who might happen to be in London on leave or deputation. 4. As indicated in para. 29 of the Report, the Store Department has been utilised on various occasions to secure advice and assistance in respect of finding suitable facilities for the technical training of Indian students in this country. Sir Atul Chatterjee agrees with the Director-General in thinking that the assistance of the technical and commercial officers of the Store Department should be utilised in a larger measure for this purpose without in any way modifying the principle that has been laid down by his predecessors and accepted by the Government of India of complete dissociation of this work from the commercial transactions of the Department. The matter is engaging the attention of the High Commissioner in connection with the reorganisation of the Educational Department of his office as the result of the orders of the Government of India on the Report of the Lytton Committee on Indian Students. 5. In paras. 36-7 of his Report Colonel Paddon has furnished interesting particulars regarding the effect of the new rules for the supply of articles for the public service which were recently |