§ MR. O'DONNELLasked the Under Secretary of State for India, If Sir James Gordon, Commissioner of Mysore, recommended Lord Ripon to approve the renewal of the concession of twenty square miles of land in Mysore for mining purposes to Messrs. Lavelle and Mackenzie and Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford; whether Sir James Gordon informed Lord Ripon that Mr. Mackenzie was senior partner of the firm of Arbuthnot and Co. of Madras, and Member of the Madras Legislative Council, and that Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford was Officiating Deputy Adjutant General of the Madras Army; was Lord Ripon made aware of the relations between Arbuthnot and Co. and the mining enterprises which had previously been attempted upon the lands in question; and, whether Lord Ripon knowingly sanctioned the connection of officials of the Madras Government and Madras Army with these proceedings, or why was he not informed upon those points?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSThe details of this transaction, so far as they are known in the India Office, wore explained to the House on the 14th of August last by the late Secretary of State, in answer to a Question of the hon. Member for Dungarvan. The concession in question was granted in 1877, and was for three years, from March, 1876. In 1878, it was further extended to February, 1880, and in February, 1880, it was further extended for a period of three years. The terms of the concession were approved by the Government of India before the assumption of Office by the present Viceroy, who took his seat in June, 1880. There is no reason to suppose that all the facts connected with the matter were not at the time fully before the Government.