§ MR. E. STANHOPEasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that it is not now intended to press the Bengal Tenancy Bill during the present Session of the Legislative Council in Calcutta; and, if so, whether the opportunity will be taken of inquiring, by means of a small Commission, into the justice of the complaints made by the landowners in Bengal and Behar against the provisions of the Bill, alleging it to be confiscatory in its provisions and an undoubted breach of the permanent settlement?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSSir, the magnitude and importance of the Bengal Tenancy Bill are such that it is quite possible that it may not be passed during the 872 current Session. The Secretary of State, however, has not received any information to this effect from the Government of India. A Commission has already sat and inquired at great length into the whole subject, and I can assure the hon. Member that any complaints against the provisions of the Bill will be carefully considered by the Select Committee of the Governor General's Council, to which it has, in accordance with the usual practice, been referred.