§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOURasked the Under Secretary of State for India, If he will now be able to present to the House as brief a memorandum as the subject will allow, showing the main heads of the arrangements connected with the permanent settlement of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, entered into in 1793, so as to bring out the nature and extent of the provisions for the protection of the cultivators, also the money settlements between the Zemindars and the Government, the amounts to be paid to Government and amount to be retained by the Zemindars, contrasting these estimates with those of modern times so as to show the differences; and, further, information to be supplied, regarding public functions to be performed and public works to be executed by the Zemindars, and how far these obligations have been fulfilled and works of a character beneficial to the cultivator have been carried out?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSOn Thursday last I answered a Question very similar to the one now put to me by my hon. and gallant Friend, and asked him to await the presentation of Papers, which I hoped would contain the information he wishes to obtain. I must again repeat my answer, saying, also, that the Secretary of State cannot issue such a Memorandum, as it would necessarily 227 involve questions of a very controversial character.