§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy, &c.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the attention of the Secretary of State has been called to a recent case at a place called Meturpore, in Bengal, where a number of villagers who claimed a customary right of fishing in certain waters were, for attempting to exercise such rights, convicted of theft and punished with flogging by a European Magistrate and Civil Servant, who was, in consequence, severely censured by the High Court, and reduced in power and position by the Government; and, whether, in addition to the censure passed, the Secretary of State will further inquire into this case, and also generally into the practice of inflicting flogging as a punishment in India?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The case referred to in the Question appears to have been adequately dealt with by the High Court and Government of Bengal, and the Secretary of State sees no reason for further inquiry. The 7 then Secretary of State called attention to the subject of flogging in 1882, with the result of greatly diminishing the frequency of that punishment.