§ MR. J. M. MACLEAN (Oldham)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, If it is true that the concession of all the mining rights in the State of Hyderabad, granted to a syndicate, with the sanction of the Government of India, for £150,000, was immediately re-sold in London to a Company for £1,000,000; if, in order to force up the prices of this Company's shares, the Nizam was persuaded by his late Home Secretary, Abdul Hak, who had recommended the concession, to invest £150,000 in the purchase of shares at a premium; if it is the case, as stated by Sir Salar Jung, that—
A special Committee, composed of India Office officials, was appointed to watch Abdul Hak's proceedings, and give him advice during the course of his negotiations;if the India Office was cognisant of, and gave its sanction to, such an investment of money belonging to a Native Prince under its protection; and, if he will lay upon the Table of the House a Copy of the Yellow Book published at Hyderabad, in which Abdul Hak gives a full account of these transactions?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The contract of January 7, 1886, between the Government of the Nizam and Messrs. Watson and Stewart for the grant of mining rights in Hyderabad was described by me, in reply to a, 334 Question in the House of Commons, on June 27, 1887. The contract itself, the negotiations which led to it, and the circumstances under which it was sanctioned by the Government of India and the Secretary of State, can be found in Papers laid before Parliament in September, 1887. For the subsequent transactions of Messrs. Watson and Stewart, of the Company formed, and of the Nizam's Government in relation thereto, the Secretary of State has no responsibility. A Committee of the Council of India had in 1883 the question of a grant of mining rights in connection with the proposed extension of the Nizam's State Railway under consideration. Their conclusions are to be found in the Papers above-mentioned, page 3, and were adverse to such grants. The matter was not again under the consideration of the Council, or any Committee thereof, till after the contract of January 7, 1886, had been executed, with the approval of the Government of India. On May 16, 1887, the Secretary of State received a telegram from the Government of India in these words—
Hyderabad ruining operations promise well. Nizam's Government wishes to take shares in the Company. The Resident thinks this desirable, and recommends our raising no objection, while accepting no responsibility. We have agreed.No action was taken on this telegram; and the Secretary of State was neither aware of the actual purchase of shares nor gave any assistance to Abdul Hak in relation thereto by appointment of a Special Committee or otherwise. If the hon. Member will move for the Yellow Book it will be laid On the Table.
§ MR. J. M. MACLEANasked, whether the hon. Gentleman meant to say that the Government had no responsibility for this contract? How did it happen that the Government of India were consulted about the purchase of these shares, and then allowed a Native Prince to come into the London market without seeing that he was not shamefully robbed.
§ Loan RANDOLPH CHURCHILL (Paddington, S.)How is the hon. Gentleman able to contend that the Secretary of State had no responsility for the action of the Goverment of India?
§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)asked, will the hon. Gentleman state whether, when Colonel Marshall telegraphed to Abdul Hak in England as to the purchase of these shares that the purchase and the arrangements connected with them were satisfactory, he had no authority on the part of the Indian Government to do so, and that the Indian Government accepted no responsibility?