§ MR. BRADLAUGHI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether the Indian Government documents relating to the acquisition of the lands and material in certain of the states of Buudelkund, Central India, for the purposes of the Indian Midland Railway, numbered respectively 357, 359, 272, 2,550, G86, 584, and 756, of 1886, concerned all the States through which the railway runs, and covered the acquisition of all lands, and the purchase of timbers, stones, &c.; whether in the engagements entered into under these documents a sum of about five lakhs of rupees have been claimed by certain chiefs of States in Bundelkund; whether, notwithstanding such engagements, Mr. Henvey, the Agent of the Governor General of Central India, has recommended that no compensation be paid to the chiefs, on the ground that collateral advantages may hereafter accrue to 1342 them; and whether the Government will lay upon the Table the Papers relating to the transactions entered into with any and all of the chiefs of States in Bundelkund, through which the Indian Midland Railway runs, by the contractors for the railway, or by any other parties in connection with the railway.
* SIR J. GORSTWith the exception of No. 272, which was the subject of my reply on the 3rd of July, none of the documents referred to in the question can be traced. The question will be sent to the Government of India in ordinary course.