§ MR. MACKARNESS (Berkshire, Newbury)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is in a position to make any statement to the House as to the condition of affairs in the Punjab, and as to when it will be possible for the Government of India to allow the persons who have been deported to Mandalay to return to their homes.
§ MR. MORLEYThe most recent reports mark a gradual but distinct improvement in the Punjab, judging from the surface. If this improvement continues somewhat longer, and when we have good reason to believe that the two persons referred to in the Question are not likely to renew the course of mischievous action that brought them within reach of the law of 1818 for the security of the British dominions from internal commotion, then the time will have come for releasing them from the operation of that law. Nobody will be better pleased at the early arrival of that result than His Majesty's Government.