§ MR. HUME, seeing the right hon. Baronet the President of the Board of Control in his place, begged to repeat the question which he had put to him a few nights ago regarding the province of Scinde. What he wished to know was, whether Scinde had been annexed as a province to the British Empire, as declared by Lord Ellenborough, in the same manner and under the same conditions as other provinces of the Empire—Ceylon for instance—or whether Scinde was to be considered as a portion of the possessions of the East India Company? And if so, what course was to be adopted regarding its future management, seeing that the present government of that province was altogether different from that of any other under the management of the Company, having neither a presidency nor civil government like every other province.
§ SIR J. C. HOBHOUSE, in answer to the questions put by the hon. Member for Montrose, said: I beg leave to tell him that the province of Scinde is part of the possessions of the hon. East India Company, kept by them in trust for the Crown. The hon. Gentleman will recollect, that in the papers published at the time relating to Scinde, Lord Ellenborough stated it to have been annexed in the usual manner; and in a notification made to the Indian Government he declared that he had entrusted the government of the province to 1162 Sir Charles Napier. When he had so reported the proceedings, he asked for their opinion, informing them that unless he heard from them to the contrary, he should continue the Government in the form in which he had established it. Now, inasmuch as no notification to the contrary has been made as yet, the province has continued to be administered by Sir C. Napier in the manner in which my hon. Friend has correctly described it, as totally differing from that of any other part of the dominions of the British Crown in India. The matter has been considered by the East India Company; and in 1844, the Court of Directors proposed that the Governor General should send them a plan for the establishment of a Government, and the arrangement of the civil administration of the province of Scinde in the usual manner. In consequence, however, of the great measures which at that time, and since, occupied the attention and claimed the consideration of the Governor General, I mean the affairs of the Punjaub, and the other important matters connected with it, the Governor General has not as yet sent in the plan requested by the Court of Directors. In the month of December in the same year, the same opinion was again expressed regarding the necessity for assimilating the government of the province to that of the other portions of our Indian possessions; but inasmuch as the Governor General had not, up to last June—I mean the month of June just passed—sent into the details, similar orders have been sent out to the present Governor General; and before the autumn I expect to receive the full plan from Lord Hardinge.