§ MR. CAIRDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether it is the intention of the Government in India to impose Export Duties on the more important staples of that country, and whether the Home Government approve of that course of policy?
MR, CRAWFORDsaid, he would also beg to ask the right hon. Baronet, Whether he has received any official account of the Financial Statement of the Indian Government in India?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODSir, I have not yet received any official accounts of the financial measures proposed in India, but I have received private letters upon the subject, containing a copy of Sir Charles Trevelyan's speech and the Report of the proceedings of the Council of the Governor General by which the Act was passed imposing these duties. I must confess that the course which has been taken is directly the reverse of what I had reason to expect, and, moreover, that it is not the course I myself should have thought right to propose. I only received these letters yesterday, and, in point of fact, have not yet had time thoroughly to master their contents, but I quite agree in the opinion that on questions so much affecting the trade between India and this country, it is of the greatest possible importance that the commercial interests of this country should be informed, as speedily as possible, what it is intended to do. I therefore summoned together this morning as many of the Council of India as I could assemble for the purpose of giving the matter our best consideration, and I may now say that with their entire concurrence it will be my duty not to sanction the imposition of the Export Duties.