§ MR. SMOLLETTsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether a proposition has been made to 799 purchase the works of the East India Irrigation and Canal Company for a sum of £890,000—namely, £740,000 actually expended on the works, and £150,000, being interest paid out of capital; and, whether the negotiation for purchase was made with the full knowledge that for many months previously the capital stock of the Irrigation Company was quoted in the daily list of shares at from 20 to 30 per cent discount?
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEreplied that, in consequence of a strong recommendation from the Government of India, he, in the month of November last, made an offer to purchase their stock at a valuation. What the amount would have been he could not say. This was not only declined but refused with some expression of indignation at so low an offer having been made. He had no reason, therefore, to think that the offer was an extravagant one.