§ MR. AKROYDsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, Why the survey of the direct route from Rangoon to Kianhung, on the South Western frontier of China, has not been completed, and on what grounds the preference has been given 10 the survey of the route by Bhamo to Talifu (Assam and Calcutta) in the North West of China?
§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEsaid, in reply, that the grounds upon which the survey of the route between Rangoon and Kianhung had been suspended were stated in the Papers already presented to the House. The survey had been carried on as far as the limits of the British territory; but upon the representation of the Governor General of India that it might involve political complications if it were carried through the independent States, he (Sir Stafford Northcote) had issued an Order directing the survey to be suspended. In regard to the survey of the route by way of Bhamo to Talifu, that had nothing to do with the survey of Rangoon. It was authorized by the Governor General without asking the permission of the Secretary of State; because, as he (Sir Stafford Northcote) imagined, there were no similar political difficulties to be apprehended.