§ MR. KINNAIRDsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for India, with reference to the question of the construction of Railways in India, If he will include, with the Despatches to be laid upon the Table, the Minutes of the Members of Council thereon?
MR. GRANT DUFFsaid, in reply, that his hon. Friend was evidently under a misconception. It was not the practice for Members of Council to write Minutes on despatches. They had the right to record dissents from proceedings in Council, and these dissents were entered in a Minute Book. None had yet been entered with reference to this railway question. If his hon. Friend was pointing at anything which existed he must be pointing at certain confidential opinions, given long before these despatches arrived, to the Secretary of State by Members of Council for his information. These were private documents, just as private as anyone's private letters.