§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEsaid, he would bog to ask the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the Government have had under their consideration the position of the Presidency 428 Banks, and whether they propose to take any steps with reference thereto?
MR. GRANT DUFFIn reply to my right hon. Friend I have to say that the Government has had, and still has, under its consideration the position of the Presidency Banks. Recent events have made the relation of the Government to those banks—which was always anomalous and unsatisfactory—more anomalous and unsatisfactory than ever. Indeed, the facts which I stated on Monday last, in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton (Mr. Gilpin), are the reductio ad absurdum of the whole situation. The question for the Government now to consider is, whether it should not withdraw from its position as a shareholder in the Presidency Banks, and we have asked the opinion of the Government of India on the whole matter, and especially as to the way in which it thinks our withdrawal could be effected with most advantage to the public and with least inconvenience to our fellow-shareholders.