§ MR. SMOLLETTasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the term of three years of grace given to the East India Irrigation Company in 1874, for repayment of their debenture debt having expired, that association is now prepared to repay by instalments portions of the capital debt contracted many years ago; and, whether, if neither capital nor interest be paid, legal measures will be taken to enforce payment?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONThe hon. Gentleman is sufficiently acquainted with the past complicated transactions between the Indian Government and the Madras Irrigation Company to obviate the necessity of my recapitulating them. No interest on the sums advanced by the Government of India has been paid, and a considerable portion of the principal, though due, has not been repaid. In dealing with the Company Lord Salisbury's one object has been to diminish the annual loss imposed hitherto upon 1858 the Indian Exchequer, and if legal measures will facilitate that end, he will not hesitate to resort to them.