§ SIR DAVID WEDDERBURNasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether he has considered the proposal to 1123 appoint a Commission of Inquiry, limited as to area and subject, to take independent Native evidence upon certain questions in India; and, whether he is disposed to take a favourable view of such a proposal?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTONSir, the proposal emanated from a body of British gentlemen whose opinions are entitled to the highest consideration. I am afraid I can hardly, within the limits of an answer to a Question, point out all the circumstances that have to be taken into consideration when a proposal such as this is made to appoint an independent inquiry. The Government of India had been carefully watching the matter; but attention to it was necessarily suspended till the conclusion of the war. I could not press them unduly in regard to an inquiry such as this.