§ SIR JOSEPH PEASEasked the Secretary of State for India, Whether the 1977 time has now arrived when he can properly lay upon the Table of the House his Despatch to the Government of India relative to the cultivation of Opium in India and the trade with China, and the reply of the Government of India to that Despatch, and any Minutes that may have been made on these Papers by any members of the Council of State for India; and, the Correspondence between the Government of Bombay and the Government of India on the question of Opium cultivation, and especially of the introduction of that cultivation into Sind?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON, in reply, said, that the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had promised to lay on the Table several important Papers connected with this subject; and, in these circumstances, he could have no objection to lay on the Table his despatch and the reply of the Government of India. As to the Minutes of Members of Council, he was not aware of the existence of more than one. Personally, he had not the slightest objection to produce it; but he was not sure whether it was in accordance with the usual practice to lay on the Table the Minutes of Members of Council upon a matter as to which no final decision had been arrived at. He would make further inquiries on that point. As to the Correspondence between the Government of Bombay and the Government of India, the India Office was in possession of only one letter of the Government of Bombay. There was nothing in the nature of a Correspondence, and it would be premature to lay such Papers as these were on the Table.