§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR, asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is true that Maharajah Dhuleep Singh is selling jewels for the purpose of raising £20,000 for the expenses of a proposed visit to India; and, whether the Government intend to interfere, or will leave the Maharajah to act on his own responsibility?
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYI should like to ask a Question on this subject. It is, Whether the Maharajah and his family have ever received the £45,000 a-year guaranteed to them by the Treaty of Lahore of 1840; or, whether the income of the Maharajah has been 134 so diminished by the action of the British Government for many years past that he has not had a larger sum than £13,000 available, rendering it impossible for him to live in this country in a manner to which his position entitles him; and, whether the Government will give a debtor and creditor account of their financial dealings with the Maharajah under the Treaty of 1849?
§ MR. ONSLOWI would also ask, Whetherthe Maharajah has given us any reasons for his visiting India at all; and under what stipulations the Government of India have placed him in regard to his journey?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSPerhaps the two hon. Members will give the usual Notice of their Questions. In reply to my hon. and gallant Friend whose Question is on the Paper, I may say that I understand that the Maharajah is selling his jewels with the intention of proceeding to India. The matter is not one in which the Government can interfere; but it was intimated to the Maharajah last October by the Secretary of State that, in the event of his proceeding to India, it would be necessary for him to regulate his movements in conformity with the instructions he might receive from the Viceroy.