HC Deb 30 July 1883 vol 282 cc926-8
MR. PASSMORE EDWARDS

asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to an article in the current number of the "Nineteeth Century," entitled "The Spoliation of India," stating on the authority of a Parliamentary Return that an amount of £12,776,573 is annually drawn by Europeans from the Indian Treasury in sums of more than £100 each, and that of this amount no less than £4,006,000 are yearly drawn by non-residents in India, and whether the said Return will now be printed, so as to be easily accessible to Members of the House and to the public; whether he has observed in the same article a statement to the effect that the Indian Government has recently entered into ar- rangements whereby the Native States of India have been induced or compelled To close up or make over to our officers their own internal sources of supply of salt, and to force their subjects to pay the exorbitant prices exacted by the British monopoly; what is the average increase in the price of salt in the Native States consequent on the said arrangements, and how many millions of persons are affected by it; what is the average proportion of the said increase that will under the said arrangements go to the Native, and what to the British Indian Treasuries respectively; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House the Correspondence which passed between our Indian political officers and the Native States on this subject, in particular that with the Gwalior, Jeypore, Jodhpore, and Indore States?

MR. J. K. CROSS

Sir, my attention has been called to the very extraordinary article in The Nineteenth Century, entitled "The Spoliation of India." I think it would be well that parts of the very voluminous Return of Indian salaries and pensions presented in 1881 should be printed for the information of the House. If the nominal lists are omitted, I believe it would not cover more than 16 or 20 pages of print. With respect to the pensions, I may say that in a speech in this House on the 8th of May last I said that they were about £4,000,000 sterling in England, and about 119 lacs of rupees in India; the total cost to India to provide this payment being some 60,000,000 rupees. This includes the pensions of Natives. As regards the last four paragraphs of my hon. Friend's Question, I may say that it is quite impossible, within the limits of an answer to a Question, to state the arrangements which have been made with the Native States, respecting salt and other duties; but I will lay upon the Table of the House the letter of the Government of India of the 26th September, 1878, reporting, for approval, the nature and consequences of these arrangements, by which it is shown the Native States receive an amount equal to the whole of the increased tax on the salt consumption of their populations. The India Office does not possess the Correspondence asked for, which, with few exceptions, is in the vernacular.

MR. O'DONNELL

Can the hon. Gentleman say what is the increase in the average price of salt in the Native States consequent on this arrangement, and how many millions of people are affected by it?

MR. J. K. CROSS

I would rather prefer to wait until the Return which I have said I will lay before the House is ready for presentation. At the present time I have not the information.