§ MR. BIGGARasked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is a fact that serious disturbances have occurred in the Madras Presidency (Malabar District); whether one European soldier and twelve insurgents have recently been killed in an encounter, and one European officer and several soldiers wounded; whether a force consisting of several companies of the Oxfordshire Regiment, several companies of Sepoys, and two guns has, since the 824 above encounter, taken the field in the disturbed district; and, whether any reason can be assigned for this serious outbreak?
§ MR. J. K. CROSSThe official Report which the Government of India has promised on the subject of the disturbance in Malabar has not yet been received; but the main facts are, I believe, as follow:—Some Hindus were murdered by Moplahs, who took refuge in a Hindu temple, where they defended themselves for some hours against a detachment of troops, refusing, as is their custom, to take quarter. The Moplahs belong to a class of Mohammedan fanatics in Malabar, who from time to time commit outrages of this kind, which it is necessary to suppress by military force.