§ MR. HUNTER (Aberdeen, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to the following resolution passed at the Indian National Congress held in Bombay on the 28th, 29th, and 30th December 1885:—
That this Congress deprecates the annexation of Upper Burmah, and considers that, if the Government unfortunately decide on annexation, the entire Country of Burmah should be separated from the Indian Viceroyalty, and constituted a Crown Colony, as distinct in all matters from the Government of this Country as is Ceylon;whether the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce, in May 1885, expressed its desire that "Burmah may be constituted a Colony unattached to the Indian Peninsular;" and, whether, having regard to those indications of opinion from India and from Burmah in favour of the separation of the two Countries, the Government will take the question into their consideration?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir UGHTRED KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH) (Lancashire, Clitheroe)The Secretary of State is aware of the Resolution passed at the Indian National 94 Congress held in Bombay in December last, and also of the opinion of the Rangoon Chamber of Commerce expressed in May, that Burmah should be constituted a Crown Colony; but it is not, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, necessary to consider the question of separating Burmah from the Indian Empire.