§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether it is the fact that the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh has been arrested at Aden; whether, before leaving England, he had been informed that he would not be allowed to proceed to India; and, whether any special reasons exist other than those of general policy for this treatment of the Maharajah?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY (Mr. STAFFORD HOWARD) (Gloucester, Thornbury)Yes, Sir, it is a fact that the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh has been arrested at Aden. Arrangements had been made for his residence at a place in Southern India designated by the Viceroy; but the issue by the Maharajah of an inflammatory address to the 26 Sikh nation, added to certain other declarations by him of a somewhat menacing character, rendered it necessary, in the opinion of the Government of India, to put in force the special powers possessed by the Governor General in Council as soon as the Maharajah came within their jurisdiction at Aden. The address to the Sikhs having been issued by the Maharajah only just before his departure, the decision of the Viceroy was not known to the Secretary of State till some time after the Maharajah had left England. The Maharajah had, however, been specially warned of the powers under which the Government of India can, for purposes of State, place individuals under personal restraint.