§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to a telegram from its Rangoon Correspondent, published in The Times of 28th February, in which it is stated that three Dacoits having been killed in an encounter with armed police, "their heads were cut off and carried to Bassein," and that "the practice of decapitating Shan Dacoits, and carrying their heads about the country, is generally condemned; "whether it is true that the practice exists in the British Police Force in Burmah of decapitating dead enemies and carrying their heads about the country; and, whether he will make inquiry into the specific instance mentioned and order the immediate discontinuance of the practice, and the reprimand of those concerned in it if it is found to exist?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The Secretary of State cannot believe that such a practice as that of decapitating Dacoits and carrying their heads about the country exists in Burmah. He has already telegraphed to India to ask for the facts in the specific case referred to.