§ MR. P. O'BRIEN (Monaghan, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether the Secretary of State will cause inquiry to be made into the expediency of continuing magisterial powers to Collectors of Revenue in India; whether complaints have been made in the Madras Presidency of recent years of the abuse of these powers; and, whether Revenue defaulters and unwilling witnesses are summoned to distant Courts and camps and kept in waiting from day to day by the adjournment of their cases?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The Secretary of State sees no necessity for causing inquiry to be made into the expediency of continuing magisterial powers to Collectors of Revenue in India; nor is he aware that complaints have been made in recent years in the Madras Presidency of the abuse of these powers, which have always existed. When collectors and magistrates are moving through their districts in the performance of their duties, witnesses and others who have business to transact may occasion ally be put to inconvenience. That, however, is unavoidable, and every effort is made to lessen it as much as possible.