§ MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether he can state what reply was given by the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal to the Petition forwarded to him in November, 1887, from 17 villages in the Santhal Pergunnah, India, requesting him to close eight liquor shops in those localities on account of the intemperance they produced among the Natives.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham), in reply, said, that no information was in possession of the Secretary of State to enable the Question to be answered; but he might state that the matter was entirely within the discretion of the Government of Bengal.