§ MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been drawn to the following statements in a recent despatch from the Secretary to the Indian Association, at Calcutta, to the 1697 Chief Secretary to the Government of Bengal:—
The Committee have recently made inquiries into the working of the out-still system in some of the chief places in the Hooghly and the Howrah districts where out stills have been opened.…. From almost everywhere the same tale is heard, of persons lying dead drunk on the roads in the vicinity of the out-still, of attempted outrages on the passers by, of quarrels and fights, and of the general increase of crime. The liquor has been cheapened by nearly three fourths. A bottle of liquor which formerly cost a rupee may now be had for four annas;and, whether he can state what answer has been given thereto by the Government of Bengal?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The Secretary of the Indian Association at Calcutta has not informed the Secretary of State of his recent letter to the Government of Bengal, nor of the answer given thereto by the Government of Bengal. A correspondence between a Local Governor and an Association established in Calcutta would be conducted in India, without reference to the India Office.