§ SIR EDWARD WATKIN (Hythe)asked the Under Secretary of State for India whether his attention had been called to the fact that the "Statistical Abstract relating to British India," last published, shows (pp. 142, 143) that the imports into India from the United States of America, had increased from a value of £297,717 in 1878, to £1,887,396 in 1887; whether the larger item in these figures was petroleum; why petroleum was not to be found in the classification of articles of import; and if he could state the value of petroleum from the United States imported into India in 1887, and the probable value in the year about to end?
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST,) ChathamThe answer to the first and second paragraph is "Yes." In future volumes of the Statistical Abstracts, petroleum will be shown separately. For the year ending March, 1887, the value of petroleum from the United States imported into India was Rx1,136,000; for the year ending March, 1888, Rx981,000; and for ten months to the 31st of January, 1889, Rx802,000.