§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether Mr. Howell, having been appointed to the Hyderabad Residency at an exceptionally difficult crisis, and having acted in the capacity of Resident to the satisfaction of the Government for 18 months or upwards, has lately been removed because he differed from the Nizam's Ministers in regard to the grant of fresh concessions to the parties in London who obtained the Deccan Mines Concessions in collusion with the Nizam's representative; whether the Secretary of State in Council has disapproved of the arrangement so made, and referred it back to India; and whether, under these circumstances, care will be to maintain the independence of judgment of the British Resident?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST, Chatham)Mr. Howell was never appointed Resident at Hyderabad. He was in March, 1888, directed to officiate as Resident during the absence of the late incumbent of that office, and he continued in the temporary post until a successor was appointed. The Secretary of State has no reason to suppose that the non-appointment of Mr. Howell to the permanent office was due to any difference of opinion with the Nizam's Ministers in respect to the Deccan Mining Company. The Secretary of State has 1470 not disapproved of the arrangements made. He has no doubt that the Viceroy, in selecting an officer for the important post of Resident at Hyderabad, has exercised the discretion vested in him with due regard to the public interest.