§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the statement made by the Chairman of the Burma Ruby Mines Company, Limited, at the ordinary general meeting of shareholders of that company, held on the 16th instant, to the effect that the Board had that day discussed the propriety of applying to the Government of India to relieve them of the payment of four lakhs of rupees per annum agreed on as the price of their concession, on the ground that the operations of the company had not resulted profitably; and whether he will undertake that no remission of this portion of the Indian Revenue shall take place without the House of Commons being previously informed of the fact?
SIR J. GORSTThe Secretary of State has received no official communication on the subject, but he has seen a newspaper report of the meeting. The Secretary of State cannot give the pledge suggested. But no such application has 333 been made either to him or, so far as he knows, to the Government of India, and he is not aware of any grounds upon which the rent of the Ruby Mines could be justly remitted.