§ MR. BRADLAUGH (Northampton)In the absence of the Under Secretary for India, I beg to ask the right hon. Baronet the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Secretary of State is aware that the late Maharaja Scindia, in a letter dated 30th June, 1886, asked the Government of India that his son and heir should not be placed "under the instruction of a European tutor," and that, in reply, the Viceroy, by a service telegram, dated 19th June, stated that the Government of India would "make every effort to meet Your Highness's wishes;" whether, in spite of this promise, the two Indian tutors appointed by the late Maharaja have been removed, although the Government of India stated they were "entirely satisfied with the progress His Highness had made" under their care, and a European tutor, Mr. W. D. Johnstone, Principal of Rajkumai College, has been appointed; whether the cost of the education of the Maharaja for salaries alone has been increased from Rs.325 per month to Rs.2,700 per month; and whether the Secretary of State will see that the promise made to the late Maharaja by the Marquess of Dufferin is kept, and that the tutors appointed by the Maharaja shall continue the course of instruction with which the Government of India was entirely satisfied?
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON,) Manchester, N.E.The late-Maharaja Scindia, in May, 1886, informed the Government of India that he had appointed two native tutors for his son. The Viceroy, in reply, telegraphed, on the 19th of June, that "the Government of India will always be most anxious to act, as far as possible, in accordance with the wishes you have expressed." In reply to the second question of the hon. Member, I have to say that, in 1889, the Government of India, having regard to the Maharaja's age, resolved that the time had come to place His Highness 1806 under an English tutor, and Mr. John stone was appointed. Mr. Johnstone's salary is Rs.1,500 a month. The Secretary of State has no other information as to the education of the Maharaja. The Government of India, as promised by Lord Dufferin, has "always been most anxious to act, far as possible, in accordance with the wishes" of the late Maharaja. The present arrangement has been approved by the Council of the Regency.