§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in the last few months, he has received deputations and communications from Lancashire Members on the subject of the Amendment of the Indian Factory Act, and Her Majesty's Government have consequently urged the demands of those Members on the Government of India; and if the Correspondence so occasioned, subsequent to the Despatches on the Berlin Conference already laid upon the Table, can be produced now that the Government of India has submitted a Bill to the Indian Legislature?
§ *THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. H. SMITH,) Strand, WestminsterThe only communiation I have had was with the hon. Member for Oldham (Mr. Maclean), when I answered his question some time ago. To the best of my recollection, he asked me to answer a question which he had placed on the Paper, and I begged him to postpone it in order that I might transmit the question to India and obtain a reply. There is no Correspondence on the subject which I am able to produce.
§ SIR G. CAMPBELLIs there any truth in the paragraph which appears in the Times this morning, to the effect that certain parts of the Bill have been presented to the Indian Legislature, contrary to the pledges given to the Imperial 748 Parliament, and have not been accepted?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHI am not aware whether there is any truth in that Statement or not. The hon. Member has not given me notice of the question, or I would have informed myself.