§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to a letter in the Pall Mail Gazette of 10th June, from Mr. W. S. Caine, stating that Mr. Oudh Behari Lal, of Allahabad, who had been nominated for a Government appointment in the North-West Provinces, was refused the appointment by the chief of the department, because he had publicly advocated the views of the Indian National Congress, and was the honorary secretary of the Allahabad branch of the Anglo-Indian Temperance Association; and whether it is the intention of the Government of India to disqualify for Government service those Indians who identify themselves with the Congress and Temperance movements?
MR. CURZONThe Secretary of State has seen Mr. Caine's letter, but has no further information on the subject. There is no such intention as that spoken of in paragraph 2, so long as applicants for official employment, whether natives or Europeans, do not identify themselves with movements of the nature of those mentioned in a manner which would be inconsistent with the proper discharge of official duties.
§ MR. SUMMERSWill the hon. Gentleman make inquiry into the case mentioned in the letter?
MR. CURZONThe question and my answer to it will be sent out to India, and attention will thus be drawn to it.