§ SIR R. LETHBRIDGE (Kensington, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether one result of the commencement of a cadastral survey of Behar will be the creation of a large number of new appointments, at a heavy cost to the cultivators of the districts affected; whether his attention has been drawn to the representations of the Board of Revenue and other responsible officials to the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal that the appointment of these strange officials will probably be productive of much extortion and litigation; whether an English officer has already been appointed, on a large salary, to direct survey operations, which, it is now stated, will not commence till October or until after the present distress has abated; and whether further appointments will be delayed, until it is known 1433 whether the monsoon that is expected in June will mitigate or intensify the famine?
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. GURZON,) Lancashire, Southport(1) The Secretary of State has heard nothing of the creation of a large number of new appointments. The survey work will be undertaken for the most part by Behar village officials. The total cost, it is expected, will be within the estimated limit of eight annas per acre. (2) It is considered that the employment of the agency of village officials under a system of careful inspection will prevent extortion and oppression. Landholders and cultivators have been publicly invited to bring any complaints to notice. (3) Lieutenant Colonel Sandeman, a first grade Deputy Superintendent of Survey, has been appointed to direct the operations, with an allowance of Bs.400 a month in addition to his former salary, and is now engaged in making the preliminary arrangements. (4) It is not expected that any additional staff will be employed till the commencement of operations in October.
§ SIR R. LETHBRIDGEMay I ask the hon. Gentleman if the Secretary of State is aware that appointments have been made of officers from the North-West Provinces and other parts of India who are entirely strange to the country, and further, whether the Secretary of State will telegraph for full information on this and other points connected with the survey?
*MR. CURZONI shall be much obliged if the hon. Gentleman will place before me the information on which he bases his first question, and upon that must depend my ability to give an answer to the second.