§ MR. WEBB (Waterford, W.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether inquiry is being made as to the proceedings of any Military or Civil authorities in India in regard to the Contagious Diseases Acts or Cantonment Acts, or any similar regulations; whether he will state under what circumstances and at whose instance such inquiry has been instituted; and what is the nature of the tribunal, of whom it is composed, and what is its scope or order of reference?
*MR. GEORGE RUSSELLYes, Sir. At the instance of my right hon. Friend the Member for Halifax and my hon. Friend the Member for Shoreditch, the Secretary of State has appointed a Departmental Committee, consisting of my right hon. Friend just mentioned, my 445 hon. Friend the Member for the Holmfirth Division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, General Sir Donald Stewart and Sir James Peile, Members of the Council of India, with myself as Chairman, and the Military Secretary of the India Office as Secretary. Its object is to inquire into the rules, regulations, and practice in the Indian cantonments, and elsewhere in India, with regard to prostitutes and to the treatment of venereal diseases in order to ascertain and report how far they accord with the Re-solution of the House of Commons of 5th June, 1881—namely,
That, in the opinion of this House, any mere suspension of measures for the compulsory examination of women, and for licensing and regulating prostitution in India is insufficient, and the legislation which enjoins, authorises, or permits such measures ought to be repealed.