§ MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for India whether there is any truth in the statement which had appeared in the public Press, that official pressure had been brought to bear (in a number of cases with success) upon the Indian (Native) medical men in Bombay, who signed the Petition to Parliament against the opium traffic, to lead them to recant; whether he has any reason to doubt the genuineness of the Petition; and whether he is aware that a Parsee medical man in Bombay was a witness to the signatures of some of the medical practitioners?
* MR. GEORGE RUSSELLThe Secretary of State has no reason to think that official pressure has been brought to bear upon medical men in Bombay to lead them to recant the opinions they may have expressed regarding the opium traffic. The Petition which my hon. Friend mentions was not addressed to the Secretary of State, nor has he seen the original document. But it has been specially brought to the notice of the Royal Commission on Opium, who are about to visit Bombay and will be able to verify the facts. The Secretary of State knows nothing as to the witnessing of the signatures to this Petition.