§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether a Commission has been, or will be, appointed to inquire into the action of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, with the consent of the Viceroy of India, with reference to the abolition of the right of trial by Jury in Bengal in many classes of cases which previously were subject to that mode of trial; and what measures have been taken, or will be taken, by the Secretary of State for India, should such a Commission not have been decided upon, to preserve to the inhabitants of Bengal the right they have hitherto enjoyed of trial by a jury of their fellow-subjects?
MR. G. RUSSELLThe Orders of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal to which my hon. Friend refers, and which affect eight out of the 46 districts of Bengal, have been and are under the consideration of the Secretary of State; but as he 399 is, at the request of the Government of India, awaiting a despatch on the subject which is now on its way home, it is impossible to make any final announcement of his intentions.