§ SIR W. WEDDERBURNI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the agrarian riots, arising out of the enhanced Government demand and the form of the new leases, which took place L December and January last in the Kamrup and Darrang districts of Assam; whether, in November, 1892, on the protest of the cultivators, the Chief Commissioner of Assam admitted that the proposed rates were too high, and recommended that the average enhancement should be reduced to 37 per cent.; that on the 27th of January, 1894, the Government of India decided that the enhancement should not exceed 32.7 per cent.; but that, nevertheless, the collections were commenced at the rate of 53 per cent.; and whether he will lay upon the Table of the House all the Correspondence on the subject, including Mr. Ward's note dated 29th June, 1892, the Re-settlement Rules, the Memorials of the cultivators, the form of the new leases, and the resolutions passed at a public meeting held at Sibsagar on the 15th of April last?
§ MR. H. H. FOWLER(1) Yes, Sir. The attention of the Secretary of State in Council has been called to the agrarian 1167 riots in Assam. (2) The facts are not precisely as suggested in my hon. Friend's question. The Chief Commissioner's proposals for reducing the rates of assessment were made in November, 1893, not 1892. He proposed rates yielding an increase of 37 per cent. in the revenue instead of rates yielding an increase of 53 per cent., as had been suggested in 1892. Collections began, when the revenue fell due, at the lower rates proposed by the Chief Commissioner, and the people were informed that, if the Government of India made any further reduction in the rates, the full effect of such reduction would be given when the second instalment of the revenue was collected. The Government subsequently decided that the increase should not exceed 32.7 per cent. (3) I would suggest to my hon. Friend that, as the incident is now closed, it is hardly worth while to incur the trouble and expense of printing the Papers, The resolutions of the Sibsagar meeting have not yet reached me.