§ MR. SEYMOUR KEAY (Elgin and Nairn)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, whether he is aware that an intimation has been conveyed to a representative of the Indian Press to the effect that the proceedings of the Royal Commission on Indian Financial Expenditure will be private; whether this decision has been arrived at by the Commissioners themselves, or has been imposed upon them by Her Majesty's Government; whether he is aware that the principal Indian newspapers have already made arrangements for publishing full reports of the proceedings; whether there exists any special reason why the Press should not be admitted, as has been done in the case of the Anglo-Irish Financial Relations Commission, the Welsh Land Commission, the Labour Commission, and the Opium Commission; and whether, in view of the great interest taken in India in the proceedings of the Commission on Indian Financial Expenditure, Her Majesty's Government will take steps to secure that the Press should be admitted?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. HENRY FOWLER, Wolverhampton, E.)The question as to the publicity of the proceedings of the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure is one for the Commissioners themselves to decide. The Secretary of State is informed that as yet no decision has been arrived at. Any intimation on the subject must, therefore, have been made without authority. The first meeting of the Commission will be held on the 26th instant.