§ MR. W. S. CAINE (Bradford, E.),in putting the following question, said: I beg to express my great satisfaction—which, I am am sure, is shared by the whole House—at seeing the right hon. Gentleman, the Secretary of State for India, back in his place. [Cheers.] I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India—(1) if he is aware that the Report of the Hemp Drugs Commission, appointed by the Government of India in consequence of action taken in this House, was, as long as August of last year, distributed to The Times of India, The pioneer, and The Englishman; (2) can he state on what date the Report was published in India, and on what date copies were received at the India Office; (3) if he is aware that the hon. Member for Bradford, on whose initiative the Commission was appointed, applied to the India Office for a copy of the Report on 22nd September 1894, three weeks after it had been reviewed by the Anglo-Indian Press, and has made repeated applications since, only receiving a copy last Saturday; (4) if it is possible for this Report to be procured by the general public; and (5) if it is intended to distribute it to Members of this House, and place a copy, with the volumes of evidence, in the Library of this House?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. HENRY FOWLER,) Wolverhampton, E.My answer to the first of my hon. Friend's questions is in the negative. I do not know when the Report was published in India, but the Orders of the Government of India on the Report were published on the 23rd March last. An advance copy of the Report alone reached me on the 14th November last. 271 I cannot verify the precise dates, though I am aware that repeated applications for the Report were made by my hon. Friend; but it did not appear to me to be desirable to make its contents known until I could at the same time communicate the Orders of the Government of India, which did not reach me until the 5th April. The Report cannot, so far as I am aware, be obtained in this country; but I shall be happy to lay it on the Table, with the Orders of the Government of India, if the hon. Member will move for them.