HC Deb 18 February 1896 vol 37 cc551-2
MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India, whether he will press upon the Indian Government the need for increased endeavours to diminish the still continuing excessive mortality in some of the prisons, especially in Bengal, where it appears by an official Report, dated Calcutta, June 8, 1895, that in four of the Bengal gaols there were, during the year 1894, more than 100 deaths per 1,000 prisoners, namely, 239 per mille at Chaibass, 144 at Naya Dumka, 129 at Daltonganj, and 118 at Balasore?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOU INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, Ealing

The resolution to which the hon. Member refers shows that the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal is fully alive to his responsibility, and is doing all that lies in his power to prevent a recurrence of the exceptionally high mortality in the four gaols which have been mentioned; the actual number of deaths in which were 29, 9, 5 and 14 respectively, and this mortality was largely due to an outbreak of cholera. This being so, I do not think it necessary to call the attention of the Government of India to the subject, but I will ask for copies of the reports of the Committees which have been appointed to investigate the causes of the recent mortality at Chaibass and Balasore.