§ SIR JOSEPH LEESE (Lancashire, Newton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can state the number, or approximate number, of hand-loom weavers in India; and, when he proposes to lay upon the Table of the House the correspondence which has taken place with the Government of India on the Cotton Duties since the last Papers were laid upon the Table?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingI have no returns of the precise number of hand-loom weavers in India. The Census of 1891 showed for all India, including Native States, 1,873,980 households of the weaver caste. This is a large reduction as compared with the previous Return of 1881. This evidence of the falling-off in the hand industry is confirmed by the fact that of recent years the weaving mills of India have steadily increased their out-turn, while the area of cotton cultivation has remained stationary. As soon as I receive copies of the recent Acts and the discussions thereon I shall be glad to lay papers on the Table.