§ SIR WILLIAM WEDDERBURN (Banffshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the farewell demonstrations accorded at Poona to Colonel 640 Creagh, the President of the Plague Committee, and his colleagues, to express the gratitude of the people for the tact and skill with which he has carried out the plague operations, thereby winning the esteem and confidence of the whole community; and whether, looking to the good feeling and harmony now established in Poona as the result of Colonel Creagh's sympathetic administration, he will consider whether the time has come when the release of Sirdar B. R. Natu and his brother might be sanctioned?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingI am aware that public demonstrations have taken place at Poona to express the gratitude of the native community for the skill and success with which Colonel Creagh and his colleague have suppressed the plague in that town and its vicinity, and I read with special interest one of the statements made by the head of the municipality to this effect—
Of the soldiers and the valuable services rendered by them to the city and their kind behaviour towards the poor natives, whose houses they helped in searching and whitewashing, I cannot speak too eulogistically.The language, as well as the general feeling of the community, is a marked contrast to the conditions existing a few months back in the same town, and previous to the arrest of the Sirdars Natu. As I have before said, the detention of the Natus will continue until the Government of Bombay are satisfied that the public tranquillity will not be endangered by their release.