MR. H. ROBERTS (Derbyshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he has received official confirmation of the reported murder by Pathans on the 12th instant of Mr. F. S. Wilde, an engineer employed upon the extension of the Bengal-Assam Railway, in the North Cachan Hills; and whether he has any information as to the circumstances under which the murder took place?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAMr. Wilde was not in the service of Government, and I have not received, and am not likely to receive, any official information, as to his death. But, having communicated privately with the Assam-Bengal Railway Company, I regret to say that I have reason to believe the report of his murder by Pathan workmen employed on the railway to be true. The company have no information as to the circumstances under which the murder took place.