§ SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAGGREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been drawn to the report of a meeting, held at Bombay, by some leading Mahomedan residents, on the 6th ult., for the purpose of contradicting certain telegraphic intelligence published in the English Press on the 11th March, to the effect that the riots which had just taken place in that city were instigated for other than plague reasons, and prompted by influential Mahomedans in other parts of the country; and whether the dispatch received from the Bombay Government, or any other official communication, contained any confirmation whatsoever of these statements; and, if not, whether he will make a statement upon the subject which might remove the general impression created by the telegram above referred to, that influential Mahomedan gentlemen residing in Bombay or other parts of India had previous knowledge of the disturbance and were responsible for the same?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAI have seen, with satisfaction, a report in the newspapers of the meeting to which my honourable Friend refers. My honourable Friend will not have failed to notice that the view of the Government of Bombay as to the origin of the riots, which I quoted in reply to a Question on Tuesday last, confirms the statement that no influential gentlemen, resident in Bombay, whether Mahomedans or others, were responsible for what occurred.
§ MR. MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)Is not that an additional reason for the release of the brothers Natu?
§ MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! That is a matter of argument.