§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he has arrived at any conclusion upon the case of the senior Cooper's Hill Engineers, which some few months ago he stated was under consideration by the Government; and whether their complaint that their careers had been ruined by the terms of their engagement being broken, and that they are reduced towards the close of their service into a position of great anxiety and distress, can in any way be met and alleviated; and whether he will lay upon the Table, and cause to be circulated, the Government of India's despatch, No. 15, Public Works, dated 28th January, 1890, containing that Government's views upon the whole question; also copy of a Minute by Sir George Chesney written in January, 1890 (referred to in that despatch), and its enclosures.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex,690 Ealing I stated on the 15th of June in this House that a despatch conveying my decision on this subject was then on its way to India. Since then it has, no doubt, been received and acted upon in the manner which I described. A motion for the publication of the correspondence referred to in the question was put down in 1895, but my predecessor declined to agree to it, and I see no reason for departing from that decision.