§ MR. CAINEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if his attention has been called to a sentence of death
† See Debates, Vol. lxxxviii., pages 203 and 345.1307 which has recently been passed upon seventeen men by the justices of the North West Provinces for the murder of two persons living in the Etah district, against which appeal was taken to the judges of the High Court, with the result that the sentence of death has been confirmed in the case of sixteen of the convicted men, one sentence being commuted to penal servitude for life; if so, has the Viceroy revised the sentences in any way with a view to abating the number of persons to be executed.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONI learn from the Government of India that in the case referred to sixteen persons were originally condemned to death by the sessions court, and the sentence was confirmed in the case of all sixteen by the High Court of the North-West Provinces. The sentence of death has, however, been commuted by the lieutenant governor to one of transportation for life in the case of twelve out of the sixteen. No appeal has been preferred to the Viceroy in the case.