MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can state the dates upon which the contracts with the two remaining originally guaranteed Indian Railways, the Madras Railway Company, and the Bombay and Baroda and Central Indian Railway Company, will terminate; and whether, when these railway companies are taken over 1444 by the Government, the terms of purchase will be similar to those in the case of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company; will he say what have been the total sums of capital expended on these two railway systems, and what are the amounts of the arrears due from each in respect of interest or other outlay drawn from public revenues in sustaining the obligations of the guarantors; whether these arrears can be adjusted by discount off the purchase price when the two companies are finally taken, over; and whether precautions will be taken to safeguard the Indian Revenues and taxpayers when the settlement is made.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON), Middlesex, Ealing)The dates are 31st December, 1905, and 31st December, 1907, respectively. The terms of purchase are laid down in the contracts. The total sums of capital expended on the two systems up to the 31st March, 1901, were as follows:—Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian, £10,397,910; Madras, £11,607,973. As I stated on the 7th August last, the Government of India, by a contract, in 1870 gave up all claim to repayment of advances of interest, in exchange for the right of the companies to more than half the surplus profits. In all these arrangements the interests of the Indian taxpayer have been and will be fully considered.