§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary of State for India whether soldiers of the native ruling chiefs in India are provided only with muzzle-loading rifles; and 11 whether, seeing that the Indian people are not allowed to provide themselves with firearms, and in view of the number of natives destroyed annually by tigers, lions, and wolves, he will state the number of lives so lost during the last five years, and say whether the Indian Government will permit the Indian people to bear arms for their protection.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Brodrick.) With the exception of the Imperial Service Troops, troops of the Native States are, generally speaking, not armed with breech-loaders. It is not the case that, as stated in the Question, the Indian people are not allowed to provide themselves with firearms. In India, as in this country, firearms are not allowed to be possessed without a licence; but such licences are granted, when required for the purpose of destroying wild animals or for the protection of crops, free of charge. The number of persons returned as killed by tigers in British India during the last five years is 4,925, and by wolves 1,966; no deaths are shown as due to lions, of which there are very few in India. The number of free licences for firearms issued during the same period was 46,857, of which 37,678 are reported to have been still in force in 1903.