§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the fact that the annual publication known as " The Moral and Material Progress of India" contains a great deal of matter that has already appeared in official publications, and that much of the information contained in it is out of date before it appears; and whether, under these circumstances, he will consider the desirability of repealing the section in Act 21 and 22 Vic, under which this publication is issued, so as to save the expense now annually incurred.
§ MR. MORLEYThe wording of the Act, under which these Reports have to be laid annually before Parliament, shows that they were intended to present in a convenient shape information collected from other Reports already published, and to form a permanent record, systematically arranged and easily referred to, of the administration of Indian affairs. I have reason to think that they fulfil this purpose, and I do not as at present advised see any reason for repealing the section quoted in the Question.