§ SIR J. JARDINE (Roxburghshire)To ask the Secretary of State for India if he will consider the expediency of abolishing throughout India the system of arrest and imprisonment for recovery of arrears of land revenue.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) Arrest and detention as a civil prisoner is confined to cases in which there is reason to believe that the defaulter has the means of discharging his debt. I am informed that the arrest is for the most part formal, and that the proportion of cases in which the issue of a warrant leads to the confinement of the defaulter is small. Females are exempt from the process. I do not propose to take action.