DR. RUTHERFORD (Middlesex, Brentford)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he has noticed the paragraph in the last Resolution of the Lieutenant Governor of Eastern Bengal on policy administration, stating that His Honour hopes that, for the next few years, as large a proportion as possible of Mohammedans will be recruited; and whether he will caution the Government of Eastern Bengal in regard to a policy which is liable to misinterpretation and mischief at the present time.
§ * THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. JOHN ELLIS,) Nottinghamshire, RushcliffeThe Secretary of State's attention has been called to the paragraph referred to in the Resolution of the Lieutenant-Governor of Eastern Bengal and Assam, dated the 5th October, 1906. In view of the explanation which is given in the same paragraph, viz., that in a province in which two-thirds of the population is Mahomedan less than one-fifth of the recruits profess that religion, the policy of the Government of Eastern Bengal does not appear to him to be open to objection.