§ *MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the Indian Trade Journal issued by the Commercial Department of the Government of India, not only disseminates useful information, but expresses opinions and pronounces upon controversial commercial questions and appreciations of particular manufacturing processes and plant; whether the Government of India is responsible for such opinions, pronouncements, and appreciations; and whether he will consider the desirability of not allowing a Government publication, unlike the Board of Trade Journal, to compete in this behalf with private newspapers, journals, and other publications.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. MORLEY, Montrose Burghs)I understand that the editor of the Indian Trade Journal is not restricted to compiling extracts, but may comment on commercial subjects. The public have been informed so lately as February, 1907, that opinions and suggestions thus inserted in the Journal are those of the editor, not of the Government. The Government of India have allowed this latitude in order that the Journal may keep in touch with Indian trade. I have no information that it competes improperly with private journals, and I do not propose to interfere in the matter.