MR. HERBERT ROBERTS (Denbigh shire, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for India why the table of figures showing 510 the net Excise and Customs revenues on liquor and drugs consumed in India, which was formerly printed in the margin of the Annual Statement exhibiting the moral and material progress of India, has not been included in recent issues of that publication; and whether he will give instructions for the inclusion of these figures in tabular form in future volumes.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Morley.) In preparing successive issues of this. Report it is usual to exercise a certain amount of discretion in the selection of the material. The table referred to was omitted in 1904-5 and subsequent years, as it was not considered essential to the context, and as more accurate figures of the net revenue for a series of years were already given in the "Return of the Net Income and Expenditure of British India under certain specified heads," annually presented to Parliament. As the hon. Member attaches importance to the matter, I will give instructions that comparitive figures of net Excise and Customs revenue for a series of years, taken from the financial Return, are given in the next issue of the Moral and Material Progress Statement.