§ MR. O'GRADY (Leeds, E.)I beg toast the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the estimates given by the Indian Statistical Department of the plague victims in the year 1904 varied between highest and lowest in ground figures 200,000; and whether he will look into the administration of this Department with a view to the 1345 matter presented for publication being made intelligible and consistent.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (MR. MORLEY, Montrose Burghs)The extreme variation to which my hon. friend calls attention is due to the fact that the higher figure refers to the whole of India, including the native State, and the lower one to British India only. The figure which I quoted in replying to a Question on the 8th instant was taken from a special Return recently published by the Government of India, and differs from the figure given in their annual Sanitary Report, from which the statistics given in the Moral and Material Progress Report and the Statistical Abstract are taken. I have: asked for an explanation of the discrepancy.