§ MR. LAIDLAW (Renfrewshire, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if a special grant was made by the Government of India to enable the Bombay Government to carry out the recommendations of the late Police Commission; if so, will he explain why the recommendations of the Commission have not been carried out in respect of the city of Bombay; if he is aware of the fact that dissatisfaction exists in all ranks of the police in that city on account of the number of their hours and the rate of pay; and if he will take steps to remove reasonable grounds of complaint.
I beg also to ask the Secretary of State for India if any improvement has been made in the pay and in the conditions of service of the Bombay City Native Police since the recent strike.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. MORLEY,) Montrose BurghsPerhaps the hon. Member will permit me to answer his Questions together. Recurring grants of £33,333 in 1905–06 and £16,666 in 1906–07 were made to the Government of Bombay to assist them in carrying out the reforms decided upon as a result of the recommendations of the Police Commission. How far it has been possible to give effect to those reforms in the case of the City Police I do not know. Nor have I any official information as to the existence of dissatisfaction in that force. I will make inquiries on these points. I gather from the newspapers 1161 that the strike recently threatened was not actually carried out.