HC Deb 21 December 1908 vol 198 c2372
MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)

To ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether, in consideration of the probability that the maintenance of the partit on of Bengal in its present form may imperil the success of the reforms announced by His Majesty's Government, the Secretary of State can see his way to re-open the question and, after consultation with the leaders of moderate opinion in the dismembered province, to modify the partition in such a way as to meet the wishes of the great majority of the people of Bengal.

(Answered by Mr. Buchanan.) The Secretary of State does not propose to re-open the question of the administrative sub-division of Bengal, nor has he any good reason to suppose that the maintenance of the status quo in this respect will imperil the success of the constitutional reforms about to be introduced.