§ MR. C. J. O'DONNELL (Newington, Walworth)I beg to ask the Undersecretary of State for India if he can state the amount of land revenue, mentioned at page 11 of the Explanatory Memorandum on East Indian Accounts, as having been suspended in Bombay in previous years of famine and collected in 1906–7; whether, during the present famine in Northern India, the land revenue is being only suspended and not, remitted; and whether the demand of large arrears as well as the heavy current land tax, as soon as famine conditions cease, prevents the recovery of the peasantry and is the chief cause of their progressive impoverishment and discontent.
§ THE UNDER - SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Mr. BUCHANAN,) Perthshire, E.The arrears on account of suspended land revenue in the Bombay Presidency were reduced by £268,000 in 1906–7. With regard to the second question, the Explanatory Memorandum states at page 25 that a large proportion of the land revenue suspended an account of the famine this year and last year, will necessarily be remitted, but it is not possible at present to estimate the amount. Such remissions are made with the object of facilitating the recovery of the peasantry from the losses occasioned by the drought.
§ *MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)asked if these suspensions did not seriously retard the recovery of the peasants from the effects of famine, by compelling payment in the year immediately following the famine, and whether there was not evidence that this iron system of collection of revenue which should never be 1707 collected at all, had really been a contributory cause of the unrest in India?
§ MR. BUCHANANI am not aware of that, but I may say that suspension is frequently followed by remission.