HC Deb 02 June 1908 vol 189 cc1698-700
DR. RUTHERFORD (Middlesex Brentford)

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the effort on the part of the Government of India to extend the railroad into the territory of the Mohmands was an important factor in bringing about hostilities on the North-West Frontier.

SIR H. COTTON (Nottingham, E.)

At the same time may I ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether alarm was excited among the Mohmands by the construction of the Loi-Shilman strategic railway in a direction north of the Khyber; whether the agitation among them against the railway began many months ago; whether this railway and the surveys for its extension were one of the chief animating impulses of the hostility which culminated when the Mohmands appeared in arms at Shabkadr; and whether all further operations on that railway have now been abandoned.

THE UNDER-SECRETARY FOR INDIA (Mr. BUCHANAN,) Perthshire, E.

I stated last Tuesday the main causes which in the opinion of the Secretary of State led to the recent Mohmand rising, and no direct evidence has been brought before us to show that the construction of the Loi-Shilman Railway was one of these causes. On the contrary the Mohmand tribes whose territory is nearest to the railway have been friendly throughout the recent operations. As regards the future of the railway I have nothing to add to the Answer which I gave last Tuesday to the right hon. Baronet the Member for the Forest of Dean.

MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)

asked the hon. Gentleman whether it would not be better to be perfectly candid and admit at once that the railway was the sole cause of the rising.

[No Answer was returned.]

SIR H. COTTON

asked whether all further operations on this railway had been abandoned.

MR. BUCHANAN

I stated last Tuesday that the railway had been sanc- tioned up to milestone 300 from Lahore, and no proposal for extending it beyond that point is at present before the Secretary of State.

SIR H. COTTON

asked the hon. Gentleman whether he could explain the exact need for the construction of the railway.

MR. BUCHANAN

All that has been before the House on previous occasions.