HC Deb 20 April 1909 vol 3 cc1382-3
Mr. REES

asked whether any statistics are available to show to what extent Native States in India avail themselves of the powers which they possessed similar to those which the British Government has under Regulation III. of 1818, or other regulations, if any, of the like character.

Mr. HOBHOUSE (for the Under-Secretary of State for India)

So far as the Secretary of State is aware no such statistics are available.

Mr. REES

Is it not a matter of common knowledge that ruling natives do habitually use such powers?

Mr. HOBHOUSE

It may be common knowledge, but not to me.

Mr. REES

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India, whether he was aware that certain disaffected persons had from time to time, been in the habit of inciting to discontent and disaffection, and, in extreme cases, armed rebellion, the ignorant tribes inhabiting the malarious hills in and adjoining the Vizagapatam district, and that within the last 33 years it had, in consequence of the activities of such persons, been necessary to send into the aforesaid malarious districts British-Indian troops, who have suffered much from disease and exposure; whether the agents to the Governor of Madras in the Vizagapatam and Ganjam districts are empowered by various laws and regulations with powers similar to those of Regulation III. of 1818; and, if so, whether he will move the Government of India on no account to deprive the said agents to the Governor of such powers, the discreet exercise of which conduces largely to the peace and prosperity of the inhabitants of the remote and malarious tracts situated between the Northern Sircars and the Central Provinces of India.

Mr. HOBHOUSE

The Secretary of State is aware that the hilly tracts in the east of the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts of the Madras Presidency are inhabited by ignorant aboriginal tribes as stated in the question, and that these tribes have occasionally given trouble which has required the armed intervention of the Government. He is also aware that the administration of these backward tracts is carried on by the collectors as agents to the Government under special laws—Madras Regulation II. of 1819, and Act XXIV. of 1839. There is no intention of interfering with the operation of these enactments.