§ Mr. REESasked the Under-Secretary for India, whether the last Report issued on the administration of the Bengal Police shows that the crime of gang robbery, not infrequently accompanied with murder, in Eastern Bengal, has been carried on to a great extent by extremists belonging to the educated classes; whether the Inspector-General of Police remarked that the increase in the number of riots and serious offences against persons and property is the indirect result of the organised efforts of agitators to weaken the authority of government and to bring its officers into contempt; whether, until the Secretary of State lately posted a detachment of a native regiment at Dacca, the police were 446 the only representatives of law and order in the towns and villages of Eastern Bengal; and whether, in view of the want of support the police receive in the detection and prevention of crime from the educated classes in Eastern Bengal, the Secretary of State will consider the propriety of advising the Government of India to strengthen the force by the provision of a larger number of European inspectors?
The UNDER-SECRETARY for INDIA (the Master of Elibank)As regards the first and second questions of my hon. Friend, the Secretary of State proposes to place in the Library a copy of the Inspector-General's Report, from which Members can draw their own conclusions. The answer to the third question, using the words in the sense given to them by the hon. Member, is in the affirmative, but the term "police" of course includes Military Police. Steps for strengthening the force, numerically and in respect of superintendence, are being taken.