§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Undersecretary of State for India whether he is now in a position to give the House any information concerning the railway accident at Dinapur on 5th April; and whether any political significance can be attached thereto.
§ Mr. MONTAGUAt 5.35 a.m. on the 5th April an express from Delhi to Howrah was derailed between Neoza and Sadisopur on the East India Railway, five coaches being overturned. It was found that an outside rail had been removed from the down line, and the up line had been tampered with. One person was-killed, three seriously injured, and twenty-nine slightly injured. On the information acquired so far the Bengal Government consider that no political significance can be attached to the outrage, which appears to have been perpetrated by train thieves with the object of loot.
§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEMay I ask whether the India Office are considering what action they ought to take to put an end to the circulation of misleading reports on matters of this kind, and whether the India Press Law cannot be applied to Reuter's Agency and similar agencies which circulate false information?
§ Mr. MONTAGUIt is always a rash thing to attribute motives for outrages and crimes, and no one deprecates more than the Secretary of State the habit of attributing to such outrages in India a political significance which does not attach to them.