§ 30. Dr. ADDISONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he can state the reasons why the taxes in the Bangalore civil and military station are nearly double those of the adjoining city under the government of His Highness the 415 Maharaja of Mysore; and whether he is aware that the district of the civil and military station is suffering from bad drainage, imperfect public latrines, out-of-date public market, and an antiquated hospital situated in the centre of the bazaars, that there is also a limited water supply, that two large tanks are waiting to be repaired owing to lack of sufficient funds, and that the population is accordingly restricted in the amount of water they are able to use for purposes other than for drinking?
§ Mr. MONTAGUNo such complaints have reached the Secretary of State, but if my hon. Friend will forward me the complaints he presumably has received they shall receive attention. As regards his statements as to the rate of taxation they are not borne out by the most recent administration report, from which it appears that in the civil and military station it works out at Rs. 3 per head, as against Rs. 2¾ Per head in Bangalore City.
§ 31. Dr. ADDISONasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will consider the desirability of appointing a European district judge in Bangalore of the status of a district judge in the Madras presidency; and whether he will consider the desirability of placing the civil and criminal courts of Bangalore under the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI am not aware of any necessity for altering the present system and have received no such suggestion.
§ 32. Dr. ADDISONasked the Undersecretary of State for India whether he is aware that the civil and military station of Bangalore, containing a population of about 1,000,000, is not represented on the Legislative Council; and whether he will delay the refunding to the Government of Mysore of the unexpended balance derived from the assigned tract revenue until the urgent needs of the civil and military station have received proper attention?
§ Mr. MONTAGUThe civil and military station of Bangalore and fifteen villages—the population of which is 100,834 and not 1,000,000, as stated by my hon. Friend—were in 1881 assigned to the British Government, the Maharaja renouncing all jurisdiction in the lands so assigned. There can therefore be no question of representation on the Mysore Legislative 416 Council. The administration of the area being British, the latter part of the question does not arise.