§ 9. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether a large proportion of the religious mendicants of India, who are estimated to number several millions, is drawn from handicraftsmen compelled to adopt begging through the decay of village industries; whether many skilled craftsmen, partly owing to the restrictions placed upon their employment in municipal or other official undertakings, have ceased to train their sons in their hereditary callings, and now send them to Government schools to compete for minor clerical appointments; and whether the Secretary of State or the Government of India will consider some other means of encouraging such skilled craftsmen besides that of appointing highly paid European experts to supervise them?
§ Mr. C. ROBERTSThe number of persons supported by religious mendicancy in India is shown by the Census of 1911 to be about 700,000, as in the previous Census. The number of other mendicants shows a marked decrease in the ten years, while the number of persons supported by the building industries has risen by 18 per cent. In view of these facts the Secretary of State doubts whether the inference implied by the question is well-founded.
§ Mr. KINGIs it not a fact that those employed in building operations are, to a large extent, immigrants from China and elsewhere, and cannot in any sense be classed as making up for the deficiency of master builders?
§ Mr. C. ROBERTSI do not think that is correct.
§ Sir J. D. REESIs it not a matter of public notoriety that the proportion of religious mendicants to the population was far greater than the hon. Member assumes?