DISTURBANCES, CALCUTTA. (Hansard, 30 June 1920)

§ 15. Mr. GWYNNE
asked the Secretary of State for India if he will state why the outbreaks at Calcutta and Peshawar were by the terms of reference not included in the inquiry by the Hunter Commission?

§ Mr. MONTAGU
There was no outbreak at Peshawar. The declaration of martial law there was necessitated by the war with Afghanistan. The disturbances at Calcutta lasted only a few hours.

§ Mr. GWYNNE
Will the right hon. Gentleman say why it was that if these disturbances at Calcutta were sufficiently bad to have involved shooting and killing a great many civilians, it was not included in the inquiry?

§ Mr. MONTAGU
So far as I know, nobody thought the disturbances at Calcutta were sufficiently complicated to necessitate an inquiry. The inquiry was limited to the question of Delhi, Bombay, and the Punjab, and there did not seem to me or to the Government of India to be anything to inquire about at Calcutta.

§ Mr. GWYNNE
Were there not more people killed at Calcutta than at other places into which an inquiry was held?

§ Mr. MONTAGU
Surely the hon. Gentleman will not allege in this House that the necessity for an inquiry depends on the number of casualties. What we wanted to know was the cause of the outbreak, why it lasted so long, and whether the measures taken were justified?

§ Mr. GWYNNE
Is the right hon Gentleman not aware that it is well known all over India that these occurrences and disturbances were all linked together, and does he not think an inquiry of this kind is quite inadequate, unless all the places where the risings took place were inquired into?

§ Mr. MONTAGU
The hon. Member is giving me a dress rehearsal of the arguments he proposes to use in the Debate.

§ Mr. GWYNNE
No.

§ Mr. MONTAGU
Well, a selection of them. If the Hunter Committee thought it was necessary to pursue their investigations because of the uprisings in any other parts of India, I imagine they would have done so.

§ Mr. GWYNNE
Were they not limited by the terms of their reference?

§ Mr. SPEAKER
The hon. Member should put any further question on the Paper.