HC Deb 10 April 1933 vol 276 cc2154-5
4. Mr. T. WILLIAMS

asked the Secretary of State for India, whether he will direct the Government of India to offer their co-operation to the proposed census of the unemployed in India to be carried out by unemployed graduates and undergraduates in the Punjab?

Sir S. HOARE

The matter is not one in which I should wish to interfere with the discretion of the Government of India.

Mr. WILLIAMS

Would it not be advisable to ascertain whether they will co-operate? Does not the right hon. Gentleman think he might communicate with the Government of India and try to use his influence?

Sir S. HOARE

I hesitate to trouble the Government of India with a number of inquiries about details which seem to me to come so much under their special purview. Of course, if the hon. Member presses me, I will try to obtain the information, but I should have thought it was just the kind of question we had better leave to the local administration.

Mr. WILLIAMS

As the question of Indian unemployment reflects itself in our own unemployment, ought we not to think at least sympathetically about the census figures?

Sir S. HOARE

If the hon. Member presses me, I will ask for further information.

Sir JOHN WARDLAW-MILNE

Is it not a fact that there is really no basis for getting the figures of unemployment in India on the same lines as in this country?

Sir S. HOARE

Yes, that is so.