9. Duchess of ATHOLLasked the Secretary of State for India in which provinces of British India terrorist crimes and offences, actual or attempted, have been discovered in the course of the past year; and whether he will give the number of such outrages and offences, including murders in general and murders by gunmen, for the last six months of the year 1933 and for the year 1933 as a whole?
§ Sir S. HOAREI have not yet received detailed information which would enable me to answer the second part of the question. As regards the first part, the provinces outside Bengal affected during the first half of the year were the United Provinces, Punjab, Bombay, Madras and Assam. In these provinces these offences were mainly of an isolated nature.
Duchess of ATHOLLIt is not the case that the "Review of India" for November contained a list of terrorist crimes or offences, actual or attempted, or trials for such crimes occurring not only in the provinces mentioned by my right hon. Friend, but in the Central Provinces in Bihar and Orissa, which I do not think he mentioned, and in Assam?
§ Sir S. HOAREI will look into the reference the Noble Lady has brought to my attention, but I can assure her that the answer I have given to her is correct.
10. Duchess of ATHOLLasked the Secretary of State for India whether he can now give the figures of terrorist crimes and offences, actual and attempted, in Bengal during the last six months of 1933; and whether he can explain the difference between the figures he has given for these outrages occurring in 1932, and the figures given in the Moral and Material Progress of India, 1931–32?
§ Sir S. HOAREI have asked the Government of India to supply me with the later statistics of terrorist crime and with the explanation of the discrepancy referred to in the second part of the question, but I have not yet received the information.
11. Duchess of ATHOLLasked the Secretary of State for India, if he is aware that the home member of the Bengal Government informed the Bengal Provincial Council that his Government is confronted with a dangerous and growing conspiracy; will he state since when terrirosm in Bengal has been on the increase; how this increase has manifested itself; and what steps the Bengal Government propose to take to deal with it?
§ Sir S. HOAREI have seen a report of the home member's speech in the Press. The present terrorist campaign began with the Chittagong Armoury Raid 781 in April, 1930, and has been continued with determination ever since. Latterly the police have had increasing success in dealing with the manifestations of the campaign. Part of this success has been the discovery of information as to its organisation and extent. While a number of leaders have been captured, the recruitment of terrorists still continues. Its manifestations have been checked but its potentialities still remain serious, especially on account of the continuance of recruitment which has necessitated further measures on the part of the Government. The Government of Bengal have therefore introduced a Bill to make permanent the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act and to strengthen the existing legislation in various directions which experience has shown to be necessary.
Duchess of ATHOLLMay I ask my right hon. Friend if it is not the case that the necessity for recently introducing this Bill into the Bengal Provincial Council, and the speech made by the home member of the Bengal Government, to which the questions refers, indicate that there has been a recrudescence of terrorist crime since 17th July last, when he informed the House of Commons that in his opinion we had now "got level" with terrorism?
§ Sir S. HOARENo, Sir, my Noble Friend is not correct in drawing that
| Indian Ecclesiastical Expenditure, 1927–28 to 1931–32. | ||||||||
| — | 1927–28. | 1928–29. | 1929–30. | 1930–31. | 1931–32. | |||
| (1) In India. | ||||||||
| Rs. | Rs. | Rs. | Rs. | Rs. | ||||
| Church of England (now Church of India). | 19,55,341 | 19,34,971 | 19,35,964 | 19,21,836 | 19,12,335 | |||
| Church of Scotland | … | … | … | 2,03,142 | 2,05,892 | 1,93,153 | 2,07,479 | 1,90,238 |
| Church of Rome | … | … | … | 3,09,360 | 2,93,251 | 2,94,050 | 2,98,728 | 2,96,203 |
| Methodist Church | … | … | … | 1,22,509 | 1,00,052 | 1,05,837 | 1,09,917 | 1,12,261 |
| Baptist and Congregational Churches | 5,312 | 9,582 | 20,002 | 19,384 | 21,025 | |||
| Total in India | … | … | … | 25,95,664 | 25,43,758 | 25,49,006 | 25,57,344 | 25,32,062 |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| = Sterling at Rs.13⅓ = £1 | … | 194,675 | 190,782 | 191,175 | 191,801 | 189,904 | ||
| (2) In England. | ||||||||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||||
| Church of India and Church of Scotland | 66,616 | 63,140 | 61,705 | 63,839 | 55,629 | |||
| Total | … | … | … | 261,291 | 253,922 | 257,880 | 255,640 | 245,533 |
§ assumption from what I have said. What has happened is, that better organisation against terrorism has brought to light information which was not in our possession before. The situation is better in that respect than it was last July. Our information is better, and because our information is better, we are now able to take more effective steps against terrorism.
Duchess of ATHOLLAre we to understand then that the statement in the preamble to the Bill lately introduced into the Bengal Legislative Council, which speaks of the recrudescence of terrorism and other crimes and the statement of the home member, are inaccurate?
§ Sir S. HOARENo, Sir, certainly not, and there is no divergence between those statements and what I have said.