§ 3. Mr. MAXTONasked the Secretary of State for India whether he will give the House information regarding the strike among the textile workers in India; in how many towns the textile workers have struck; whether workers in other industries have declared a sympathetic strike; whether he is aware that the authorities have fired on the strikers on several occasions in Bombay and Delhi; whether firing has been resorted to in other towns; whether he is aware that it has been decided to drastically cut the wages of textile workers even in mills where large profits are being made, and that the strikers are demanding a minimum wage of 15s. a week; and, seeing that 14 leading trade unionists have been arrested, will he state what is the charge against them?
§ Mr. BUTLERThere have been strikes of textile workers in Bombay, Delhi and Sholapur. Except in Bombay there has been a general resumption of work. I have not heard of sympathetic strikes in other industries. The police in Bombay have fired in self-defence on four occasions, but there have been no fatal injuries. I have received no reports of firing elsewhere. As regards the other points in the question I would refer the 1323 hon. Member to the replies given on the 30th April and the 10th May to the hon. Member for Gower (Mr. D. Grenfell) and to the communiques issued by the Government of Bombay which have been published in the Press.