HL Deb 03 April 1856 vol 141 cc377-84

THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE moved, according to notice, that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty for— A Copy of an Order, dated 5th July 1855, from C. I. Shubrick, Esq., Collector and Magistrate of Chingleput, to Strcevansee Row, Tehsildar (Native Collector) of Pariapollium, a District in that Collectorate, directing him under Penalty of a 'severe Order' to collect the Government Loom Tax from certain Weavers in his District 'without leaving any Part whatever unrealised:' A Copy of Petitions, dated 1st August 1855, to C. I. Shubrick, Esq., in his fiscal Capacity, of several Weavers of Pariapollium, setting forth the cruel Tortures to which they were subjected by the Native Collector Streevansee Row, on the 27th and 28th Days of July, for the Non-payment of the Government Loom Tax, praying for a Respite from Payment on account of their Poverty, and in consequence of many of their Inhabitants having absconded from their Village: A Copy of the Depositions taken before the aforesaid C. I. Shubrick, Esq., in his Capacity of Magistrate, on the 23rd of August 1855, of Fourteen Weavers, respecting the Tortures inflicted upon them by the aforesaid Streevansee Row, on the 27th and 28th Days of July 1855, in order to realise the whole of the Government Loom Tax; which Evidence led to the Conviction of that Officer: A Copy of the Opinion, if such should have been given, by the Governor and Council of Madras, or the Court of Foujdaree Adawlut, or other superior Authorities, in respect to the Decision of C. I. Shubrick, Esq., joint Collector and Magistrate of Chingleput, in the Case of the aforesaid Fourteen Weavers of Pariapollium, by which the Tehsildar Streevansee Row was sentenced to pay a Fine of only Five Rupees (or Ten Shillings) for having collected the Government Tax on Looms by the Instrumentality of Torture from the Weavers in question: And to call the Attention of the House to the Nature of the Tax called 'Moturpha,' of which the Loom Tax is a Part. The noble Earl said that he had two Notices upon the paper, one for that evening and the other for the 14th inst., both of which related to the same subject—namely, to torture in the Madras Presidency. The Resolutions which he intended to move on the 14th would be founded on a Report which had been laid upon their Lordships' table; but the papers for which he intended to move this evening had reference to fourteen fresh cases of torture of a much more recent date than any that were to be found mentioned in that Report, and had occurred so lately as the 27th and 28th of July last. He was, in fact, moving for documents of which he had copies in his own possession, the authenticity of which he had not the slightest doubt of; and his experience of the little information that is obtainable from the home Government on matters relating to India made him not at all sanguine that the papers for which he moved would be produced. He, therefore, rather availed himself of the form of this present motion, in order to bring forward such information as he possessed, and in order to strengthen the proposition which he wished to impress upon the minds of their Lordships—namely, that the disgraceful system of torture in India under the British Government could not be done away with without legislative interference. The tax for the non-payment of which those last tortures were inflicted was called "moturpha," an Arabic word sufficiently indicating the barbarous origin of the impost, which had been introduced into India by the Mahommedans. Lord Cornwallis, whose humanity was well known, on becoming Governor General of India, immediately perceived what a cruel and iniquitous tax this was, and very properly abolished it throughout the British possessions in Bengal. The date of its abolition in the Presidency of Bengal was 1793, and that of its abolition in Bombay 1844. It had never had any existence in the North Western Provinces or in the Punjaub—the warlike character of the inhabitants of those districts having had some influence in making the fears of the East India Company more powerful than their cupidity; and that Company cautiously refrained from exciting those tribes by the levying of this impost. In Madras alone the tax existed—Madras ever memorable for excessiveness and tenacity of taxation. However, even in Madras there were districts not subject to moturpha; and in the district of Chingleput—the collectorate in which those alleged tortures had so recently been inflicted, so odious and oppressive was the impost felt to be that in 1844 the inhabitants rose against it, and this rising produced a tumult bordering on insurrection. He could assure the House that it was not without good reason that the natives objected to the moturpha. At the latter end of last Session he made a statement of considerable length with the object of proving the absurdity, the mischievousness, and the cruelty of this tax, but his appeal to a liberal and free trade Government had been unavailing. He would not now repeat what he had on that former occasion said, but would avail himself of the contents of a petition laid on the table of their Lordships' House in 1853, by a noble Earl who had filled the office of Governor General of India (the Earl of Ellen-borough), and which contained a most masterly summary of the wrongs the unhappy people subject to it suffered under it. The moturpha, then, was a tax on trade and occupations, embracing weavers, carpenters, all workers in metals, all salesmen whether possessing shops, which were taxed separately, or vending by the roadside, &c.; some paying impost on their tools, others for permission to sell; extending to the most trifling articles of trade and the cheapest tools the mechanic can employ; the cost of which is frequently exceeded six-times over by the moturpha, under which the use of them is permitted. Among the implements deemed worthy of taxation was a barber's razor, probably not worth more than 2d. The petitioners complained not only of the absurdity of the tax, but of being compelled to go to the collector for a permit to use their implements of trade. Thus, the barber went to the collector to obtain a permit to use his razor, and might be kept waiting three or four days, during which time the razor had eaten its head off over and over again. However, the petitioners treated all these as minor evils compared with the inquisitorial character of the tax, which created a well-founded fear that, according to the pleasure or cupidity of an irresponsible collector, extortion and oppression might be practised. A good description of this tax was to be found in the evidence of Mr. Dyke, a very able Madras Civil servant, which evidence was to be found in the Common's Report of 1853. That gentleman stated that the collector had not the power of checking imposition, as he did not know whether the rate was just or unjust. Now, if ever there was a case where indulgence should be shown by a collector, it should be in reference to the collection of a tax of this sort. Such did not appear to be the conviction of Mr. C. I. Shubrick, the collector of the, district of Chingleput. On the 5th of July, 1855, he thus addressed one of his deputies, Streevansee Row, a native collector— You have left the whole loom tax, amounting to rupees 212 8 (£21 15s. 4d.), due on the Pariapollium village of your varlootz, uncollected; and further on he says— As soon as you receive this tuckeed (order) you must go in person to the said village and collect the whole of the loom tax, without leaving any part whatever unrealised, and report the same. If you do not collect it as directed above, a severe order will be issued against you. He (the Earl of Albemarle) did not know what Mr. Shubrick meant by "a severe order;" but it is quite clear that Streevansee Row did, and that he very wisely calculated on the immunity which his proceedings to realise the taxes would receive, accordingly, on the 27th July, he ordered the inhabitants of the Pariapollium village to appear before him. Fourteen of those unhappy people were caught and brought to his office, where they arrived at about eight o'clock in the morning, and they were immediately subjected to torture, or, to use the mild words adopted by the collector in his magisterial capacity, when the case was brought before him, "they were put under restraint." This "restraint" meant a punishment very common in Madras, and was inflicted in this way;—the victim stood in the sun, with his body bent forward toward the knees—thus placing the muscles of the human frame in a position which required of them an action that nature never intended them for. This was a cruel torture of itself, but it was frequently heightened by placing a weight on the back, near the neck, consisting of a stone about 121bs. weight. He had asked one of the most distinguished surgeons in this country what the effect of putting a weight on a body in that position was, and he said it was like a severe blow on the spinal cord. Some of Mr. Shubrick's brother collectors did not view this punishment to be of quite solight a character as he seemed to imagine it to be; for Mr. Minchin, acting collector of Nellore, in reference to this torture, said— Considering the heat of our Indian sun, the manner in which the blood must flow to the head in such a posture as that enforced, and the weight of the stone which is placed on the sufferer's back, I have no hesitation in calling such practice torture, and that not of the least painful description. And in the next sentence Mr. Minchin justifies his opinion by relating the case of an old man who died a few days after the infliction of this torture upon him, he being a defaulter to the Government in the sum of 2 annas, 10 pice—or 5¼d. Five-pence farthing was the sum for which this victim had been sacrificed to the Moloch of Lcadenhall Street. But not only were the weavers, to whose case he had now more particularly alluded, subjected to this punishment at a time of the year when they were exposed to the heat of the burning sun; but during the whole period in which they were kept in that position men were constantly employed in pricking their thighs—two to each victim. During this time they had to bear, not a stone's, but a man's weight on their back; and, though the period of their torture was from eight o'clock in the morning till nearly ten at night, they were during all that time, not only deprived of food, but had not even a drink of water to slake their thirst—a thirst rendered more intense by the unusual heat of the weather, and the acuteness of their sufferings. When, at last, the men were allowed to go to their meals, the physical torture they had suffered was succeeded by the moral torture of having the cloaca assigned as the place in which they were to eat them. They were at last allowed to go away for the remainder of the night, under the surveillance of peons, but on the following morning they were taken to their own village in order that the money which could not be obtained from the penniless wretches themselves might be extracted from others; for, as they said, in their petition to Mr. Shubrick, "they really had no money, and it was impossible to draw blood out of a stone by any process short of a miracle." Here their tortures were renewed with greater severity than the preceding day, till at last the women of their families, moved with compassion, parted with their ornaments, and obtained for them a temporary immunity. How long it was to last he knew not, because at the end of their petition they still prayed for a short respite until they could find the wherewithal to pay their dues. On the 23rd of August, 1855, all these cases came before Mr. Shubrick in his judicial capacity, and he would read the decision of Mr. Shubrick, dated the 5th of October— Considering that there was a large balance against these weavers which they had endeavoured to put off pitying, the tahsilder, after sending his peons to them, was obliged by order in the Revenue Department (this was his own order), to go and collect the balance from them himself. There is sufficient reason for believing that he may have put the petitioners under the restraint they complain of, and that the witnesses, though otherwise exceptionable, are in this instance to be believed. It will be sufficient to meet the requirements of the case if the tahsildar is sentenced to a fine of 5 rupees (10s.), and the peons who were his agents dismissed with a caution; and the same can therefore be ordered. Thus, all the parties to the transaction he had described had virtually escaped scot free. This was the second appeal which he (the Earl of Albemarle) had made to a liberal and free-trade government. He implored of them to consider whether it was creditable to this country that so unjust, so absurd, and so inquisitorial a tax—one so repugnant to every feeling of humanity, and so utterly opposed to economical and political science, and yielding so paltry a sum, should continue to be levied; surely it was high time to put an end to so disgraceful a state of things. The noble Earl then moved for the documents of which he had given notice.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL,

in the absence of his noble Friend the President of the Council, could only say on behalf of the Government that there was no objection whatever to the production of the papers moved for by the noble Earl, except that they were not at present in the possession of the Government. Should the noble Earl be of opinion that the production of those documents would serve to throw additional light on the question of torture, a dispatch would be sent to the Indian Government for their production. With respect to the question of the moturpha tax, the subject of its abolition had been for a long time under the consideration of the Indian and home Governments. And he could not say that he dissented from the views put forward by the noble Earl as to the objectionable character of the impost, and he would be happy to see an end put to its collection. He hoped that, in a short time it might be done away with; but there were difficulties in the way of accomplishing that object, and he was, therefore, unwilling to give any pledge on the subject on the part of the Government, while he could bear testimony to their anxiety to abolish the tax. He would not, on the present occasion, enter into the question of torture in India, because the noble Earl had a notice on the paper which would bring that subject under the notice of the House on the 14th instant. A despatch, having reference to this matter, had been laid on the table of the House; and to make the papers bearing on the question more complete, he would now move for the production of the answer of the Madras Government to the despatch dated September 29, 1855.

THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE

would not press his Motion if the Government admitted the authenticity of the papers from which he had quoted. He was very glad to hear from the noble Duke that this tax was to be done away with.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL

had not said that. What he had said was, that he hoped it would be.

THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE

supposed that they should look to others, out of doors, for that consummation. He protested against 1,000,000 of people being subjected to such oppression for a tax which in the aggregate amounted to only £112,527.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL

thought that the question of taxation was quite different from that of torture. The imposition of a tax did not imply that it was to be levied by torture.

THE EARL OF ALBEMARLE

believed the collection of this tax and the infliction of torture to be inseparable under the present system.

Motion agreed to.

Also Motion of the Duke of ARGYLL, That there be laid before this House, An Extract of a Letter from the Government of Madras to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, dated the 29th of December, 1855, No. 43; together with a Copy of the Inclosures on the Subject of the Torture Report (in continuation of the Paper, No. 51, ordered to be printed the 11th of March, 1856).

House adjourned till To-morrow.

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