§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, he had another Question to put to the noble Lord relating to a matter of rather recent occurrence in India. He wished to know, Whether it was the intention of the Bengal Government to interfere with the custom, of the Natives in disposing of their dead by throwing them into the Hooghly; and, if so, whether that order had been communicated to the Governor General previous to its promulgation?
LORD WODEHOUSEwas understood to state, that no official information had been received at the India Office, but the Secretary of State had heard that the order of the Bengal Government prohibiting the throwing of dead bodies into the river Hooghly was issued with the sanction of the Governor General. His right hon. Friend had also heard that the order for removing the burning-place to a greater distance from Calcutta was not published with the previous sanction of the Governor General, but was issued by the Governor of Bengal upon his own responsibility.
§ THE EARL OF ELLENBOROUGHsaid, he could not but regret that, before the order was issued prohibiting the throwing of the dead bodies into the river, some arrangements had not been made to enable the Natives to dispose of those bodies by burning, and thereby to have avoided any ground for a disturbance of the peace of the country; and that the order for removing the burning places, a matter so deeply affecting the feelings of the people, should have been published without the previous sanction of the Governor General residing within a few hundred yards of the Governor of Bengal.