§ LORD HERSCHELLI wish to ask my noble Friend the Secretary of State for India whether there is any foundation for the rumour, which seems to have occasioned some alarm in different parts of India, that it is the intention of the Government to take possession of the Native State of Kashmir?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Viscount Cross)I can find no foundation for that report, and it is certainly absolutely untrue. It is true that the Viceroy felt bound, with my entire concurrence, to accept the resignation of the ruler of Kashmir for the present, and place the State under a Native Council, a course advised by the Resident who was there, but anyone who has looked into the way in which the State of Kashmir has been governed for some time past can have no doubt whatever that a wise step has been taken. There is not the slightest intention on the part of the Government or of the Viceroy to annex Kashmir to the British Crown. On the contrary, we have every hope that when the state of things has been remedied in Kashmir the late ruler will see it to be advisable to re-assume control of his State and to govern in a way which will be a benefit to his subjects and to neighbouring countries as well.