§ LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEUMy Lords, on behalf of Lord SYDENHAM, I desire to ask the Under-Secretary of State for India whether before the Secretary of State decided that the East India Railway, one of the greatest trunk lines in India, should be managed by an Indian Board at Calcutta, the opinion of the Imperial General Staff was taken.
THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE EARL OF LYTTON)My Lords, it has not been considered necessary to consult the Imperial General Staff on the question of the agency by which the East Indian Railway should be managed. The decision arrived at in 1918 was that the management of the railway should be removed to India at the end of 1924, but whether the management will then be undertaken directly by the State or will be entrusted to an Indian Company will not be determined until after the Committee on Indian Railway Administration, which is to meet this month in India, has reported.