§ Captain BOWYERasked the Secretary of State for India what is the average increase in the cost of living in India to-day as compared with pre-war conditions; and will ho give a comparative statement of the increased wages amongst railway employees in India and railway employees in this country?
§ Mr. MONTAGUStatistics of the cost of living in India are not available, but the average increase since 1914 in the prices of the principal articles of food in Calcutta at the end of November, 1919, was 50 to 60 per cent. I have no particulars of the most recent increase in the salaries of Indian railway employees, but I am asking the Government by telegram to supply them.