Sir H. ROBERTSasked the Undersecretary of State for India whether he will state what period of time is covered by the Return (White Paper, 309, 1911) relating to Excise Advisory Committees in India; at what intervals the committees are convened; whether the collector is in each case the chairman of the committee; and whether this official is included in the figures given in column 3 of the Return?
§ Mr. MONTAGUPresumably the Return, as regards the action taken by the committee, covers the period from the date of the establishment of each committee to the end of the last year (1909–10) for which statistics were available. The committees are ordinarily convened at the periodical revision of licences, and at other times, as may be necessary, at the discretion of the chairman. In presidency towns and Rangoon the Excise Commissioner presides; elsewhere the district collector or the sub-divisional assistant collector is chairman. It is understood that the president or chairman is included in the figures given in column 3 of the Return.