§ Mr. COTTONasked the Secretary of State for India whether copies are now available for the use of Members of this House of the Report submitted in March last by the Committee appointed under the presidency of the Hon. Mr. Justice Rowlatt to inquire into revolutionary activities in Bengal; and whether he can explain the cause of the delay which has taken place in the matter?
§ Mr. MONTAGUI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I have to-day made to a question on the same subject by my hon. Friend the Member for Roxburghshire.
§ Sir J. JARDINEasked the Secretary of State for India who are the colleagues of Mr. Justice Rowlatt in the commission of inquiry into treasons, conspiracies, and the use of seditious speeches and writings and other abetments of crimes, with intent to destroy the British Government in India and to wage war against the King; on what date the commission has sent in its Report; whether it includes an examination of such crimes committed outside India by subjects of the Crown in North America, Burma, Siam, Germany, and other countries; on what date it will be presented to Parliament; and whether Members of Parliament will receive it as presented by the Commissioners or after any deletions by any executive authority in India or this country?
§ Mr. MONTAGUMr. Justice Rowlatt's colleagues were Sir Basil Scott, Chief Justice of Bombay; Diwan Bahadur, C.V.; Kumaraswami Sastriyar, Judge of the High Court of Madras; Sir Verney Lovett, Member of the Board of Revenue, United Provinces; and Mr. Provash Chandra Mitter, a Vakil of the High Court of Calcutta. The report is dated the 15th April, 1918. It gives an account of the connected conspiracies in countries outside India. I greatly regret the delay which has occurred in presenting the Report, and I am sure that the House will accept from me an assurance that there was every desire to furnish Parliament at the earliest possible moment with this most important document. Indeed, the suggestion that there had been any reluctance to publish in London what had already been published in India cannot be seriously entertained. The Report was addressed to the Government of328W India, and when I heard in July last that that Government had decided to publish it, I instructed them by telegraph to send me 2,000 copies for presentation to Parliament. I was informed that they would be ready for despatch in August. In reply to a further enquiry in September, I was informed that 1,000 copies had been dispatched on the 26th August. It was only last week that I heard that though the Controller of Printing had made over the copies on the date named for dispatch through some unfortunate oversight they had not, as a matter of fact, been actually sent. I immediately arranged for the Report to be reprinted here with all possible expedition, and I hope that it will be ready for presentation in the course of the next week or two. I am not reprinting the maps which are included in the Report as published in India, but they will be obtainable in the copies of the Indian edition when received. In publishing the Report, the Government of India, in the public interest, made a few small omissions which do not in any way affect the arguments or conclusions of the Report. The nature of the slight changes is explained in a resolution of the Government of India, which will be published with the Report. The reprint of the Report will follow the Indian text.
§ Sir J. JARDINEasked the Secretary of State for India if he can give any accounts of recent disturbances in Calcutta and Madras; and whether any persons were killed or wounded?
§ Mr. MONTAGUDisturbances occurred in and near Madras last month connected with attempts to loot grain and cloth shops caused by high prices. In Madras city extensive damage was done, but there were no casualties, and quiet was soon restored. An Conjeeverem the police and military forces were compelled to fire. Three rioters were killed and nine wounded. In Calcutta on the 9th and 10th September there were more serious riots by Mohammedans. Mohammedan opinion had undoubtedly been inflamed by the republication in Calcutta papers of a foolish and offensive article describing African Mohammedans in Paris. An organised agitation was carried on by leaflets and three newspapers, one of which urged active defiance of the Government. Collisions occurred on these two days between crowds and the police, who were assisted by troops, and sixteen rioters were killed by their fire and others 329W wounded. A large number of arrests were made. By the 11th September all was quiet. The editors of the three papers, who do not belong to Bengal, have been removed to their own provinces.