HC Deb 12 December 1927 vol 211 cc1857-8W
Mr. DUNNICO

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Report of Sir Arthur Dickinson, who has recently been investigating the system of accounting, audit, and statistics in the Indian railways, has yet been published; whether it is proposed to recruit European accountants for employment in the railway departments; whether he is aware that the Railway Board and the Government of India are committed to the policy of steady Indianisation in the railways; and whether he is aware that in the finance departments of the Government of India and the provincial Governments Indians have acquitted themselves with great credit as accountants and audit officers?

Earl WINTERTON

Parts I and II of Sir Arthur Dickinson's Report have been published. My Noble Friend has no information as to the action which the Government of India propose to take on the Report. The hon. Member may rest assured that the considerations referred to in the last part of the question are fully appreciated by the Government of India.

Mr. BROAD

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether the Indian Railway Board has received a Report on the engineering reconnaissance surveys carried out last summer by the North Western Railway administration; and, if so, what action it is proposed to take on the Report?

Earl WINTERTON

My Noble Friend has no information on the matter.

Mr. GARDNER

asked the Under-Secretary of State for India whether he will give information as to the result of the recent conference at Delhi between the president of the All-India Trade Union Congress and the Government in regard to the dispute between the employés of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway at Khargpur and the railway authorities; and whether any arrangement was agreed upon which will be likely to lead to the re-absorption of the 2,000 men dismissed and the withdrawal of the lock-out notices issued by the railway authorities against the remaining staff in the workshops at Khargpur?

Earl WINTERTON

The Khargpur workshops were re-opened on the morning of the 8th instant under practically normal conditions. The terms of settlement did not include any arrangement for the re-absorption of the redundant employés.