SIR HARRY VERNEY said, he was satisfied that whatever exertions Her Majesty's Government might think fit to make to meet the present Crisis in India, to render our troops victorious, and to restore that government and dominion which we had so long enjoyed there, would meet with the cordial co-operation of the House and of the country.

Members on his side of the House, following in the wake of the hon. and gallant General, and the hon. and gallant Admiral (Sir C. Napier), had pressed on the Government the necessity of looking the Crisis in India in the face; hut they could get no satisfactory reply from the Government, which pursued its own course.

And which Amendment was,— To leave out from the word "House" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words, "generally approves of Lord Canning's policy up to the time of the Oude Proclamation, and is satisfied with the firmness and judgment he has evinced during the Crisis in India; but this House declines to give any opinion upon the Oude Proclamation until it has had further information on the state of Oude when the Proclamation was issued, and also Lord Canning's reasons for issuing it," instead thereof.

And which Amendment was— To leave out from the word "House" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "generally approves of Lord Canning's policy up to the time of the Oude Proclamation, and is satisfied with the firmness and judgment he has evinced during the Crisis in India; but this House declines to give any opinion upon the Oude Proclamatiom until it has had further information on the state of Oude when the Proclamation was issued, and also Lord Canning's reasons for issuing it,' instead thereof.

He never should have thought of this criticism on the proceedings of the Committee—which, he admitted, was singular—but for the importance of keeping attention directed to the subject, seeing that the Session was drawing rapidly to a close, and the Crisis in India did not yet show symptoms of being brought to a speedy termination.

In that Minute, Sir Charles Trevelyan expressed his conviction that the present Crisis in India was more pregnant with portentous results for good or evil than any which had occurred within the memory of the present generation, and that on the line now taken would depend the future of our empire in the East.

This is a time of serious Crisis in India, and I hope we are not going to squabble over a small matter of this sort, which is absolutely in order and which follows the precedent of every Indian loan from time immemorial.

It seemed to me that the most prominent feature in the late conduct of the India Office was this endeavour to tide over a difficult Crisis in India, caused by those in charge of the Government of India, by sending two of our loved and respected Princes to India for an experiment.

Captain HAROLD BALFOUR: Having heard the mischievous speech of the hon. Member for Peckham (Mr. Beckett), I suggest that this is one of the occasions when those who are not fully versed in the subject and do not have to bear the responsibility of this terrible Crisis in India should keep silence in this House.

As for the suggestion that these orders would immediately come before the House of Commons, and that all other business would be stopped, that a Crisis in India, a financial crisis, or anything else is to be immediately adjourned while the House of Commons determines whether a duty shall be put on bristle brushes or not, it is absurd.

being minutely scrutinised, and, I would go as far as to say that my considered view is, not that there is an overwhelming Crisis in India at the present time, but that the situation in India is, on the whole better, than we might expect considering all the upheavals which are going on in the other parts of the world.

That is to say, that a constitutional Crisis in India is to be dealt with in this Parliament, probably with the Whips on and by the votes of the majority for the time being.

Have we ever failed in the past to produce men who showed those qualities in every Crisis of India's history?

May I ask the Prime Minister, first, whether he does not agree that it would be very unwise not to do everything we can to avoid a constitutional Crisis in India; and, secondly, whether, inasmuch as the responsibility for all these decisions rests entirely on this House, because the Governors are exercising powers for which we are re sponsible, the Minister will give us a full statement, including the statements of the Congress Ministries themselves, and also a catalogue of the crimes of which these prisoners were convicted and on what dates?

I am just as much opposed to Nazism as the hon. and learned Member for East Bristol, but I venture to say to him that if he tries to impose democratic shibboleths and democratic catchwords on a community which has not yet reached the stage where that can be safely done, it will precipitate a great Crisis in India.

It may be that that speech has been misrepresented in India in some ways, but I beg hon. Members to recognise that in this Crisis in India, when our troops are facing the enemy, when there has been sabotage, when there has been the cutting of communications, when every sort of thing has jeopardised the position of our troops and Indian troops, it is a time for firm government.

Is not my right hon. Friend aware that the present Crisis in India is due rather to distribution than to shortage, and that mal-distribution is primarily caused by the fact that tens of thousands of growers of foodstuffs in India are in the hands of moneylenders?

Now I turn to the Crisis in India.

There is Crisis in India, where famine is stalking the land and may claim the lives of millions.

Although the region which, apart from a few important exceptions such as the Philippines, has not normally been thought of as debt-troubled, the recent financial Crisis in India should warn us against complacency.

I have cited those figures to demonstrate that there is no Crisis in India - just steady progress, and the steady building up of a British position in a country that we once ruled, but which, after a time, we may have tended rather to forget.