Mr Thomas Bennett: In a case of this kind we have to provide a criterion of necessity and that is not to be sought for in Government Departments. Any Government Department would be glad to have an ox-tension of offices, but the criterion is not what the Government Department says it wants, but can it do without what it is asking for. In this ease does the Government say that it cannot possibly do without this...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I regret that the hon. and gallant Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme is not present at this moment, for I was anxious to congratulate him upon the fine display of detachment and of absence of theological bias which he showed when he credited the Church of England with the movement that we are considering to-day. The hon. and gallant Member may have special information of his own, but when I...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I blame the Government of India, and I blame the representatives of the Government of India in this country, for having allowed judgment to go by default against England in this matter. We have had throughout a good case: we have never been otherwise than friendly to Turkey, and the Mahomedans in India have never pretended that we have shown anything but the most complete tolerance towards...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 91. asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if a delegation, composed of Indian and non-Indian members, has been sent from British Guiana to this country for the purpose of promoting a scheme of emigration from India to that Colony; and, seeing that the Indian members of the delegation have been repudiated as having no authority to represent them by the East Indian Association of...
Mr Thomas Bennett: While I am in full accord with the hon. and gallant Member for Durham (Major Hills) in his deep convictions and enthusiasms on behalf of women's suffrage, I am not able to support his Amendment. I should first like to address myself to a few remarks made by the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Spoor), who told us that the question to be left to the Provincial Councils in India, whether...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I quite recognise that. I am merely stating what the Committee found. They found in the Central Provinces a little more interest was being shown, but it was not until they got into the Bombay Presidency that they found any real interest being taken in it. That statement, no doubt, impressed the Committee, and the Committee, recognising the variety of conditions in regard to women's suffrage,...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I think the hon. Member who has just spoken and I were the only members of the Joint Committee who held that at the beginning we should do as it is proposed by the Joint Report to do four years hence. There is no difference between the Report of the Joint Committee and my own view as to the ultimate object. There is to be an elected President, only we have to wait four years for him. It seems...
Mr Thomas Bennett: There was a time when I was inclined to look at this proposal somewhat in the spirit of my hon. Friend, but having heard his speech to-night I am absolutely opposed to the Amendment which he has put forward. His speech has strengthened my determination to adhere to the proposal as it stands. For what has been the outstanding feature of his speech? There is a determined attempt to minimise the...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I do not propose to move the Amendment standing in my name—[requiring proposed Rules to be published in India]. The object is clear on the surface, and I am quite satisfied that it can be achieved. Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clauses 45 (Amendments of Principal Act to carry Act into effect, etc.) and 46 (Definition of Official) ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Mr Thomas Bennett: Under Mr. Speaker's ruling I feel I must be particularly wary lest I wander into the Second Reading field. But diarchy is directly before us, thanks to the Amendment of my hon. and gallant Friend (Colonel Yate), and until I am checked by the Chair I shall discuss it, although, in my opinion, it is essentially a Second Reading question. It may be some relief to the hon. and gallant Gentleman...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 6. asked the Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the fact that a High Court was established in the Punjab in April last, a High Court will now be established in Burma in fulfilment of decisions of the Government of India and in accordance with the expressed views of the local Government, the judges of the chief Court of Lower Burma; the Bar of Rangoon, and the Rangoon Chamber of...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 23. asked the Secretary of State for War if the Army Order No. 324 of 13th September, 1919, retired pay of officers, is to apply to those officers who, owing to the age limit laid down in Article 495, Royal Warrant, namely, sixty-five years, or to feeble health, were prevented from serving in the War; and if, considering that there are many officers on retired pay who are in considerable want...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 38. asked the Minister of Health whether he had received representations from main drainage boards protesting against the rating of sewers: and whether he would consider the advisability of bringing in a Bill removing main sewerage works from liability to such rating?
Mr Thomas Bennett: 68. asked the Secretary of State for War if he will state the number of members of the Territorials in India who have been on active service since the year 1914; if he is aware of the dissatisfaction which has been aroused in this country by the detention in India of demobilised men who were on their way home from Mesopotamia, a dissatisfaction that has been aggravated by unfounded reports in...
Mr Thomas Bennett: The hon. Member for the Scottish Universities who has just sat down has spoken with a diffidence unusual amongst cold weather visitors to India. There is much in his statement with which I agree, but perhaps he will allow me to say that on one or two points I differ from his conclusions. In the first place, I think that the Morley-Minto reforms have not been the entire failure he has taken...
Mr Thomas Bennett: We are glad to have those two points put by the hon. Baronet. We have two good examples which we can follow. We have the example of Canning, who had to deal with far more serious troubles and problems than even the Government of India has had to deal with in recent years, and yet he did not regard that as a reason why he should withhold from the people of India the benefits of university...
Mr Thomas Bennett: I would like to congratulate the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for India not only upon the singularly impressive speech with which he has introduced his Budget, but also upon the early date upon which he has been able to present it to the House. In India there has always been great complaint of the tardiness with which the Indian Budget has been presented. It has always come as...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 73. asked the Minister of Labour whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction and disappointment which prevails amongst officers and men who, having left the Army, are desirous, of training for professions at the delay in deciding upon their applications for maintenance grants and college fees; whether, in some instances, applications made as far back as in January last are not yet disposed of,...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 17. asked the Secretary of State for India whether, in future appointments to the Indian Railway Board, he will endeavour to ensure that careful regard shall be had to the principle adopted at the formation of that body, when the Government of India had before them the recommendation of the Robertson Report on the administration and working of the Indian railways, that the Board should...
Mr Thomas Bennett: 19. asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state what was the latest year for which the Report of His Majesty's High Commissioner for Egypt on the administration of that country was published; and if he will consider the advisability of publishing the Reports for the subsequent years?
