The second reading of the Appropriation Bill in the House
of Commons on Wednesday was made the excuse for raising several points of importance. We have dealt elsewhere with Mr. Asquith's spirited defence of his action in regard to the riots in Yorkshire, and will only say here that he promised an inquiry into the whole of the facts connected with the firing of the soldiers at Featherstone by "a tribunal which shall command general confidence." Another matter dealt with was Mr. A. C. Morton's preposterous motion allowing an appeal to the Home Government, and so to the House of Commons, by all Indian officials, without regard being had to the amount of their salary. At present, such appeal is only allowed when the official's salary is over 250 rupees a month, or 2300 (nominal) a year. Just imagine the result of letting loose on the India Office fifteen thousand Native officials, all with grievances and an infinite capacity for memorialising, petitioning and worrying on paper ! Mr. George Russell of course refused his assent to a scheme which, incidentally, would mean doubling the clerical staff of the India Office, and the motion was negatived without a division.
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