26 DECEMBER 1908, Page 2

Parliament was formally prorogued on Monday, the Royal Assent having

been previously given to forty-four public and private Bills. The King's Speech, though a long document, contains, as usual at the end of a Session, little but a formal review of the work accomplished. In touching upon India the Speech notes, however, that, in spite of the fact that the internal tranquillity of parts of India has been disturbed by a conspiracy of evil-disposed persons against "the lives of my officers and the continuance of British rule," the Government have felt justified in pressing forward measures that have long been uuder their considera- tion for enlarging the share of the Indian peoples in the administration of the country.