"I greatly regret," Lord Winterton declared, "that the ministries, in the United Provinces and Bihar, which since they took office in July of last year have administered the government of two important provinces of India with prudence and moderation, have found it necessary to resign, "It has been an important feature of the programme of Congress ministries in all provinces to secure the release of all prisoners convicted of crimes which were considered to be actuated by political motive:
"The Governors of provinces in which there have been Congress ministries' had, after' consultation with the Governor-General, found themselves able to accept the proposals of their ministries for the release of a substantial number of such prisoners, having satisfied themselves, after an examination of each individual case on its merits, that no menace to the peace and tran-quality of the provinces was involved.
"In the United Provinces fourteen political prisoners have been released in this way and in Bihar fifteen, but there remain fifteen more in the United Provinces and 26 in Bihar, some of whom.have been convicted of serious crimes or of violence, "The Governors were fully prepared to deal with the cases of the remaining' prisoners on the same basis of individual scrutiny, but the ministers in both provinces' were no longer content with this procedure and proposed to release forthwith the whole of the remaining so-called political prisoners without regard to the nature-and circumstances of their crimes."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.