Item 19 - Telegram from Lord Chelmsford to Edwin Montagu

Refers to A2/23/12. The provision of additional (not ‘punitive’) police in times of grave disorders is authorised by the Police Act, and this measure has been commonly used, e.g. after Bakr-id riots in Bihar and the United Provinces. Nineteen such posts, he believes, have been sanctioned in the Punjab, originally for two years, but they will now be withdrawn by 1 April, greatly reducing the cost. Additional police have also been located at two villages in Ahmeda-bad District. The cost of providing additional police in the Punjab is small compared with amounts due for damage. Maclagan [Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab] believes that ex-tending the amnesty to alleviate the financial burden on the areas concerned would unfairly transfer the cost to the whole province, but he will remit the police charges on Gujrunawala, Lahore, and Amritsar for compensating relatives and dependents of rioters killed.

(Typed.)