THE OFFENDING OFFICERS.

AT last the Government of India has made a public statement on the subject of the action it has taken, or proposes to take, in regard to the offending officers in the Punjab. The statement, of which a telegraphic summary was published yesterday, and which will be found elsewhere in this issue, is the most disappointing and unsatisfactory official publication that we have seen for many a long day. But before noticing it at any length, a word may be said on a preliminary point. There has apparently been the same delay in making this statement that has all along marked the procedure of the Government in this matter. We believe notice of the searching questions, to which the statement is the reply and for which thanks of the country in general and of the Punjab in particular are due to Mr. Sinha, was given simultaneously with that of other questions by the same hon. member and this must have been sometime in the beginning of last month. Yet the Government was not able to reply to the question before the very last day of the session. What is the explanation for this delay? It appears that before passing orders, the Government first awaited the report of the discussion in the House of Commons, and then consulted the Local Government. We think both were superfluous. The consultation with the Local Government ought to have been finished before the Government of India’s despatch was written. After it was written and after his Majesty’s Government had definitely asked the government of India to take the necessary action in this matter, there was clearly no room whatever for any fresh consultation between them and the Local Government. As regards awaiting the report of the discussion in the House of Commons, one fails to see what that discussion had to do with the matter. 

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