FIFTY YEARS OF INDIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 709, 7 January 1910, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS OF INDIA.

ITS POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND : • - Sdai-AL PROGRESS: "■': : ENGLAND'S STEWARDSHIP. ~ _ In continuation of a Memorandum published ; in- 1889 reviewing' the progress of Indian administration during the thirty years .that, -had elapsed since India came under the direct, control of the Crown',, a highly instructive -White Paper was issued in, November last :■ by the India UHice. dealing..with' some of the results of Indian administration during the past nfty years.-./-: -':■ -..-;' ■■>-.' ■'• -~ - -

■.A number of'pages-are devoted'at'the te Pnning toa description of the reforms wmch have taken place in the course of the half, .century under review in' the organisation-.of various:branches of Indian administration. .-. Among other things we learn of the large number of who are now filling high- posts m, the; State. Two .Indian: gentlemen • hold seats w the Council of the Secretary of state for India, and'one in the Viceroy's Council. Eleven Indians occupy seats in the. four High Courts, and four are Judges in the Chief Courts. There is a large number of Indian magistrates—: about 3000 ,honorary-and of the 1214 persons who compose the Civil Service.'and from whom;-the superior officials are drawn, 65 ; are Indians..''.The:'provincial Civil Service comprises -2263 subordinate Judges, and; magistrates, and ;of the?e 2067: are. Indians., Nothing • of. the./ kind . was seen fifty, years..ago.'..; •"■'; • ' .■"' :..-.:.'.' ; •-. , After, describing .the- great , advance made ..in. tho.-.organisatiori.. and, : administration,., of ;• the police,, criminal. courts, arid .gaols, the; Memorandum' proceeds. to consider ! the various heads '■ of--'revenue.'. It- appears, that: the gross; land revenue has increased during the past; fifty years'by 60 per. cent.,- measured in rupees, but it represents at. present an average charge of less than 2s. per/ acre cf- the cultivated' land.-- The reason for the growth ofvthe; revenue is. to '■-be;'sought. 'in the large increase' (consequent on the"introduction bf irrigation) in the amount of cultivable • land /in. many, parts- of India as'well as. in; the. increase" in the productivity 'of the; land, and in the"- facilities for'the -disposal .of the produce. :. .-■":' 'There are over 8000 savings banks with about l,200;00j)' depositors, of. i whom /ninetenths' ■ are Indians)" and the total i value, of deposits', is'.-about' ,£10,000,000. '.. ;,"■•;," .; In ■'..the'' year ,'"1665 ; there' .were.'only, 25 collegM 1 f.mth':,.1582 u'ndergfaduaties; •. and 119,261., schools of :all 'grades,;'with; 619,260 I scholars.;; whereas. .in! ,1907 .there ■• were ; 179 colleges; and. college departments,- :with 26,000 undergraduates,'.and schools of all'grades, with-5,708,000 scholars. ."' Passing, now, to tJi'e... most./important, question .of the' condition of the' pepplej the" Memorandum :says:.-,,,' .... .■' '••. "So;far as ordinary tests can be ap-. plied, the .average Indian .'landholder, trader, ryot, or handicraftsman is better off than he.was fifty years-ago.. He Consumes; more' salt,' more '''sugar,"'- more, to-' bacco, and far more ; imported. luxuries and conveniences, than 'he-did a generar tion ago. /Where house-to-house inquiries have been/made it/hasbeen found that the "avorage /villager- pats' ,; more/.food and Has a better house ;than his: father, and to.;, a' considerable -extent .brass or, other : metal' vessels'/have taken /.the place'of the coarse .earthenware, vessels of earlier; times; and .that his family possess "more clothes : than; formerly. ~...." It is quite certain: that 'the of India. absorb ■ and hoard far more; Pi the precious 'metals than they'did formerly, -for' during the past .fifty years :In-' net absorption- of- gold and- silver from outside has amounted to an equivalent' of-.-., i-an.average of 126 .millions i year,- while during the, 22 years ending .with-1857' the net absorption.-of the!precious metals by • India' averaged ; only 82 millions a year." ~.-■,.,.'-, ~ There is, of course, the: supreme fact of famine—"the greatest of all troubles," as the Memorandum puts it, "that' befall the_, population'- of 'India'—to quote against the above statement, but, the Memorandum says: ''-- : ,-' ','.-.-, "Under ;native,rule, famines were very frequent, and frightful when they came.' .;. Famines ..have/'been frequent under British rule, but. they are less destructive and their effect less permanent. . . . An,lndian famine is how mainly a problem of extemporising work for the able-: bodied, and providing gratuitous -relief for those incapable of work. ~'. The crop nrea, securely protected from drought by irrigation, is three-fold what it: was in .{857. ■ Railways have revolutionised relief. Absolute dearth of- food is now, unknown.'. Private'/trade' pours in foodwherever it is required." .',