BOOK NOTICES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13643, 12 July 1906, Page 8

BOOK NOTICES.

"Lord Curzon in India." IJy Sir Thomas Raleigh, K.C.S-.t. London: Macmillan and Co. (Two volumes, each 3s 6;! cloth, 2s 6(1 paper; colonial edition.) The secondary title explains the .scope of these volumes, which* are indeed, w; tliev profess to be, "Selections from Lord Cumin's .Speeches as Viceroy and Gover-nor-Ctcncral of India: from 1898-1905." The first volume is devoted to JUidgot speeches and the second to those of .more general import, and of more than one of them it may truly be- said, in Sir Thomas Raleigh's own words, "it h regret-table that lli'iH important State paper appears to be Uiiknoivn to some of those sincere but not always well-informed English -politicians who interest themselves "in t-iie welfare of the people- of India.'' The most interesting m snce':iu«j to the genera! public arc probably ihi\-;8 relating to "Agrariaa J.e:Js!atioiv' - Tirivuiion/" and " Famine,'' while the famou:;" Coronation-JHu-bar speech is well worth K-a.ding in i( s entirety for its excellent Jij/uii.-ih alone. In a copious and explanatory introduction by the liio;;nphov i!;e;o ;i;kl kindred subjects are elucidated in such wav that threader of She speeches mar in'tc!li ? en(iv lollow and appreciate them.' IV instance on the subject of "Irrigation"' he (ells us:' 'In attempting to copo with drought, and scarcity, we are in the presence of natural forces 'which hnnuin power has not succeeded, and may iw-ver succeed, in controlling. Chcrrupunji, in Assam, mav j'eceivc as many as, 20 inches of rain in 24 hours: it lies below a mountain rkl«e winch breaks the journey of immense masses of vapour, rising from the Bay of Lengai, and brings them- down in'the form of rain, such as Englishmen at Home have never seen, and can but- imperfectly imagine. We need not count the number of gallons; for, in the face of such a deluge, Urn ablest, engineer, backed by all the resources of Government. cannot- secure more than a small fraction for the use of the cultivator. While Cherrupnnji is submerged Rajpntana may be crying out for water." Such was one of the difficulties which the Governor-General had to meet, and his whole administration was of necessity full of similar and even greater problems, concerning the interests, home and foreign, of an immense Umpire, the mere extent ot which baffles the imaginaThe reward of a good Viceroy consists " in the confidence of the services; in the support which he receives from the ruling chiefs: and in the gratitude of the people." Judged by these standards, Lord Curzon has not missed his reward. "He often fluttered the dovecotes of officialism, but there are few of those who worked with and under him who will refuse to acknowledge his.earnest desire to do justice and to do good. . . . Wherever Lord Curzon's duties required his personal presence the people will remember him as a Viceroy who wished to sec wiili bis own eyes what they were doinor. and what was being done for them: as an Englishman who proved his sympathy by respecting their beliefs; and his piety by repairing their temples and tombs." The liudgel speeches here collected range over a great variety of topics; they are fused into a consistent whole by Lord Curzon's earnest desire to illustrate, in dealing \viih each particular question, fhe princinles and aims of Rritish rule in Tndin.. He lost no opportunity of testifying to his conviction that " India is in many ways the pivot of our Imperial system": that .its government is the noblest dutv imposed upon the English race, and that that- duty will not, be worthily performed unless "justice and humanity are madp the corner stones of our policy." He has set a high standard for others, and by that standard he must himself be judged. Sir Thomas Raleigh, as a member of his Administration, does not consider himself "in a position to pass judgment . . . in these pages panegyric and criticism would be cnnnlly out of place.' lint no such difficulty assails the_ general reader, the historian, or the Politician: and liv all of them we think that justice has been done, and is beins done, to the great work attempted antl carried through by Lord Curzon in Tndin. And there can be no doubt Hint this judgment- will be greatlv aided bv the plain statement of facts supplied by the present- work, giving as it does abundance of materials for the formation of a wise and dispassionate verdict. In relation to British rule in India, Lord Curzon's own words will well bear quoting : "To me it is the greatest thing that the English people ha ve done, or are doing now: it is the highest touchstone of national duty. If the kingdoms of the earth were to stand u.n to be judged by some snoreme tribunal. I think that upon our European record, or upon our colonial record, we should survive the test, But if there were the slightest hesitation on the part of judge or jury, I would confidenlly throw our Indian Empire into the scales. For where else in this world has a race gone forth and subdued, not a country or a kingdom, but a continent, and that continent peopled, not by savage tribes, but by races with traditions and a civilisation older than our own, with a history not inferior to ours in dignity oi ■ l-oinanco: subduing lhern, not to the law of the sword, but to the rule of justice; bringing peace and order and good -govern-

mcnt to nearly one-fifth of the entire human race, and holding tliem with so mild a restraint that the rulers are the merest, handful among the ruled, a tinv speclc of white foam upon a dark anil thunderous ocean. ... I say that I would <16 soon be a citizen of the countrv that- lias -wrought this deed as I would bo of the country that defeated the Armada or produced Hampden or Pitt." Another fine piece of eloquence is that devoted to the praise of Englishwomen in India. and elsewhere who remain at their husbands' posts devoted and uncomplaining! ''All through the beat of summer, when tho earth is like iron and the skies like brass, and during tho greater part of the day every chink and crevice must- be closed to keep out the invening air. , . . These are the real organisers of victory: and never let any of us think of the service of. his son, or brother, or relative in India without turning .a thought to tho men and women in" the plains." In another speech he speaks of '"the patient, humble millions toiling at tho well and at the. plough, knowing little of Budgets, butvery painfully aware of tho narrow margin between sufficiency and indigcnce. It. is to them that my heart gees out. They are the- real backboJio of our economic prosperity. They give us nearly 20 millions sterling per annum in land revenue alone, or. about quarter of our entire receipts. . . . My view has always been that as the revenue of this country comes in the main from the people.'of the Country, it is to the people that the disposable surplus, if there be one, should return,'' Very pointed and very lino is hits advice to the young Maharaja of Ulwav, who was the third Indian Prince whom Jie invested with full power, to whom his words of advice and high courage must have.come with groat, solemnity and force, presenting as they do a. ruler's reciproi-.il rights and duties, the dangers of selfindulgence, antl the grand old doctrine of "noblesse oblige." Nor must- we omit mention of Lord Ctirzon's splendid tribute to the late Queen Victoria and her devotion to the interests of her Indian Empire: "She wrote regularly to every one of them [the fifteen Oovetnors-Gcneral] with her own hand during the more than 60 years of her reign, words of wise counsel and of tender sympathy for the people whom she charged them to rule," He., the whole passage being remarkably tine and worthy of preservation though too long to quote. As we said before, Sir "Thomas Raleigh's part in these volumes is very small; a [airlv long introduction and eapiial index' show the . only initiative. Lord Curenn speaks for himself, ami so speaking, without, any autobiographical aim, he commands oni smeerest respect- and admiration for the nubility of.his aims, the steadiuess of his practice, the kindly humanity of his spirit, as well as his undoubted administrative t-'ilftnl. liis sound financial views, and his deep-seated .political acumen. Wo will end this notice with Lord Ctirzon's own words on the last public occasion when he spoke in India—a farewell banquet, given bv the Byculhi Club on November 16, 1905, two <lays before ho sailed: A hundred times have 1 said to myself, Oh, that to every Englishman in litis country, as he ends his work, mi<rht be truthfully applied the phrase, 'Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity.' Xo man lias, I believe, ever served India faithfully of whom that could not be said. All other triumphs are tinsel and sham. Perhaps there are low of us wlio make anything but a poor approximation to that ideal. But let it be our ideal all the same. To fight- for the right, to abhor the imperfect, ihe unjust, or the mean; to swerve neither to the right hand nor io the left ; to care nothing for flattery or applause, for odium or abuse—it is so easy to have any of tlicm in India.never to let your enthusiasm be soured, or your courage to grow <|!ni, but to remember that the Almighty has placod your hand on the givniesl. of his ploughs, in whose farrow the nations of the future are germinating and tailing shape; to drive the blade a- little forward in your time, and io fee! that somewhere among the millions you have left a little justice, or happiness, tiV prosperity: a sense of manliness or moral dignity, a. spring of patriotism, a dawn of intellectual enlightenment, or a stirring oi duly, where it. did not before exist—that i.% enough. That is the Englishman's justification in India. It is good enough for his watchword while lie is here, for his epitaph when he is gone. I have worked for no other aim. Let India be my judge."

"Tales of Golden West." By " Waratah." Duncdin, Christchureh, Wellington, etc.: Wbitcombc anil Tombs (paper.)

This picasiixgly-gol-up little volmno piesent s the reader with a series of descriptive anil character sketches of life on the West C'oast from the earliest- days to the present time. It includes may subjects of interest- from the gold discoveries to the fauna of the district-. It- abounds in local colour. ' It- is a witness to the " yood old times" which are generally so mucli pleaGanier in reminiscence than in actuality. It enshrines the memory of some good friends, departed. It also revives some stories, more or less chestnuts, of digging townships and bush Iffe ami adventure. The secondary title is "Under Aorangi," and the frontispiece and external cover present good photos of. Mount Cook and its summit. There is also another illustration giving medallion portraits of Mr Scdtlon and bis family, taken, oil the fiftieth birthday of the late Premier. The little book is dedicated to Mv Seddon, "by permission," and one of the chapters (XII) contains an excellent notice of the lifj of the great man who, since it- was penned, has passed from amongst us. This notice ends with some characteristic words microti bv the Premier on his silver jubilee: "I want to die in harness, not rust in idleness"—a wish which, as it has been fulfilled to the letter, must- needs reconcile New Zealand in some degreo t > her inevitable loss.