The Giakwar of Baroda.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 286, 4 May 1875, Page 7

The Giakwar of Baroda.

(This native Indian prince who is charged vith attempting topnison the British Resident )t Baroda, Colonel Phayre, has been deposed ;nd imprisoned by the" Indian Government, Be will be tried at' Calcutta,, whither an ambient barrister has gone from London in ; order to defend him. , This barrister as we learn from late London papers has been retained at a large cost, £SOOO being the amount paid the London attorneys by the Gaikwar, (the old spelling was Guicowar), and £SOOO more will be paid him at the close of the trial. The barrister, Mr Stephenson, was to arrive in Calcutta on 17th March, and the trial was expected to, begin next day. The following particulars Which appear in the Melbourne Argus of the' 17th ult., will be of interest to our readers.;—“ The dominion of the Gaikwar comprises an area of ' about 12,000 square miles. For some time past, the affairs of the state have been grossly mal-ad-rainistered, and as the British Resident, Colonel Phayre, felt it to be his duty to remonstrate and to complain to the Government at Calcutta, the Gaikwar sought to be revenged upon him by attempting to poison him. Several efforts of this kind were fortunately frustrated ; and the commisoner of, police in Bombay, having been commisioned to proceed to Baroda, set on foot a series of investigations, which resulted in connecting the Gaikwar with the crime. The Viceroy of India immediately issued a proclamation", deposing that potentate pending-his trial, and at the same time promising that the native administration shall be re-established after the High Commission shall have finished its labours. The city of Baroda is now filled with British troops, and the Gaikwar, who exhibits great pusillanimity, and is said to be nervously apprehensive of being poisoned, is kept a close prisoner. It is stated that the quiescence of the population is all that could be desired, and the hew administration is acting with great vigour and promptitude. Some, idea of the enormous speculations effected by the dethroned ruler may be formed from the fact that forty lakhs of rupees (£100,000) in Government notes were found concealed under a heap of old clothes in the Gaikwar’s palace, and that Sir Lewis Felly, who is temporarily in charge, expects to recover other 45 lakhs. The accounts .show that one of the officers of state had been entrusted with a lakh (£10,000) to furnish a hew palace, for which orders had been forwarded to England. Forty lakhs had been distributed last year in presents alone; •These immense sums have been wrung from the unhappy ryots, or peasant cultivators of the soil";'and as theGaikwar’s large deposits in the banks at Bombay and Surat have been attached, there is evoryprospect of the British

Administration being enabled to reorganise the finances of the state on such a satisfactory basis as to lighten the intolerable burdens which now press on the great mass of the people. As a sample of the profuse expenditure of Gaikwar, it may be mentioned that he had a battery of 30 guns, two of which were of gold and two of silver; each of the former costing £30,000. He had also a regiment of black Highlanders, but they were not allowed to put oh their tartan kilts except on festival occasions, when they also wore pink skintights, like so many ballet-girls.