[All Rights Reserved.] INDIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 96

[All Rights Reserved.] INDIA.

— ♦ INDIAN ADMINISTRATION. (Part II.) By the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilki Bakt., M.P. The most powerful attack on any <lecei trali&ation scheme for India which, woul include enhancement of the position t the natire princes, -was a lettey froi Lord Curzon, published by The Times i June. Kcmgily speaking, it may be sai that this ex-Viceroy favours only, as re gards the native states, enhancement c dignity, and is adverse to any delegatio: to them of responsibility or power. Lor< Ourzon pointed" out obvious difficulties ii any change, and even quoted one of hi areh-opponente, Sir H. Cotton, in opposi tion to the decentralisation of John Bright There are, however, obvious, and man; will think greater, dangers in remainini as we are, and a more tentative and pru dent decentralisation is not in fact con demned by Lord Cttrzon's criticism. 1 certain relaxation in practice, of interfer ence with the best native rulers, is tha portion of a decentralisation policy ii which the greater number of experience Indian reformers of all types concur. Thi part of India at present subject in greate; or less degree to native princely rule ma] be set at about one-third ; so that, evei without the gradual extension recently recommended by Colonel Grey, the stepi suggested form an experiment on a sum ciently large scale. THE POSITION OF THE NATIVE PRINCES. The native princes vary among themselves in ability, in personal strength, in wealth, and in prestige, to an almost incredible degree. Recent public lettere ol some of the best among them, differing as they do most sharply in their opinions, have revealed, with scrupulous politeness, the reforms of which our relations with them stand in need. The Gaikwar of Baroda has shown that he is naturally offended by certain petty and galling restrictions which hamper his action in matters outside our necessary concern. A letter by a most distinguished prince, the Maharaja of Bikanir, which appeared in The Times of the 23rd July, illustrates from a y er y different side the most natural dislike of "petty pin-pricks" administered by some of the less wise political officers at their courts. It ought to be enough that the armies, the Customs and excise, the right of war and peace, and that of foreign negotiation are wholly under our control ; while gross misgovernment is met by deposition. The restriction on permanent residence of Europeans at the native courts is perhaps necessary; but, even while it exists, is impossible to enforce in some cases where enforcement would be to the advantage of the ruler himself and of his people. Like many such, restrictions, and like that imposed on foreign travel or visits to England by the princes, the irksome restraint is sometimes applied where it would be best forgotten and is inapplicable in cases where, if less dangerous, it would be easy to defend. What is wanted immediately is not a formal change, such as would have to be of universal application, but a great deal more convenient elasticity or shutting of tha eyes in matters which are not essential. The Gaikwar of Baroda, for example, is a most enlightened ruler. It is far better that he should be allowed to select his advisers without restriction in practice, and even to moke the natural mistakes of all reformers in his own way, than that J he should be kept in leading strings after i the fashion in which the British Agency at Cairo has often treated the Khedive. UNIFICATION OF INDIA IMPOSSIBLE With respect to our treatment of the native states and our reform of the civil government of Britisi India my main resistance is directed against measures calculated to reduce the whole of the vast , territories dealt with in either case to one j dead level. ! The princes of India enjoy a situation | which is so connected with our rule that j they would fall with us if we should fall. ' Few indeed there are among them who could hope to find in any system by which our autocracy could be conceivably replaced the solid advantages even of their present position. That they are, on the whole, popular with the peoples the statis- ; tics of the frontiers show. Holkar or i Scindia would be out of place in the greater part of British India, but half at least of the country remains intensely feudal and aristocratic, and the rule of the princes, great ' and small, is still more suitable to Targe parts of India than the rule of the most accomplished of Bengal civilians. As an English Radical acquainted with the pre-Elizabethan frame of mind of large parts of the centre and north-west of the Indian peninsula, I agree with the Maharaja of Bikanir, that there has been unnecessary interference with the internal affairs of some of the better-managed States, and that "with our increased capabilities for managing our own business the interference of Government in our internal affairs is necessarily becoming less called for. - . . It cannot- in all honesty be said that the present system of dealing with native States is absolutely perfect." H.R.H. the Prince of Wales spoke wisely at the Guildhall last year when he gave a prominent " place in his address on India to "these great princes . . . their po- ' bility of mind, their chivalrous nature, and the great powers which they possess for doing good." Mr Morley has gone slowly with his reforms, as is doubtless necessary when we are dealing with so conservative a people as Indian Mohammedans and Hindus. He has gone on the right lines in the indications given of his policy towards the native States, explained in the following words from his Budget speech of 1906 :— " I sometimes think we make a mistake in not attaching the weight we ought to these

powerful princes as standing forces ii India. . . . It is a question whetliei we do not persist in holding these powerfu men too lightly." The native btates have offered in recenl times a career to the greatest native states men that all India has produced. Thej have drawn many of their best men fron: our own territory and have lessened th< danger to which allusion has been mad< already in this article, foreseen as it was bj our own statesmen over a long period, thai we develop trained intelligence to which ; except on the bench of the High Court, w< j have found oxireelves hitherto unable t< afford a suitable career. WBjc^E REFORMS ARE ESSENTIAL. While Mr Morley's proposals as to th< native States will no doubt be wise, thert is ground {or more doubt as to his "Reform of the Legislative Councils" and • terms of reference to the Royal Commaßsion on Indian Decentralisation. " Given the fact \ that we possess, and shall retain, military j supremacy and control of public finance, it ; would seem compatible with the continui ance and improvement of our rule to give more local freedom in large parts of India than is likely to be attained by a system of uniformity. In a country so diverse, what is needed above all ie the advantage of diversity of government. . If in some I parts we have greater regard to heedity I or to feudal authority, we shall become • able, in the purely British and purely rural districts, as well as in the town portions of the India for which we are directly responsible, to Introduce the local representative system more widely and more largely. In many parts of the country the employment of native agents selected by m^re competition in the arts of administration is notoriously unsafe, and far from being desired by the people ; but it is admitted by candid and skilled members of our civil service that we must employ natives on ; a larger scale, and that, in the right places, it is both wise and safe thus to -employ them. The native police magistrate is not always a success, but the native judge commands respect. It is not easy to find at home barristers and financiers of sufficient standing to allow us, on the salaries which India can afford, to fill the places for which the highest ability in finance and law are needed with men of equal standing to those that India herself is able to provide. THE POSITION OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE. Mr Morley is placing on the Council of India, two native gentlemen, but this is little more than a sentimental change. Personally I have never attached importance to the part played by the Council of the Secretary of State in an ideal Indian Administration. The Secretary of State in his dealings with the Viceroy in Council at Calcutta is the real autocrat of India, able in all essentials to have his way, and wielding in his last resort the entire authority of the Crown. He is responsible, as one of the Cabinet, to the House of Commons ; and can rely with ! safety upon the support of Parliament, all the more certain to be given if he takes Parliament into his confidence. The Emperor of India, who is King of England, plays the leading part in sentiment in the eyes of the people of India, and the King is advised b.y the Secretary of State, who represents, m his dealing with the Council at Calcutta, the royal authority. The last great inquiry into Indian government was by the Indian ■ Expenditure Committee, and its result is i to be found in its unanimous report of 1900. It was the recommendation of that ■ Committee that Parliament should reeog- , nise its responsibility by making a contribution from our votes " towards the charge _ of the India Office," at present borne, like t all other expenditure at Home, entirely Iby Indian resources. The electorate is always willing, when the case is put before it, to rise to the height of its real responsibility in regard to India. It is Parliament which in the last resort controls and must always control that Government. The creation of a real Parliament for India representing the true opinion, from time to time, of a majority of the : Indian people is not the policy of any j party in India. For a period as long as I can be foreseen the Home elector will ; have to face this fact. The British mem- ; ber of Parliament may be trusted to look ; after the interests of those by whom he is , elected, or these to turn him out if he fails to do so. The responsibility of both, for the main lines of Indian government, is one which rests only upon their disinterested virtue and intelligence. It is the duty of all pubic men and of the i press to keep these considerations before the public mind. INDIA— "THE EMPIRE." The prominence given to the self-govern-ing colonies in recent controversies led many to ignore the predominance of India in the Empire, next after the United Kingdom. "The Empire" is mainly inhabited by a dark-skinned population. To the dark and un-Parliamentary majority India contributes by far the greater part. While in population she infinitely exceeds the United Ivinghom and all the colonies put together, she stands second only to the United Kingdom m revenue and expenditure. For the Empire she is called upon to make the greatest sacrifice in proportion to her wealth, and no scheme of "closer union," if it ever came to be desired by the self- ' governing colonies, could be entertained unless it made provision for the inder^ntient place of India, with a power to support • hp 3 - interest in the Empire propor- ' tionate to these sacrifices which she makes. An Eltham resident look advantage of the hoi days to effect seme repairs to the ; roof of his dwelling. On removing a shoot of iior. he secured cufficienf straw, feathers" small birds and esjgs io fill a potato sv^k.' . although the building had only r-£siicwc(e<l i about five years. A Manaia resident, who ', had recently occasion to rej.air a oe:hng, took no less than eight and a-half sacks ! of birds' nests from between the 1001 and the ce-iling. The building had beer, a nest- | ' ing place for starlings for several years. I'•