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216 THE LEADER. [Ho. 464, February 12, 1...
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INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS.
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LORD STANLEY AND INDIAN PUBLIC WORKS. Tb...
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NOTES ON INDIAN PRO GEESS. We regret tha...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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216 The Leader. [Ho. 464, February 12, 1...
216 THE LEADER . [ Ho . 464 , February 12 , 1859 .
India And Indian Progress.
INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .
Lord Stanley And Indian Public Works. Tb...
LORD STANLEY AND INDIAN PUBLIC WORKS . Tbce India House lias for some time been in contention , and the Stock Exchange in anxiety , respecting the continuance of guarantees to public works in India . Although the railway guarantees have not as yet proved a burden on the Indian Exchequer , but , on the contrary * afforded it resources in a time of great emergency , yet there are some Indian financiers of the slow and safe school who , for fear the guarantees should ever prove a burden , wish to stop the authorisation of any more lic works for few till whether
pub a years they see any deficit will arise upon those already guaranteed . The slowness , the safeness , and the caution of this policy recommend it to all cautious men who are shor t-sighted and cannot see beyond their noses , and tinder their direction might be applied to the stoppage of all the clocks in the kingdom , to see at what rate the works will wear out . It is this sagacious school of statesmen who , instead of profit ing by the experience of England and America , stayed the course of public improvement in India , made the railways an experiment , and have brought us to the year 1858 with three hundred miles of railway , ' and to the year 1859 with some five hundred miles . So far from this being a sound lines in
policy in order to make the main now progress pay , the subsidiary , lines must be pushed on , for India is far behind with every appliance for the conveyance of traffic . Colonel Sy kes , who has erected for himself an elysium of Indian optimism , may tell us diiferentlyj but facts not embraced in ids statistics are against ; him . AlrBengal is calling out for river steamboats , the riyers of the south are unnavigated , and * wherever a railway station is opened the intercourse and the flow of traffic are impeded by the want of roads , though some of the best practical , that , is to say Indian , civil authorities roads in Indiathe
tell us that are superfluities , country being so admirably adapted for doing without them . The , railway managers , " who are not likely to become practical authorities of this class , are assiduous in the formation of branch roads . As to the water communication we are within bounds in stating that in some places three months are spent in traversing less than four hundred miles of direct distance , so that many classes of goods cannot be conveyed by water , and there is neither road nor railway as a substitute . To stop the public works of India , by granting
no more guarantees for a while , is an ingenious and almost certain expedient for creating a temporary deficiency on the guarantees , of preventing the development of the resources of India , and thereby of adding to the embarrassments of the Indian Exchequer ., There is , however , a very strong party iii the Indian Council who are making strenuous efforts to stop the guarantees , and they are leagued with speculators out of doors , for many of the Indians are now investers in the old railway lines , audit is the natural policy of the partisans of these to seek a kind of monopoly : monopoly is a feeling deav to the old party . The old companies have finniifl 1 }! to do to comDlete what thev have on
hand ; they cannot , therefore , very we . ll objoot to other companies taking up tlie subsidiary and branch lines , ' but . if theyoan delay these for years and years till their main lines are completed , then they expect tpget the reversion of them themselves . Their officials and shareholders , therefore , sedulously beset their friends ni the Council with various statements having the tendency to stop the grant of further guarantees , Whenever a line with calls upon it is undor par , they represent that the market will not bear any more issues , though since tho market was millions
last stoppod for eternity some ten . more have been placod , and though thoro is no more proof now than ever there was , that the market is . ohoked , but oh the contrary Indian public works are bettor understood aa . an . investment , there is a special olass interested in each new work , and more and more capital is available , It is , however ,, an article of faith at the India House among the best authorities tliftt the market will not bear one million more , and tlmt it will foe the last rose-leaf to spill the wator in tlie brimming jar . All through the revolt largo sums have been contributed , and now all tho railway districts in India are free , except port of Qude . Now
that confidence is felt in the Imperial Government , and the administration of Lord Stanley and his colleagues , and a better knowledge is obtained of the resources of India , it is beyond question that larger sums cau be obtained for India than have ever been applied . Then there are the Old tales about the price of rails and the freight of materials . It is material for economy , say they , that the price shall be kept down by limiting the supply , and it is indisfacili
pensable the main lines should have every ty for completing their works ; hencs the conclusion , Allow no new companies , which will likewise try to ship rails . We may remark incidentally , that such arguments cannot apply to irrigation companies , which do not want to send rails or locomotive engines to India and cannot want freight for such articles ; nor do they apply to steamboat com p anies , which will send out appliances for transport . They have no true bearing on railway companies at this moment , fox the freight market is particularly
depressed . The representations of such p arties are listened to with eagerness at the India House , and the best intentions of Lord Stanley and the more energetic statesmen are thwarted , for it is promulgated officially by the best authorities that no more guarantees will be given for- along time to come , and hence men of standing are deterred from becoming directors or taking part in such projects as shareholders . Lord Stanley ' s decision in granting the guarantee to the Madras Irrigation Company was a bitter pill for the best authorities to swallow , but his sagacity has been rewarded . The measure lace in his
was well received , and it takes a good p parliamentary , programme . Still , unless Jparliameut intervene , the obstructive jparty will succeed in doing a large amount of mischief-. ¦ . Colonel Sykes . is outside the Council , but occupies the position of Chairman of the East India Company , which is still one of dignity , and he felt called upon to defend the administration of public works by the Indian Government . He intimated that there was no need to do anything for the promoters of cotton cultivation , an object the importance of which is admitted by Lord Stanley , and has his . earnest good wishes . Colonel Sykes told the members , who listened irreverently , that three
great public works are now going on in India are alone enough to attest the energy of the Government—namely , the Bombay waterworks , the Madras pier , and the great road to Central Asia . If he had not trespassed on the presumed ignorance of the House he would hardly have dared to allude to these subjects . Bombay has been in our possession now nearly two centuries , and Colonel Sykes , by some slip , observed that it had been for a hundred years without water , whioh drew the attention of the House . The sufferings of the inhabitants of this important city have been very great , and the state of affairs may be , judged of by the simple fact that quite reoently , on the opening of the Great
India Company . As tlie pier is not sufficient for the required protection of Madras , it will be part of the duty of the new governor , Sir Charles ti'evelyan , to provide a suitable breakwater , \ yhich , although more expensive , will be more effective . The Madras pier , we may observe , is not begun . The reference to the great Himalayan road is another unfortunate slip of the tongue . This noble enterprise is . one of the undertakings of the great Governor-General , Lord Dalhousie , and which is proposed for the purpose of throwing open Thibet and Central Asia by that route to English commerce and civilisation . This work has made little progress , and was suspended under the plea of the embarrassments of the Government . Colonel
Sykes may be able to tell us what he did for that road , or for the other great road and railway to Central Asia by Sijkkim . A road by the latter pass is just begun , and the great Himalayan road has been resumed viuder Lord Stanley ' s directions since Sir Prbby Cautley ' s accession to the sommittec of public works in the Indian Council . Colonel Sykes , who is so fond of parading the perfections of the old Government , may likewise tell us what he has done for the steam navigation of
the Nerbudda and the Cauvery . The little province of South Australia , with small means , has succeeded in throwing open the Murray to steam navigation , although it could barely afford the bounties ; while the rivers of southern India are without a steamer , and we . believe at this moment the Burhampooter , the Gogra , and the Goomtee , not to ' speak : of other rivers in the north , have not a commercial steamer in them , and our notes give some evidence on this . With regard to steam navigation , except wnat has been done for the Indus , . India has been
left chiefly dependent on the home Government , even private enterprise , while Canada has fostered a direct ocean line , tlie Australian colonies have subsidised lines by . Singapore and 3 ? ananin , the Mauritius has contributed for a line of steamers , arid the Cape and Natal offer a bounty for a junction with the main line at the Mauritius . It is easy to see that the small colonies have free and independent action , while the vast states of India have been left dependent on the centralising administration of four-and-twenty men of chance , of whom Colonel Sykes was one . There must be freer local action for the Indian presidencies and governments , as there is for the colonies , and fewer references home .
Lord Stanley has given sufficient assurance that Indian public works arc not to be left untouched till Indian finance ceases to show a deficit , and there can be little doubt the proceedings of the Government will be conducted with prudence , guarantees not being granted as a matter of course , and lavishly , but each undertaking dealt with ou its own merits according as it affects the , welfare ? f a district , and is calculated to subserve groat public interests . Look at tho Oudc Railway case , for instance : the " practical" authorities denounce a guarantee , and yet it is evident that the prosecution of the railway works is the chief condition for tho amelioration of the country and the stability of bur rule .
Indian Peninsular Railway * it was employed in the rather novel article of traffic of carrying water for the relief of the perishing inhabitants , whereby disease and death were diminished . The onl y other lines , wo believe , where such a traffic is carried on , are in the rainless desert of Atacama , on the Arica and Tacna Railway , and on the Copiapo and Caldera Railway . Of course , if tine Indian Government would have allowed it , the ' waterworks could have been as well oarried out years ago as now , and would have beon paid for over and over again , while many and many lives would have been saved . Does Colonel Svkes know , if he knows any ( lung beyond
his own presidency , that Bombay is not lighted with gas , and tliat the gas company has beon kept in abeyance for want of encouragement by tho authorities P Does he know that the military engineers will not allow Bombay to have a mercantile dock , whioh is so muoli wanted P With regard to tho Madras pier , Colonol Sykes does know that for years the merchants of Madras have been asking for a breakwater or pier , and that tho Government , so far from doing ariy . tljing , have resisted every application , and that it was not till the accession of Lord Stanley that tho plan for a pier has been sanctioned . Perhaps Colonel Sykes will explain how it was that the pier or breakwater was not oarried out during his chairmanship of tho East
Notes On Indian Pro Geess. We Regret Tha...
NOTES ON INDIAN PRO GEESS . We regret that a " very serious accident lms occurred at tho Kussowleo . station , and in so far delayed tno measures of the Government for increasing tno ma cantonments of European troops in that district . The Government had built excellent barracks tor five or'Bix hundred men , and these wore just ronay for occupation when , on the 26 th December , tlioy caught fire . This will delay tho occupation ot t » o station by an English regiment till now burrocKs are built , which is a very serious privation to me troops in tho plains . .. „ .,. _ The news from Mooltan is another exemplification of tho difficulties to bo encountered in tho oetnmiBijmont of our troops in tho hill regions . MooUn "J ? nn » l <» rn + n / l nnnnfvv with TYlfinV IMirtS Ot llCil'UV
climate , but , although the 1 st Bombay Fusiliers liftvo beep there for eighteen months , they are not yec property housed , ah < I tl » e consequence is «» f J J ? might naturally be exneatccl , they Wo suffered A crj much from aiokneas wUat they have been aunrtoreu there . It la actually proposed to station throei com panics at Dera Iscnael Kl ^ n . Thus it will U i roprceontea that Mooltan lo unhealthy , and thoro wu »
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12021859/page/24/
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