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88 THE .LEADER. [No. 460, January 15, 18...
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INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS,
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THE NEW YEAR AND THE COMING SESSION. The...
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OXTDE. Just at this moment when the paci...
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Government should induce some of their, ...
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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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88 The .Leader. [No. 460, January 15, 18...
88 THE . LEADER . [ No . 460 , January 15 , 1859 .
India And Indian Progress,
INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS ,
The New Year And The Coming Session. The...
THE NEW YEAR AND THE COMING SESSION . The Indian political world- —the new world of politics—is naturally engaged in considering its own interests , and the forthcoming session of Parliament is eagerly looked forward toby the leading statesmen connected with India . Heretofore , they nave had only a provincial arena , or , father , they have been sequestered from the world , and now they feel they are personally interested in the
discussions of the greatest senate of Europe . It was formerly not unusual to find men who had spent their lives in India ignorant and careless of the politics and proceedings of the mother country ; but now tie community of interests is strongly felt . It is expected that next session will be momentous for India , and among the subjects of particular discussion looked forward to are the conduct and constitution of the Council for India , the
organisation of the Indian governments , the policy of a native army , and the proceedings of the English Settlement Committee . It is contemplated that more than one committee of inquiry will be appointed , and as India will thus occupy much of the time and attention of members of the two Houses , our legislators will be gradually trained to take a more active and more influential part in Indian politics .
Oxtde. Just At This Moment When The Paci...
OXTDE . Just at this moment when the pacification of Oude is making progress , when steam nas been introduced oil its rivers' , ' and the railway company is moving forward * ' . Mr . Ia ID . Rees , the historian of the ^ siege of Xucknpw > has rendered a very useful service to the cause of Oude * progress by publishing at his own expense a pamphlet on the resources of that country under the title of " Oude : its Past and its Puture . " In this he has especiall y considered the cotton question , and already his views have been taken up by the daily press , and have engaged the attention of the Cotton Supply Association . Mr . Rees was for eig ht years in IiUcknow , and although then engaged in other pursuits , lie devoted
considerable time to the resources of Oude , and having the adequate commercial knowledge and special application , he , at the period of annexation , had the means of giving valuable information to the Calcutta public , and had it not been for the revolt -would have succeeded in greatly developing the commerce of the country . The justice of his views in proposing measures ior the transport of its produce has been confirmed by the action of the Government in placing a steamer on the Gogra and authorising the formation of a steamboat company for its navigation , and the information recorded by
and will be carried out on a very large scale . Indigo and opium will now be largely cultivated ; but if the latter article were at once prohibited , it would be the best thing for the country , as landholders would not be induced to engage in a cultivation which must in the end be suppressed . Mr . Rees points out that for cotton Oude possesses great advantages , having abundance of the ^ rich black soil , which is a fine cotton soil , and of the red soil , which , by some cotton authorities , is preferred even to the black . There is
likewise the choice of irrigation , though there is now a division of opinion whether irrigation should be used for short staple cotton . In Oude , however , the water is to be hady many of the rivers running between kunkur banks , which they do not overflow , while they do not , like the Ganges and some other rivers , lie fift y or a hundred feet below the surface , and become thereby inconvenient for irrigation . Mr . Rees is of opinion that Oiide is particularly deserving of attention for cotton cultivation , because even under the late abominable Government it was
a cottonrgrowing and cotton-exporting country , although it may be said to have no roads , is hundreds of miles inland , its rivers , as we have said , with steam navigation as an exception , and only traversed by native boats * and having no railway in operation . In Oude there has-been only a local market , with cotton selling in some parts at less than lid . per : 1 b .., without attention to good seed or to irrigation , and without proper cleaning apparatus .
The author considers the rich soil of the numerous jungles as well suited for cotton when cleared , and he gives a list of twenty-four of these jungles , some of which are very large . Of these the Jugdespore jungle , he states , is sixteen miles long and three wide , covering . nearly fift y square miles ^ and which Messrs . Burn and Co ., the railway contractors , are now clearing at the expense of the Government . It is close to the river Goomtee .
The chief measures he proposes for promoting the production of cotton are good roads , steamers on the Gogra , and a railway through the heart of the country , so as to enable the Oude cultivator to ship his cotton on the same footing as the American planter . He urges , tod , the importance of Euror pean energy , enterprise , and superintendence . Besides the Gogra , he considers the Goomtee should be made available , for although it can never be navigable for large steamers , yet in the rainy season very small steamers could get up it , and it is of importance as it flows past Lucknow . On the south of Oude is the navigable Ganges , separating Oude from our older provinces .
Of course the same obstacles which impede the free transit of produce are none the less serious in depriving the inhabitants of the benefit of English and Indian imported commodities , whereby the deficiency of proper implements , and above all the want of the free operation of European intelligence , is very materially felt . For the remedy of this state of affairs Mr , Rccs ' s observations-come very opportunely , and they are likely to make an impression on the publio and the Council for India .
Mr . Rees was adopted as the basis of the prospectus of the Oude Railway Company , for which the preliminary subscriptions Imveueen raised . The first words of Mr , Rees are that Oude is undoubtedly one of the most fertile provinces in India , having a surface of seventy-three thousand square miles , or nearly the size of Ireland , and being watered by an infinity of rivers and nuddees , which , without cutting too deep into the level soil , so admirably irrigate it that there is hardly an acre of ground which cannot be well tilled . This is the country which was consigned to the tyranny of an
hereditary lord-lieutenant of the middlemen and tithe proctors , for which Government has provided one steamer , and to which it demurs to concede one railway company . $ uch is the spate on whioh affairs have as yet been conducted in India . Mighty are its relations ; insignificant is the provision made for it j and Oude , under our rule , does not yet form an exception . The produce includes the following articles ;•—rice , maize , wheat , errata , baiara ( a poultry grain ) ,
sugar-cane , peas , pulse of several kinds , till ( an oilseed ) , linseed , indigo , cotton , mustard and aurson , opium , saffiower , palma ohristi , mango , iaman ' nd , and many native fruits , for Cade , abounds * with trees , ' firewood , sisoo , toon , teak , ebony , sandal , drugs , wild honey , bees ' -wax , catechu , saltpetre , salt , carbonate of soda , kunkur , river gold-dust , glass , and soap , together with many , articles of local manufacture . The saltpetre manufacture , whioh , under the late regime , was a Government monopoly , is now free ,
Government Should Induce Some Of Their, ...
Government should induce some of their , steady , useful English pensioners to remove to the hill countries . The writer speaks in the most glowing terms of the climate of Darjeeling as compared with the plains , although he gave up a good appointment and , in a money point of view , lost much by the change . In the hills , he boasts , is existence with all that can make life pleasurable- ^ health , appetite , . sound , refreshing sleep , with mental and bodily vigour , and the certainty of independence at no very distant period . At the end of little more than a year he has a good house newly built , several acres under wheat , barley , oats , carrots , potatoes , mangel-wurzel , cabbages , tares , English grapes , & c , all promising well ; fifty pigs in his sties , and lots coming ; pigs' meat , from the good food available , is very firm and sweet ; in the . plains it is generally heavy , rich , and indigestible . Labour is reasonable in
ordinary times , but at present the large barracks absorb all the artificers and labourers in the market . Food for the natives and English is at moderate prices ^ and by-an dby the railroad will cause the cheapening of all articles of food , dress , luxury , & c , and open new markets for produce . Within a square of fifty miles in the Darjeeling district thousands of English families could find farms large enough for their comfortable support , and capable of yielding independence in the course of years in the hands of industrious and ¦ persevering settlers . The same is to be said of many of the hill regions , of ; India . The whole question of colonisation , it is urged , demands the serious attention of Government , and settlers should be treated with the greatest liberality . ' ' The proposed upset price for the waste lands of Darjeeling is 1 / . per acreas much as in Australia—and is very high unless the land is clear , for jungle land will require a considerable outlay , and time to clear and prepare it for cultivationi
The people at Nynee Tal are in good spirits about the barracks for that new ~ military _ station . The committee for selecting the site for the barracks is under the presidency of Colonel Herbert , 75 th Foot . The barracks are to accommodate a whole battalion . It is supposed they will not be near the lake , but some . miles from it . The convalescent depot is expected to be maintained in its present situation above the lake . This beaut if id watering-place will now have additional resources . From Mount Aboo we learn that' the Lawrence Asylum for the children of English soldiers is to be greatly extended by the Government , who have allowed the committee funds to increase the number from 300 to 500 , bo that there will be 300 boys and 200 girls , and so many more English children saved from the fearful climate of India . It is deeply to be regretted that there are only 200 girls provided for .
The new Lawrence Asylum at Ootakamund , in the NeilgherrieSj is really proceeding . ' The last report of the donations is 2742 £ , of the annual subscriptions 391 ? ., and of the monthly 351 .. Lord Canning , the Viceroy of India , has given 500 / . Lord Harris has left the hills , and gone on to Calicut . The Rev . J . D . Gibson has been appointed chaplain at Malcolmpeth . Mr . F . B . ' S . Wylie , Bombay C . S ., has been placed under the Collector of Mahableshwur for the purpose of prosecuting his studies in the Hindostanee language , which can certainly be much more comfortably accomplished in the cool regions of Mahableshwur than in the burning cities of the plains .
Mr . Henry Polly Hinde , of the English and Calcutta Bar , has consented to act as honorary secretary in Calcutta to the Association for Promoting English Progress and English Civilisation in India . The Punjab Railway was in progress , when red tnpo has stepped in , and already it is delayed in one district for two months . The engineers , according to local information , proposed to take land , in the usual way for a double line , and the local authorities doubted whether they had power to sanction this , and so the question has passed on and the staff are cooling their heels . Mr . W . P . Andrew , the chairman , denies this local statement , and refers to the progress of the works with satisfaction .
NOTES ON INDIAN PROGKRESS . Sir Chajimes E , Trevbilyan has been appointed Governor of Madras , This augurs well for the Presidency . Sir Charges has the benefit of experience in the civil service of India and in the civil service of England . As a ( scholar , and a man of the highest intellectual endowments , his reputation to well known ; it is less known to the public that ho is one of pur most distinguished administrators , and the Treasury will sustain a severe loss in his retirement . It is long since Madras has had such promise of a Governor , who has the desire to
promote the prosperity of the Presidency , and the power to assure \ t . The appointment does the highest credit to Lord Stanley , for Sir Charles Trevelyan has no claims on his party , but strong claims on his country , and these latter are most commonly little regarded . One of the most interesting facts the last mail makes known to us la a letter from DarJooHng , which states ( hat they are on the look-oat for settlers direct from England , and families from the plains of India , who have money enough to remove , purchase land , and commence farming and cattle rearing . It is urged that
The Oude Railway parties are about to make a move . The Great Indian Peninsula Extension to Deckeal , sixty-five miles from Poonah , is ( shortly expected to be opened ,. The Groat Indian line is regularly used for the movement of troops between Poonah and Bombay . On the 5 th December her Majesty ' s 88 rd were passed down to embark for the northern division . Some agitation is being created in India to develop the loeal resources and obtain Indian iron to push torward railway operations . .
_ . „ Mr , Gower , locomotive superintendent of the I ' -ftflt Indian Railway , has successfully tried a now arrester for stopping sparks from the locomotive olilmnoy . The submarine telegraph between Ceylon and India w slightly ow ( i of order . , , , The river cables for the Kurraoheo and Hyderabad
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1859, page 24, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15011859/page/24/
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