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No. 443, September 18, T 1 85Bj__
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IN D I A.
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THE PUBLIC WORKS" DEPARTMENT. It will be...
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NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS. The contest is...
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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Transcript
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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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No. 443, September 18, T 1 85bj__
No . 443 , September 18 , T 85 Bj __
THE LEADEE , 975
In D I A.
IN D I A .
The Public Works" Department. It Will Be...
THE PUBLIC WORKS" DEPARTMENT . It will be some comfort to many to find that one department or committee of the new Indian Council has bean selected far the promotion of public works , as for some months the progress of public works has been much kept back from the disorganisation of the country and the uncertain state of the home Government . The appointment of Sir Proby Cautley in this committee is calculated to give satisfaction , as he has carried to a successful issue one of the grandest public works of India , and the noblest
channel for irrigation in the world . He is a man vigorous in intellect , liberal in his disposition , acquainted with the resources of engineering science and the capabilities of the East . Such a man is likely to give confidence to English engineers , because he is looked upon as one of themselves by the evidence of his works , and whether he is a captain or a colonel they cave not ; while a gentleman with a couple of epaulets on his shoulders , who has spent a life in India , and never saw a railway at work , is not accepted as an authority on civil engineering , because he belongs to the Bengal or Madras
engineers , has drawn high pay , and assumes to icontrol or interfere with practical men . The Ganges and Jumna canals are works which the Institution of Civil Engineers have recorded in their transactions , and which are looked upon as triumphs in the East , as the Victoria Bridge is in the West . In the new sphere in which Sir Proby Cautley is placed he has a heavv responsibility , lie has an old reputation which may be jeopardised ; but there are new titles to distinction which he may gain , and to him and his colleagues the public will , on the recovery of his health , look for the main labour of the important department in which he has taken a share .
"Foremost in the works under consideration are the railways . There are a number of lines which have not yet got the | r guarantee which must obtain it , such as the Oude Railway , the Northern Bengal Railway from Rajmahal to JDarjeeling , and the Simla Railway the prosecution . of which on various grounds ' is important . Since the first batch of trunk railways h » BH 5 ceft ^ ata-dw « rnr ^ 'E « v - aHd -. Bipst material feature has arisen in connexion with them , and that is , the connexion of these lines with the new sailitary cantonments in the hills and seats of Government in the hills . Although some objection was made to the Cominander-in-Chief taking his station
at Simla , and Mr . Halliday , the Deputy Governor of Bengal at Darjeeling , yet it is now a recognised practice for the authorites to spend the hot season in the hills . There were lately to be found the Governor of Bombay at JDapoorie , and the Governor of Madras at Ootakamund . Several of these stations , as Simla , Darjeeling , and the Neilgherries , for instance , are assuming importance as local governments , and at Mount Aboo , the Commissioner for Rnjpootana has taken his post . It is , therefore , of great importance that a scheme shaU . now be provided by the Government for embracing these important stations in the system of railway communication , as at present the railway trunks are intended to provide for the plains . much
The Great Indian Peninsular line is doing good for Bombay by giving access to Malheran and the Poona out-stations of Dapoorie and Kerkee , but it wants communication with Mahabuleshwar . The trunks of this company , north and south , will approach several valuable hill countries : on the north , tho Vindhya mountains of the Norbudda valley 5 by the Nagpore , line the Puchmurree and other hills ; by tho southern line tq Madras , the Western Ghauts and the Mysore country are . skirted . When the Madras line reaches Salom tho Shevarey hills will be approached , and at Coimbatore the Neilgherries . Short branches or tramways will therefore make large districts of hill region available for cantonments and military stations , for tho residencies of officials , and for English settlements .
The promotion of the ( trunk lines is likewise of urgent nacossity . Those are going on far too slowly , the difficulties being chiefly tho assumed deficiency of freight for conveying the rails to India , and tho want of contractors and trained assistants . If tho Government will allow the liues to bo mudo , there arc many who will undertake to sund out rails , but i ^ SSSS & JUll ^ availaulo in snips going out . Tho want of suporiutoadonco is to bo ramodiod by creating fiicilitios for sending out English immigrants to India , creating thereby a greater population , whioh twin , provide tho required assistance . ¦ Uoads are tho second great want of Ind , in , though « Is a favourite dogma of , the old school that in India ronas are not wanted , as in tho rainy season they canuot be worked , and . in the dry season ft groat part
of the country is a road open to the courier . AH this is simply preposterous , for this kind of transport is defective , " expensive , and uncertain , and incompetent for conveying the produce of the soil . The evidence of the planters and native merchants is very different . They cannot rely upon sending their produce down , and as there are seasons on the road so are there monsoons on the coast , and the period for shipping is often Jost . Where there are no roads and no bridges there are no good waggons , and the transport is carried on by the plough bullocks . Already the advance of the railways in Bengal and Madras is calling attention to the need for branch roadsand the Government has the deepest interest
, in preventing the traffic from growing for want of communications ^ for the recovery of the guaran tee d interest depends on the result of the railway traffic . It ' will be very desirable if the Public Works Committee can devise some measure by which the branch roads can be placed under the care of the railways , to be constructed by their engineers , and then be placed under the road boards lor maintenance . If when a railway is opened the traffic is a day moving from eight to twelve miles , and a week moving fifty miles , many branches of traffic will be altogether tration of the roads is likewis
lost . The adminis e very defective , in Madras in particular , for want of adequate superintendence and a large engineering staff ' . The traffic of a whole region must not be hampered because some one zemindar has an objection to pay a road tax , although the whole neighbourhood demand improvement- The roads must not depend on such influences . They are public improvements imperatively required , and not to be subjected to the caprice of imperfectly civilised people , who are to determine whether they will have roads or not . The road boards must be better
organised and have more power . Steam navigation is one mode of transport , which in India is as essential as the rest . Railways are not to supersede roads , nor roads steamboats , but all engines of transport are required in India , as they are possessed by the United States , and as they will be at this rate by the new countries of Australia before the old countries of India . The Ganges may be looked upon as having been brought within the domain of public enterprise , the Brahmapootra has steam on it , but the Gtigra , and all the up rivers , require encouragement . There are many of these on which steam-tugs , trains , and flats could be worked , and . the best way of obtaining them , is to give a separate premium on each river for the first steam-boat placed upon it , making the premium a charge on the revenues of the collectorate , by which it would soon be reimbursed . The Indus has been
consequence Is , the shipment pr that coast is much impeded for want of improvements . Inasmuch as the coasts of India are particularly dangerous * and can only be used at seasons , it is of the greatest importance that every provision be made for their ready use at such times aa English or native shipping can enter . With adequate local boards once established , and having an interest in the development of the revenue and traffic of their districts , the Government would be able to give them further functions , and place under their direction the roads communicating between the hills and the harbours , arid the state of wiich is a great impediment to ready access . A ? the bad season approaches , it is of importance to pour down the newly-raised produce as fast as possible for shipment , and it may be imagined hpwilltbiscan . be done when the tracks are carried through mountain
member a whole branch of the administration should be consigned . ¦ ' " ¦ Harbours are connected with coast _ navigation , and these are one great want of the peninsula . Kurrachee and the Mutlah are but a poor show in this branch of public works , for there is port after port of the south which requires improvements * and where an advance in the security of the harbour and town dues , on the home system , would be attended with great advantage . For this purpose , the home administration must be applied , instead of the whole responsibility resting with one or two officers of the navy or engineers , there must be local trustees and . commissioners , employing
of oduce all along their own engineers , and providing piers , jetties , groins , lighthouses , and dredging machines , and raising their own revenues . Besides harbour dues , the commissioners should have the power of levying improvement rates on the town and district lying on the harbour , and should have the wharfage rights and rents . By giving more latitude to such bodies , the operations of the harbour department would be much facilitated , for the duties of the harbour department would then be strictly limited to superintendence , and the details of management in so manyremote places would be properly attended to . How can it be expected , with the present deficiency of communications and with the railways uncompleted , that the Madras harbour on the Malabar coast can be adequately managed by an officer seated m the city of Madras ? It cannot be done , and the
passes and over gorges , with the watercourses uabridged , and subject to sudden freshes . Canals of navigation are needed in many places , and there are river improvements which require urgent attention . There are rocks to be removed , dams and embankments to be raised , and piers to be run out , for in many places the rivers remain in a state of nature , except so far as there may be ruined works of ancient princes , raised for the ostentation of the day , and long since consigned to neglect and destruction .
to some degree provided for , but the present companies cannot compass the up rivers as well as the lower channel , and there should be separate premiums and separate companies for each river . So , too , for the Cauvery , the Godavery , and the rivers of the south . Nothing short of a distinct company for each will do the work . The formation of companies with limited liability should be encouraged , and a distinct assurance of the grant of public lands for wharfs and coaling stations , and of a right of occupying for such purposes lands in private possession , under an expropriation process . For the first boat placed on the river a premium should be given of not less than one-third of her probable cost , and
Irrigation is , however , one great want of India , and one great means in combination with the others for increasing its revenues and resources . That this subject will not be neglected the presence of Sir Proby Cautley on the Council and Committee gives evidence , but he must be supported by his brethren in a liberal spirit , though even he cannot compass the whole extent of the subject , for , in fact , it refers to the whole surface of India . There must be a better disposition , too , on the part of the local authorities than that lately displayed towards the Madras Irrigation Company , which , after an existence of two years , is coolly informed that the works are too profitable to be turned over to a company and can only be undertaken by the Government ; and yet not a single measure has up to this day been adopted for their execution .
for the second boat of one-fourth . There should be freedom irom taxation for a long but limited time , full rights of wooding , and every encouragement that costs the Government nothing and will help the enterprise . If the Indian Government would give a premium for every steamer in fair condition that is placed in Indian waters within the next two years , they would give such a stimulus to this branch of enterprise that it would work its own way . A thousand pounds a head for the first twenty steamers of a given power and tonnage , or in proportion to such standard as the vessel may be smaller , and , five , hundred pounds a head for the next fifty steamers , would bring a fleet across tho ocean wnich would soon pay back the premiums in increased revonuo .
The grand principle for the guidance of the council is to develop English enterprise to the greatest extent , so as to provide for the expansion of the resources of the country ; If the present c 0 riditi 6 n' of . Ireland be compared with the past , it will be found that though the Government provided roads and canals , it lias been the exertion of private enterprise ;—and particularly in the establishment of steamboats and railways—whioh has most contributed to tho wonderful advance in the condition and prosperity of that country .
Coast navigation likewise requires encouragement , for although private enterprise has carried it to a considerable extent , there is much more to bo done . Steamboats and steamboat companies should bo encouraged , lights and piers should be provided , and ovory facility given for creating a traffic . A very usoful agency of tho Indian navy would bo to run stoamors for two or three years on linos upon which steam navigation is not provided , and to work thorn until a courso of traffic hits been created whioh will
Jcojpfty ^ pw-yftto . otttojRpr . jiso . . , , , ,, ,., In tho samo way as railways have boon placed under a distinct administration , thore should bo an administration for roads , and ono for steam navigation , and so for ouoh department of Indian public works . Whoovor regards tho iiwmonse oxtont of India , and tho groat demands that uro made for its Improvement , will soo that tho Committee of Public Works will of itsolf want powor to comply with tho necessities of tho administration , oven though to ono
Notes On Indian Progress. The Contest Is...
NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS . The contest is going on for tho railway to two Mutlah between the Calcutta and South Eaatora Railway Oo" * - T « mynmnirorEasT ^^ aw present tho Government has refused u guurantoo , but thoro can be little doubt from tho measures of tho Government itsolf that no long period can pass boforo ft railway to tho Mutlah is adopted . . Tho greatest length of . rallwuy now opened i » *" * " that of tho Gront . Indiau Peninsular Jfoulwjy ¦ Ooinpaiy , and it only amounts to ouo luuuuod md thirty and a lmX ^ J r « ph has boon clouded as far aa the port Of
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18091858/page/23/
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