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^— — — — — — ^ ^——^^^^^^^^ 752 THE LEADE...
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INDIA.
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MR. EWiAJMTS COMMITTEE ON THE COXONISA.T...
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RAILWAYS AND THE GUARANTEE SYSTEM. While...
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^— — — — — — ^ ^——^^^^^^^^ 752 The Leade...
^— — — — — — ^ ^——^^^^^^^^ 752 THE LEADER . [ No . 436 , Juiy 31 , 1858
India.
INDIA .
Mr. Ewiajmts Committee On The Coxonisa.T...
MR . EWiAJMTS COMMITTEE ON THE COXONISA . TION AND SETTLEMENT OF EUROPEANS IN INDIA . We devoted a page last week to an extract from Major - General Tremenheere's evidence , and have siace given the whole of the reports a more careful perusal , which has induced us to think : a precis or summary view would be acceptable . We may premise that there appears to be an important
difference between colonisation and settlement , the former being settlement on a large scale of labourers and the employers of labour in mass , and insufficient number and variety to admit of their proper municipal organisation ; while settlement means the mere diffusion of individuals among the general population . The enlightened object of Mr . W . llwart , the author of the committee ( and also its chairman ) , was to ascertain the possibility of colonising India with Europeans , and to promote both colonisation and settlement .
Three classes of witnesses appear to have been examined : medical and scientific , whose evidence chiefly relates to . the-climate and its effects on Europeans ; the planters , or independent settlers , whose evidence goes largely into the character of the government or administration ; and the official witnesses , who appear to have been called to counteract the non-official evidence . The practicability of " colonisation , " as above defined , was very early solved ; and the substance of all the evidence upon that question is really contained in the following opinion , which we mav he
excused repeating from General Trernenheere : ¦— - " Colonisation ( . said the General ) cannot proceed in India as it does in Australia or Canada ; it must spring from the upper rather than the lower ranks of society , bv the settlement of capitalists , that is , from the capitalist rather thau the labourer ; " or , in tie language of the chairman , which the same witness confirmed , "Whereas emigration generally moves from below upwards , in this case it would have to move from above downwards , by the settlement of capitalists in the country who shall employ the labourers , not by that of labourers who work for
capitalists . " All the rest of the evidence on this part of the subject agrees with the above . Colonisation , therefore , cannot take place for the mere purpose of commercial enterprise . But this still leaves open the question of locating our army on the hills , and establishing sanatoria on plans congenial to the tastes and instincts of Europeans . This is a part of the subject which will have to undergo further examination , either by the Committee or by the Government . There haying been no colonisation , and it not being practicable , the next question obviously is ,
What progress has been made in the " settlement" of Europeans ? The evidence only establishes on this point whatwaswell known . The real state of the case was expressed in such phrases as the following : — The progress of settlement in India lias been very slight beyond the settlement of a few gentlemen engaged in the manufacture of indigo and sugar . This refers , of course , to the interior ( the mqfuasil ) , as contradistinguished from the Presidency towns . And the few settled are chiefly in the plains of . Lower Bengal . In Bombay there arc no European settlers , and none ( to be mentioned ) in Upper India or m Madras . At the same time it is admitted that the number of Europeans has increased in connexion
e ™ rmlwaY 8 J steam enterprise , and other interests of European origin , which could not be carried on without Europeans . Their real number is not known . It was stated in a return from the India House hv 1853 at under 600 . But that return is questionable from the known purpose with which it was made , of disparaging the importance of the European settlers at that time . One witness ( the missionary , Mr . Mullins ) , endeavoured to givo better uiformation , but ( as we happen to Uhow ) it was derived from a source where Europeans are not distinguished from the Eurasians , or country-bornand the probability is , that the whole of the European settlers of pure blood in the interior , who arc employed in developing the resources of the country , or in non-official occupations , arc considerably under 1000 . J
Next came questions about climate and its effects on . Europeans . The following is the substance of the © Pimons of the chief medical witness ( Dr . JXonald Martin ) , a gentleman of great Indian expe . nence and influence . There is a difference of
climate between the alluvial plains throughout India , or plains subject to annual inundation , and " the arid plains of Hindostan . " In the former , fever , dysentery , liver diseases , and cholera are prevalent ; and such is the" fatality of the plains generally to Europeans , that the witness had , in Iris official capacity , submitted to Government the necessity of locating * the European army permanently in the hills . And , in answer to a question , he said he regarded it as a " state necessity" that a plan should be formed of having large reliefs always in the hills . This important evidence , which has been several weeks in the hands of members , ought , we think , before the conclusion of the session , to have been brought distinctly to the notice of the Government .
The other points touched on by Dr . Martin are equally interesting . We learn from his evidence that the mountain ranges are chiefly of advantage for the prevention of disease , and that for i \\ e cure b sea voyage is far preferable : the mountain climate is curative in simple fever unaccompanied with organic disease , but not in visceral diseases ; for bowel complaints and chest ailments it is unfavourable , owing to the cold and damp of high situations .
With the minuteness which belongs to his profession , Dr . Martin discusses the" comparative healthiness of different elevations . He prefers medium elevations to 7000 and 8000 feet , which are high elevations ; 2500 feet is a sufficient elevation in some parts of the worldJSouth America and the West Indies ) to raise the European soldier out of ilie fever range , while , unlike the high elevations in India , it is not high enough to have the effect of producing bowel complaint .
Next we may notice the two following very important statements : —There is hardly a province throughout India where there are not mountain ranges which can be made available for the residence of Europeans , civil and military ; the question is only the best elevations ; and secondly , that by improved methods of . placing the troops , the mortality might be reduced to the level of England . A number of other points of great interest are
touched upon in Dr . Martin ' s evidence , but our limits preclude our noticing them . And we must conclude , for the present occasion ^ by strongly stating our opinion of the practical value of this part of the evidence . For our army in India , it is full of instruction of vital importance , and ought to have the very serious attention of the Commanderin-Chief and Government . Next week we hope to continue our summary of the evidence .
Railways And The Guarantee System. While...
RAILWAYS AND THE GUARANTEE SYSTEM . While India has been debating on the political economy of railways , Canada and A ustralia . have been acting . What is an experiment in India , with a large population and . a cultivated soil , is in our colonies , of scattered population and uncultivated wastes , a recognised institution . The consequence is , Canada , -with its two millions of people , lias more miles of railway open than India with its two hundred millions of
people ; and Australia , which has not a million of settlers , has in each province as much railway at work as India lias in each presidency . Tlic guarantee system has drawn to the colonies the capital they did not possess , has given , them the benefit of the capital expenditure during the period of construction , and ttie permanent benefit of the working of the railways themselves . Wli « n Sir Macdonald Stephenson undertook to represent the public voice of India , and to become the advocate of a railway system , he appealed to the home public at a period of great cotnmerciul buoyancy and speculative tendency in the money-market , the period being that of the great railway mania of 1845 . Had he been then supported , as he ought to have been , by the Indian
Government , instead of being subjected to a system of tutelage , there was that confidence in the resources of India that tlie railway capital might hnvo been subscribed without a guarantee . They trifled with the question , and began to consider when it was time to act . Instead of leaving the engineers , who would have been employed to carry out the railway system , they directed Mr . T . W . Siinma and other commissioners to devise a system of construction for Indin , and lay down a plan of railway policy . While Mr . Simma was inquiring and reporting , prosperity ebbed from the money-market , and when the Government wanted railways , capitalists no longer cared about them . The agitation of Sir Macdonald Stephenson and his colleagues , instead of being an agitation for guarantees merely , became an agitation
of guarantees for railways ; but again the Govpw , ™ T dallied with the mattered propofed a guaranS ^ per cent ,, and lost valuable time in the attempt to plaJl a small amount of capital at this xate . When at length 5 per cent , was coaceded , railways were still treated « an experiment , and what were called shorfc experiment lines were the only finite of so many years * agitation 3 consideration . ¦ ¦*» . " « » ua Public opinion moving faster than the Indian Govern ment , extensions of the experimental lines -were conceded before the experiments were fully accomplished but still so grudgingly , that when the revolt broke out in 1857 there -was no railway open to the scene of war the nearest being the original main line , stopped short ' colliery line at Buxdwan , and which only served bv it *
partial operation , to show how valuable would have been effective railway communication , and to cause regret that it had been so long delayed . In consequence of this expression of opinion , the Government has conceded a further instalment , and to the three Presidency lines are now added an Eastern Bengal line , the Scind * and Punjaub lines , and the Southern Madras . The history of Indian railways has , however , been that of fatal procrastination- While the Government was dallying with these lines , on the eve of the rebellion , there was a favourable state of opinion in monetary circles towards Indian enterprise , and the East Indian Railway interest proposed ' the Northern Dengal Railway , the Oude Railway , and the Simla Railway as natural and
necessary extensions of the Bengal main trunk ; other extensions to the indigo and sugar districts of the great Gongetic plain were held in abeyance till public opinion had been expressed on these lin « 9 , and the Government policy had been ascertained . The necessity for these lines is not controverted , but the Government , in its paternal care , was fearful of conceding too much . at once , and delayed granting the guarantees , though it is understood that , as a matter of course , they must be conferred on these lines . The result Is simply this : the Northern Bengal Railway is hung up , although the revolt does not interfere with the district it traverses , and even the survey is suspended , and yet at this moment there are hundreds of -wounded and invalid
soldiers , hundreds of English women , and nearly a thousand English orphan and oilier children , pining in Calcutta and Dumdum , -whom the Government wish to send up to Darjceliiig . Meanwhile they are constructing a road without bridges . Had the guarantee been conceded when asked , the railway would be : now in progress . In the case of the Oude line , the Government « an nurse itself with the idea that it has done no harm , for the revolt would have prevented the progress of the railway , which is true , but when the revolt is- suppressed the surveys and arrangements have still to be made , and the public , when appealed to , may be doubtful whether the guarantee is a compensation for tie risk of enterprise in a disaffected district , for capitalists roust be taken when in . the humour . All that the Government
lias done for Oude is to guarantee to Mr . Bourne ' s Steam Navigation Company a subsidy for placing steamers on the Gogra , a measure which , had it been timely pushed , would have materially contributed to the military domination of Oude , and subsequently to its commercial development . Meanwhile , although it is well enough understood the Government means that there shall be an amalgamation and a guarantee , two companies , under the name of Oude Railway Companies , are left before the public with depreciated scrip , -when their organisation might be effectually assisted and every preparation made for the commencement of railways ns a military measure and as a resource for the population when the pacification of Oude has been effected .
Tho Indian authorities have treated the guarantee system as nn experiment , just as they made experiments for preserving railway sleepers from tho white ant , and . to find what telegraph posts would bear tho -weight of carrion birds and baboons , whereas . the experiment of guarantees lias beea effectually tried for them in other parts of tho world . The French Government began with the guarantee system , have carried out an effective ) network of railways , and are now free from tho guarantees . Tlte guarantees were found useful as a means of inducing English capitalists to begin French undertakings , and French investors afterwards to take part in them , and in due time sufficiency of capital was obtained ; and although the French treasury was burdened for a short time , it has in the long run emancipated itaelf from all engagements , and greatly augmented its orded
resources . Without adverting to tho experience nfl ' by tho United States , we may refer to tho examplo ot Canada , where , by tho encouragement of guarantees , two great systems of railway have been carried out , which connect tho great lakes and the ocean , ti ft verso Canada throughout , enable it to convey its own products into the States , and to ship the produce of tho far West . Canada has becomo a great country in virtue of railwaj-s ; and while the grand Indian lino was postponed for fear of the passage of tho Soane , and beforo tho Gangoshas been bridged , Canada has boldly prosecuted tho Victoria Bridge over the St . Lawrence . Such is the difference between paternal government and ropre * scntative government , such tho difference between the energy of a few officials and that of an Eng lish community .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1858, page 752, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_31071858/page/24/
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