OCCASIONAL NOTE

The Report of the Scottish Churches College, Calcutta, tells of a year of hard work with, on the whole, gratifying results. In Economics, Philosophy and Physics especially the students of the College did well in the University examinations. In these three subjects, out of 63 successful candidates in the University, 24 were from this College, and these 24 had their fair share of the Honours. Examinations, however, did not monopolise the attention of the students. Physical education has by no means been neglected, and the Social Service Union has continued to do good work. It still maintains a night school, and last year it made a special effort by raising Rs 280 for the relief of those who were rendered homeless by the cyclone in Eastern Bengal. General approval is expressed of the University Commission Report and the University is promised the cordial co-operation of the College in all measures of improvement. The College, however, has two grievances against the Commissioners. One is that no members of the Commission lived even for a day in one of the College hostels. Had they done so they would have found that some of the requirements which they regarded as forming part of their ideal for Calcutta students had already been met to a greater extent than they imagined. The other is that the Commissioners did not examine the College library of over 12,000 volumes, of which 650 were added last year.

GOVERNMENT & CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY

DELHI, MAR 17

At the meeting of the Imperial Legislative Council today Mr. Shafi, replying to Rai Lalit Mohan Chatterjee Bahadur’s question re the refusal of grants to the University of Calcutta, said, the Government of India have seen in the papers an account of a speech delivered by the Hon. Justice Sir Asutosh Mukerjee at a meeting of the Senate of the University of Calcutta which is probably the meeting to which the hon. member has drawn attention. It is stated that the Secretary in the Education Department figured largely in the transactions described, that the letters refusing grants all emanated from him, and that on August, 1917, he seized on a convenient opportunity for making a fresh refusal. We now know what forces of evil were silently at work behind the scenes against the realisations of our aspirations.

BIG JEWELLERY THEFT

Before Rai Bahadur K.B. Das Gupta, Third Presidency Magistrate, yesterday, two Bengali boys were prosecuted for stealing jewellery valued at Rs 17,000 belonging to Messrs. Tarachand Purusram of Park Street. The jewellery consisted of 104 diamonds; a large quantity of gold and silver articles, and a number of emeralds and rubies. It appears that the two boys, who are related, had been employed in the firm as mistries’ assistants, but were recently dismissed. An employee of the firm found a jewel box lying empty. He went and informed the manager, who discovered that the box had been removed from one of the showcases in the shop. The police were informed and they arrested the two boys, who, it was stated, were seen in the firm’s premises about the time the empty jewel-box was found.

ATTACK ON MILL MANAGER

The compound of the Union Jute Mills at Entally was on Tuesday afternoon, the scene of a serious rioting, in the course of which a determined attack was made on Mr. Melville, Acting Manager of the mill. It appears that the attention of Mr. Melville was drawn to one of the Khalifat leaflets posted on the inside wall of one of the mill buildings. On ascertaining the contents of the leaflet Mr. Melville had it removed and destroyed. About 1,000 hands employed at the mill took exception to the action of their burra sahib, and made to attack him, but before they could cause serious injuries Mr. Melville got into his quarters. The rioters thereupon surrounded the bungalow, and began hurling bricks. Soon afterwards the Entally police arrived. There was no sign of any disturbance.

MADRAS CONSTABULARY FORCE

The Government have issued orders concerning the preparation of a scheme for extra pay to the constabulary force in the city and mofussil pending the report of the Salaries Committee which is unlikely to be ready for some weeks. A fixed increase of pay has been recommended to the Government, to take effect after the report of the Salaries Committee has been received, and it has also been recommended that the increase should take effect at once, in anticipation of the Committee’s report. The attention of police officers is also directed to the order of Government refusing to consider any request made on behalf of police officers by persons not belonging to the department.