OCCASIONAL NOTE

The ingenuity which characterises Ministerial utterances on the subject of India in the House of Commons was well maintained in mail week in an answer given to Captain Terrell, who inquired whether, in view of the “reported warm approval” of the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms by the Indian Princes – illustrated by the Maharaja of Bikanir’s London speeches – any of them had taken steps to introduce the reforms in their territories. The Secretary of State’s representative pretended that Mr. Montagu had no information on the subject but he thought it unlikely that any Ruling Prince would act in advance of the House of Commons. Also it did not follow that measures suitable for British India were equally suitable for the “very different conditions” prevailing in Native States. The true answer to the question, as Mr. Montagu well knows, was that, although in British-India Legislative Councils in which Indians are liberally represented have been in existence for nearly thirty years, the number of Indian Princes who have adopted even advisory councils does not exceed four, and even in their case the step has been a recent one. Actually the Native States would afford ideal ground for experimenting with the Montagu-Chelmsford proposals. They are “States” such as Mr. Curtis, with his blissful ignorance of Indian prejudices, desired to manufacture by the dozen out of the British provinces. They are small, largely homogeneous, and free of the troublesome questions of foreign policy, defence, tariffs and the like, which complicate the question of self-government in British India.

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CLERICAL STAFF OF THE B.N. RAILWAY

KHARAGPUR, AUG 21

The Agent of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway has sanctioned double increments to the electrical staff of all the departments to assist them to meet the present high prices. The increments have been based on the salaries the clerks were drawing on the 31st March, 1919, and are to take the place of those already granted to some of the clerks from the 1st April, 1919. Clerks who receive this double increment will not be ordinarily eligible for a further increase until the 1st April, 1921. In future regular increments to the clerical staff will be granted from the 1st April in each year only. Clerks appointed or promoted out of course between the 1st April and the 30th September inclusive of any year will be eligible for a further increase from the 1st April following. The question of grading the office clerks of the different departments is under consideration.

FAMINE RELIEF WORK

MADRAS, AUG 21

A Press communiqué regarding famine relief operations says that the only district in which actual relief operations under the famine code, either as famine or as test areas, were found necessary until the end of July were Ganjam and Kistna. In Ganjam the number of people in receipt of relief at the end of July was 1,19,342, out of which 86,153 were on gratuitous relief. The corresponding figures at the end of the previous month were 1,47,607 and 89,865 respectively. As matters now stand it does not seem likely that relief operations will be required beyond October, by which time the early crops will have been harvested in several districts. Government has increased the budget provision from fifteen lakhs to thirty-five lakhs of rupees. His Excellency the Governor visited the Ganjam district early in August and saw the progress of the famine operations.

CO-OPERATION

A co-operative organisation known as the Nurpur Co-operative Union, Ltd., has recently been started at Nurpur village within the Bhanga RS. It owes its origin mainly to the exertions of Mr. J.N. Roy, District Magistrate, and Khan Shaheb Moulvi Abdul Gani. About fifty villages have been included in the union, which has been registered under the Co-operative Credit Societies Act, and each village will be created a Rural Bank, participating in the benefits of the union. A Co-operative Stores Ltd., has been started at Nurpur in connection with this Union for the sale of goods at a cheap rate, to the villagers residing within the jurisdiction of the union and a dispensary. This organisation is perhaps the first of its kind in Bengal, and its progress is being watched with much interest.

MAIL TRAIN S NARROW ESCAPE

RANGOON, AUG 21

Passengers by No. 3 up mail train to Mandalay during the recent floods had narrow escape from disaster. The train was running at a speed of 25 to 30 miles an hour with all signals in its favour when the driver suddenly noticed a curve in the line ahead. He at once shut off steam and put on all the brakes, thereby bringing the train to a standstill only five yards from a damaged bridge under which a roaring torrent was passing. It appears that the heavy floods had displaced a girder and if the train had not been pulled up so promptly nothing could have averted a big disaster.