OCCASIONAL NOTE

Sir Ashutosh Mukerjee’s zeal for postgraduate teaching received fresh exemplification in the Senate of the University on Saturday. Unfortunately he missed a good opportunity for receiving the University’s congratulations on a fact which has evoked some curiosity during the past few weeks. It will be recalled that the raising of the matriculation fees by Rs 5 per student was decided upon a few weeks before the publication of the report of the Calcutta University Commission. Some sixteen thousand candidates pay this fee and the increase therefore involves an addition of some Rs 80,000 per annum to the University’s receipts from this source during the current year. Under the Commission’s recommendations, however, the University will lose control of the examination and the Commission recommends that the University shall be compensated in full for its loss by an annual Government grant. This grant will be based on a careful estimate of the net revenue which the University of Calcutta enjoyed from the conduct of the Intermediate and Matriculate examinations “in the academic year or years immediately preceding the establishment of the Board” which is to assume control of the examinations in the future. Could the indulgence of the undergraduates in kinema shows and kindred luxuries have been debated in the Senate in the light of this revelation, the College Square fireworks on Saturday last would have merited a “grand assistance,” as the French have it.

THE CHILKA LAKE

The Chilka Lake is situated partly in the district of Puri and partly in that of Ganjam. Its length is about 60 miles and the breadth on an average is some 20 miles. Almost all the big rivers passing through the district of Puri fall into this lake which was once a part of the Bay of Bengal. Since a long time a narrow but sufficiently high bar, separating the lake and the Bay, has been formed. The only break in the bar is a channel near Arkhkuda a village about 18 miles from the town of Puri. Through this channel the surplus water of the lake passes into the Bay. The length of the channel is about a mile and the breadth varies from 200 yards to 500 yards. If anybody is really anxious to see the improvement of the district of Puri, he should first of all have the mouth of the Chilka opened out and deepened by regular dredging so that there remains a free flow of water from the Chilka into the Bay.

COLOMBO SHOOTING ACCIDENT

COLOMBO, AUG 26

The shooting incident on Mount Lavinia in which a Japanese lady and her brother were slightly injured by stray pellets from a shot gun is developing remarkably. The police after strict investigation are convinced that the gun was handled by a European resident who was shooting at crows, and that stray pellets accidentally struck the Japanese lady and her brother who were walking on the beach which was hidden from the man with the gun by a rock. The husband of the injured lady however, persisted that his wife was deliberately shot by an Australian soldier. After cabling the Japanese Government for redress he communicated with the Japanese consul at Bombay, who has now arrived here. The Colombo Police Magistrate, the Japanese consul and the parties involved are visiting Mount Lavinia for the purpose of investigating the incident.

EXTENSION TO BUCKLAND BUND

DACCA, AUG 26

In connection with the proposal for the extension of the Buckland Bund on the river side up to the Dolai Khal on the east, the owners of lands adjacent to the alignment of the proposed extension of the Bund met the District Magistrate on August 23 at the District Board rooms to devise means for the execution of the work and for the payment of their respective contributions. It was agreed that a competent engineer should be appointed to supervise the work which would be done by private contractors. As regards contributions, it was eventually settled that all should send post-dated cheques, payable on January 4, by the 26th instant to the Collector.

THE DEPRESSED CLASSES

At the first general meeting yesterday of the newly started organisation for the depressed classes of Bangalore, called “Adi Dravida Abhivirdhi Sangham,” addresses were made by Dr. Zarsen. Mr. S.N. Appanna Aiyengar, Mr. C.R. Reddy, I.G. of Education, and Mr. V.R. Shinde, General Secretary of the Depressed Classes Mission of Bombay emphasising the need of their elevation. Among the resolutions passed were one thanking the Government for nominating a Panchama for the first time to the Bangalore Board and another requesting the Government to allow a member of the community to represent in the representative assembly