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Leader (1850-1860), 15th January 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 88, Untitled Article

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    • INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS
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      Untitled Article

      THE NE W YEAR AND THE COMIN G SESSION . The Indian political worlds—the new world of politics — is naturally engaged in considering its own interests , and the forthcoming session of Parliament is eagerly looked forward to by the leading statesmen connected with India . Heretofore , they have had only a provincial arena , or , rather , they have been sequestered from the world , and now they feel they are personally interested in the discussions of the greatest senate of Europe . It was formerly not unusual to find men who had spent

      their lives in India ignorant and careless of the politics and proceedings of the mother country ; but now the community of interests is strongly felt . It is expected that next session will be momentous for India , and among the subjects of particular discussion looked forward to are the conduct and constitution of the Council for India , the organisation of the Indian governments , the policy of a nativei army , and the proceedings of the English Settlement Committee . It is contemplated that more than one committee of inquiry will be appointed , and as India will thus occupy much of the tune and attention of members of the two Houses , our legislators will be gradually trained to take a more active and more influential part in Indian politics .

      Untitled Article

      OTJDE . Jp&r at this moment when the pacification of Oude is making progress , when steam nas been introduced on its rivers , and the railway company is moving forward , Mr . L . E . Rees , the historian of the _ siege of Iiucknow , has rendered a very useful service to the cause of Oude progress by publishing at his own expense a pamphlet on the resources of that country under the title of " Oude : its Past and its Future . " In this he has especially considered the cotton question , and already his views have been taken up by the daily press , and have engaged the attention of the Cotton Supply Association . Mr . Rees was for eight years in Lucknow , and

      although then engaged in other pursuits , he devoted considerable time to the resources of Oude , and having the adequate commercial knowledge and special application , he , at the period of annexation , had the means of giving valuable information to the Calcutta public , and had it not been for the revolt -would have succeeded in greatly developing the commerce of the country . The justice of his views in proposing measures for the transport of its produce has been confirmed by the action of the Government in placing a steamer on the Gogra and A .. 'Xlt ««« a i a « h **» 4 l «*< k rnHMn ' n ^ invi s * iP « v' nraA « v % n /\ nr nAmnann UJ C %

      24 U . UUUA . Ai 3 Xlig VMV fUA UJC ^ UJLV / JU . DllbtllUUUHU yulM ^ HUJ for its navigation , and the information recorded by Mr * Rees was adopted as the basis of the prospectus of the Oude Railway Company , for which the preliminary subscriptions have been raised . The first words of Mr . Rees are that Oude is undoubtedly one of the most fertile provinces in India , haying a surface of seventy-three thousand square miles , or . nearly the size of Ireland , and being , watered by an infinity of rivers and nuddees , which , without cutting too deep into the level soil , so admirably irrigate it that there is hardly an acre

      of ground which cannot be well tilled . This is the country which was consigned to the tyranny of an hereditary lord-lieutenant of the middlemen and tithe proctors , for wlrioh Government has provided one steamer , and to which it demurs to concede one railway company . Suoh is the scale on which affairs have as yet been conducted in India . Mighty are its relatiops j insignificant is the provision made for it ; and Oude , under our rule , does not yet form

      an exception . The prpduce inoludes the following articles :- — rice , maize , wheat , grain , bajara ( a poultry grain ) , sugar-cane , peas , pulse of several kinds , till ( an oilseed ) , linseed , indigo , cotton , mustard and surson , opium , safflower , palma ohristi , mango , tamarind , and many native fruits , for Oude abounds with trees , firewood , sisoo , toon , teak , ebony , ¦ sandal , drugs , wild honey , bees ' -wax , oateohu , saltpetre , salt , carbonate of soda , kunkur , river gold-dust , glass , and soap , together with many artioles of local manufacture . The saltpetre manufacture , which , under the late regime , waa a Government monopoly , is now free ,

      and will be carried out on a very large scale . Indigo and opium will now be largely cultivated ; but if the latter article were at once prohibited , it would be the best thing for the country , as landholders would not be induced to engage in a cultivation which must in the end be suppressed . Mr . Rees points out that for cotton Oude possesses great advantages , having abundance of the rich black soil , which is a fine cotton soil , and of the red soil , which , by some cotton authorities , is preferred even to the black . There is likewise tne choice of irrigation , though there is now a division of opinion whether irrigation should be used for short staple cotton . In Oude , however , the water is to be had , many of the rivers running between kunkur banks , which they do not overflow ,

      while they do not , like the Ganges and some other rivers , lie fift y or a hundred feet below the surface , and become thereby inconvenient for irrigation . Mr . Rees is of opinion that Oude is particularly deserving of attention for cotton cultivation , because even under the late abominable Government it was a cotton-growing and cotton-exporting country , although it may be said to have no roads , is hundreds of miles inland , its rivers , as we have said , with steam navigation as an exception , and only traversed by native boats , and having no railway in operation . In Oude there has-been only a local market , with cotton selling in some parts at less than l | d ; per lb ., without attention to good seed or to irrigation , and without proper cleaning apparatus . . ¦ : . ., ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ " . r ¦ . ¦/ ¦ ¦; . - ¦ . ' .

      The author considers the rich soil of the numerous jungles as well suited for cotton when cleared , and he gives a list of twenty-four of these jungles , some of which are very large . Of these the Jugdespore jungle , he states , is sixteen miles long and three wide , covering nearly fift y square miles , and which Messrs . Burn and Co ., the railway contractors , are now clearing at the expense of the Government . It is close to the river Goomtee . The chief measures he proposes for prompting the production of cotton are good roads , steamers on the Gogra , and a railway through the heart of

      the country , so as to enable the Oude cultivator to ship his cotton on the same footing as the American planter . He urges , too , the importance of European energy , enterprise , and superintendence . Besides the Gogra , lie considers the Goomtee should be made available , for although it can never be navigable for large steamers , yet in the rainy season very small steamers could get up it , and it is of importance as it flows past Lucknow . On the south of Oude is the navigable Ganges , separating Oude from our older provinces ^

      Of course the same obstacles which impede the free transit of produce are none the less serious in depriving the inhabitants of the benefit of English and Indian imported commodities , whereby the deficiency of proper implements , and above all the want of the free operation of European intelligence , is very materially felt . For the remedy of this state of affairs Mr . Rees ' s observations come very opportunely , and they arc likely to make an inv pression on the public and the Council for India .

      Untitled Article

      NOTES ON INDIAN PROGRESS . Sir Chak&es E . Trevemtan has been appointed Governor of Madras . This augurs well for the Presidency , Sir Charles ha » the benefit of experience in the civil service of India and in the civil service of England . As a scholar , and a man of the highest intellectual endowments , bis reputation is well known ; it is less known to the public that ho is one of our most distinguished administrators , and the Treasury will sustain a severe loss in his retirement , It is long since Madras has had

      such promise of a Governpr , who has the desire to promote the prosperity of the Presidency , and the power to assure it . The appointment does the highest . credit to Lord Stanley , for Sir Charles Trovelyan has no claims on his party , but strong claims on his coun try , and those latter are most commonly little regarded . One of the most interesting facts the last mail makes known to us is a letter from Darjeeling , which states that they are on the look-out for settlers direct from England , and families from the plains of India , who have money enough to remove , purchase ) land , and commence farming and cattle roaring . It la urged that

      Government should induce some of their steady , useful English pensioners to remove to the hill countries . The writer speaks in the most glowing terms of the climate of Darjeeling as compared with the plains , although he gave up a good appointment and , in a money point of view , lost much by the change . In the hills , he boasts , is existence with all that can make life pleasurable ^ -health , appetite , sound , refreshing sleep , with mental and bodily vigour , and the certainty of independence at no very distant period . At the end of little more than a year he has a good house newly built , several acres under wheat , barley , oats , carrots , potatoes , mangel-wurzel , cabbages , tares , English grapes , &c , all promising well } fifty pigs in his sties , and lots coming ; pigs' meat , from the good food available , is very firm and sweet $ in the plains it is generally heavy , rich , and indigestible . Labour is reasonable in

      ordinary times , but at present the large barracks absorb all the artificers and labourers in the market . Food for the natives and English is atmbderate prices , and by-an dby the railroad will cause the cheapening of all articles of food , dress , luxury , &c > , and open new markets for produce . Within a square of fifty miles in the Darjeeling district thousands of English families could find farms large enough for their comfortable support , and capable of yielding independence in the course : of years in the hands of industrious and persevering settlers . The same is to be said of many of the hill regions of India . The whole question of colonisation , it is urged , demands the serious attention of Government , and settlers should be treated with the greatest liberality . The proposed upset prices for the Waste lands of Darjeeling is 1 L per acreas much as in Australia—and is very high unless the land is clear , for jungle land will require a considerable outlay , and time to clear and prepare it for cultivation .

      The people at Nynee Tal are in good spirits about the barracks for that new military station . The committee for selecting the site for the barracks is under the presidency of Colonel Herbert , 75 th Foot . The barracks are to accommodate a whole battalion . It is supposed they will not be hear the lake , but some miles from it . ^ The convalescent depot is expected to be maintained in its present situation above the lake . This beautiful watering-place will now have additional resources . From Mount Aboo we learn that the Lawrence Asylum for the children , of English soldiers is to be greatly extended by the Government , who have allowed the committee funds to increase the number from . 300 to 500 , so that there will be 300 boys and 200 girls , and $ o many more English children saved from the fearful climate of India . It is deeply to be regretted that there are only 200 girls provided for .

      The new Lawrence Asylum at Optakamund , in the l ^ eilgherries , is really proceeding . The last report of the donations is 2742 ^ , of the annual subscriptions 391 / ., and of the monthly 851 . Lord Canning , the Viceroy of India , has given 500 / . Lord Harris has left the hills , and gone on to Calicut . The Rev , J . D , Gibson bos been appointed chaplain at Malcolmpeth . Mr . F . B . S . Wylie , Bombay C . S ., has been placed under the Collector of Mahableshwur for the purpose of prosecuting his studies in the Hindostanee language , which can certainly , be much more comfortably accomplished in the cool regions of Mahableshwur than in the burning cities of the plains .

      Mr . Henry Pelly Hinde , of the English and Calcutta Bar , has consented to act as honorary secretary in Calcutta to the Association for Promoting English Progress and English Civilisation in India . The Punjab Railway was in progress , when red tape has stepped in , and already it is delayed in one district for two months . The engineers , according to local information , proposed to take land in the usual way for a double lino , and the local authorities doubted whether they had power to sanction this , and so the question has passed on and the staff are cooling their heels . Mr . W . P . Andrew , the chairman , denies this local statement , and refers to the progress of the works with satisfaction .

      The Oude Railway parties are about to make a move . The Groat Indian Peninsula Extension to Decksal , sixty-five miles from Poonah , is shortly expected to bo opened . The Great Indian line is regularly used for the movement of troops between Poonah and Bombay . On the 6 th . December her Majesty ' s 88 rd wore passed down to embark for the northern division . Some agitation is being created in India to develop the local resources and obtain Indian iron to puBh forward railway operations . Mr . Gower , locomotive superintendent of the hast Indian Railway , has successfully tried a new arrester for stopping sparks from the locomotive chimney . The submarine telegraph between Goylon and India is slightly out of order . , . Two river cables for the Kurra . qb . co and Hyderabad

      India And Indian Progress

      INDIA AND INDIAN PftOGKRESS .

      Untitled Article

      . ' ¦ " ¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ '' ¦¦> . ¦ ¦ 88 THE LEAPEE . [ No . 460 , January 15 , 1859 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1859, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2277/page/24/