The Express.
London, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

INDIA.

Lord WiLtIiNCLIFFE, pursuant to notice, presented'
petition nom the corporation cf cutlers at Sheffield on the
subject of the internal improvement and public works in
India. The petitioners were one of the most ancient cor-
porations in this country, and of all countries in the world
to which the cutlery of England was repotted India was the
largest consumer. It was, therefore, natural that the cut-
lers of She Meld should take • deep interest in any measure
affecting India ; end he believed that the prayer of the pe-
tition %inch he had to present was in accordance with pub-
lic opinion in this country. The petitioners first pointed
out that it was the imperative duty of the government of
India to promote the cultivation of the soil; and they sug-
gested that there should be a more permanent fixing of the
land tax. There bad been • controversy as to the extent to
which this tax premed upon the people and obstructed their
progress. The next point to which the petitioners directed
animation was the financial procudidos of the government.
One of the great difficulties of the Indian government was,
that they had to provide some millions of money ; and,
mug other methods, they adopted the course of advancing
money by hypotbeattion upon the goods of India. When
his noble friend (the Earl of Elleuborough) was at the
head of the government of India he took steps to put an
end to that practice, end sent a despatch strongly recom-
mending that it should be discontinued. An order
was issued in 1850 which entirely abolished the practice
and it was to be hoped that it would nut be revived under
any circumstances. It was originally adopted when the
company was still • trading corporation. Since the last me
paned, the trade of India had increased 240 per cent., and
it was now to be hoped that the company could fled means
through the ordinary channels, of remitting their mewl
without resorting to so objectionable • practice as plods/
themselves in the position of traders. The next point in
which the petitioners alluded was the most important : it was
that of internal improvement. A ;mod deal had been veld
on botti sides of the question. The government and the
East India Company said that a great deal had been done
and more was in the course of achievement ; whilst on the
other Laud severe criticism said it was a scandal both to the
Indian government and the country that so little had bees
effected. (Hear, hear.) Neither of these statements, he
believed, conveyed the correct view of the case. Within
the ,last ten years there had, no doubt, been • greater
desire to promote internal improvements, but still all had
not been done that ought to have been done. Tau lower
province of Bengal consisted of • great alluvial tract
through which two enormous strums of the continent
found their way, and it maintained about 40,000,000
of souls. There were 3,000 miles of embank-
ment on the riven, but it was in • most
dilepiiLtal state. Some years ago a commission was issued
for the purpose of examining into the embankments, and
informing the government how far it was possible to repair
and renew them. The commission was composed of •
fourth-rate English engineer, a eaptaia in the Indian ser-
vice, and a medical gentleman, and their sole report was
that they found the works iu an inefficient state, and they
thought the but thing to be dens was to leave them " in
• state of nature." (A laugh.) There were some canals,
but they were so choked as to be almost useless. And then,
as to the roads, there was the grand trunk road, made about
twenty years ago, from Calcutta up the Valley of the
Gang**, 1.450 miles into the interior of the country. The
expenditure, which had been authorised by the gavels-
meat, upon this road, amounted to about 1,500,0001. It
was the great military line of communication, but there
were several wide and deep streams to pass, and there were
scarcely any bridges. Two bridges, within 3.5 miles of Cal-
cutta, had been washed away some years ego, and not a
single effort bad been made to replace them. In the evi-
dence before the committee of the House or Commons in
IS4S, upon the roads in India, it was stated, by a gentleman
of great experience and knowledge, that on one occasion
during the Sutlej war, it was thought desirable to send
100 officers from Calcutta to the scene of opera-
tions, to which the great trunk road was a direct line.
The oflions had to travel in paluquins, and it was neces-
sary to have relays of 7,200 bearers, who travelled at the rate
of four miles an hour; but notwithstanding all the boasted
advantages of the great trunk road, only 30 of the officers
arrived at their destination in time. In the province of
Delhi there were two great irrigating canals, called the
East Jumna and the West JOOIIIII. Them canals had been
taken in hand by the government, and lanai sums had been
expended on them. The canals in connexion with the
Ganges extended, in length, over nearly nine hundred
miles. There was no doubt but that works of this kind
were of the greatest value. In the papers laid before the
house, in consequence of the motion, he (Lord Whamcliffe)
made in 1851, there were nine different works
of this description enumerated. This was satisfactory
as it obeyed a cesviodes hod bees famed epos the gems-
went of India that them week' sbeshl be seselimodi and
proceeded with. Taroks east to the presitlesey of Beet-
bey, and looking, he lbe lest place, to their means of com-
munication, it apposed that there were no really good
roads. This was remarkably shown in the years 1837 and
1838, when a mat di astrous famine occurred. In order to
amply the suffering districts, it was proposed to bring corn
from other parts of India. Attempts were rude to do
this, hut they were very far from being successful. Snob
was the state of the roads, that an addition of 9d. and 10d.
per mile to the price of eon would not cover the eget of
transit. Nothing more striking than this could be slimed.
The tasks in Bombay were not so numerous ea in other parts
of India. As to the proposed railway, praise wee un-
doubtedly due to the govertimentof India for the 411110S-
rsrment which they had given to this undertaking. But
railways were of no use without the essietenes of sellsory
roads. It was, however, Ms (Lied Wheemillffet
ert:
that when the railway was eseeteueted, sad es
givi ri to Milne, not merely the math Hsu,
lamme betd. also the me-
coadary lime, of transit would be The last
le be liaised woe noble, which differed widely
Cell=eter rem time rikeely adverted le. The grater
pieties settee swim sae of a most arid description, in no
port of bilk 1111111 ele means of Irrigation of such para-
mount hopeless,. Throughout the whole of this pull
dewy 11011111110111 msYllda of maim tasks fee the
of Weakg the hod tome stselered. Thee works were
all easstruatid h fonner times, end peat ambers of them
had beet allowed to fall into utter deem. Having used
the word teak se often, he (Lord Wlierscliffe) thought it
right to Maio le the beam that these balm were net mere
cisterns or ems pasdu One of them woe twenty miles in
eireunifermse, sad of an average breadth of six miles.
There woos however, sot many so large as this, but their
diniensiemporserally were by no means iecomiderable.
Other wombs bed bees oomentesed for the purposes of irri-
gation, is stheeeles with the three rivers which watered
the eouthees pert it this lervibiry ; but notwithstanding
the sucrose which bad attended them, many places, to
which they' were equally applicable, had been left un-
toothed. With respect to the reads of Madras some repre-
sentations had bees made that they were in a satisfactory
state ; but the petition of the native inhabitants of Madras
stated that some of the roads were in good repair, and that
many of them were is an unfinished state. In fact, he
(Lord Whanseliffe) had heard that it took fear hours to
get over seven miles of ground. It had been argued, and
not without force, that the government of India could not
engage in great works, while they had to bear the ezpen-
ces Ine.dent to balmy wars; but he (Lord Whanscliffe)
was convinced, from the attention he had given to the
matter, that the Indian government had mistaken their in-
terest in not having long since steadily, peseverthely, and
in spite of all obstacles, devoted the sum for
works of public utility. The time had bees, lnWi,when
the Company could with difficulty raise the necessary sums ;
that was now no longer the cams. That these
things mold be done, and that the people of India
were not wanting in enterprise the following fact would
show. An English engineer had succeeded in building a
suspension bridge over one of the rivers, from resources en-
tirely unconnected with government. He had got the
mosey and the necessary people together fur executing
the work, and, by dint of persiveruce, had carried the
matter to a successful issue.
(The Duke of Noiromt here presented to their lord
ships her Majesty's reply, assenting to the joint address of
both houses, requesting her to appoint a royal commission
to inquire into the existence of corrupt practices in the
Borough of Hull and the City of Canterbury.]
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH expressed the extreme
satisfaction with which those who took an interest in the
affair* of India must view the extension of that interest
generally throughout the country ; and he trusted that the
assintani • they would receive from the adhesion of partite
so influential as those from whom the noble lord had pre-
sented • petition, would lead to beneficial resale. He
could easily understand the pleasure with which the peti-
tioners regarded the abolition of the pernicious opelmnof
advancing money in India on the bypotheastion of geode--
•sy.tt.m which had interfered greatly with MONISM and
had crippled the energies of the honest trader. He bed
hiran If anticipated so certainly the arguments and rimm-
ing of the goeernment on this gpoint, that he had actually
issued a notice of the approaching abrogation of the prac-
tice; l.ut that step was not well received in this country, and
indeed he believed there was no one measure of
the government of ladia that gave more thorough
dissatisfaction to the board of directors; their appre-
hensions, however, had proved to be entir.ly without
foundation ; and trade was now free to that extent. His
noble friend had adverted very atrocity to the state of the
roads—a subject which bad been brought under his (Lord
Ellenborough's) notice on the very first day that he spent
in India. Ile had disembarked about ninety miles from
Calcutta, sad as there was no steamer to take him forward,
he intimated that he would go on at once by land. This
proposal was laughed at by those to whom he mentioeed it.

They said there were no roads ; and if there had been,
there were no means of conveyance, so that ii he went he
must walk all the way. (A laugh.) siz or eight weeks
afterwards it was necessary fur him to proceed up the noun-
try, luta it to ,k nine days to prepare his dank, though he
Wooly three palanquins, and though he travelled with
less baggage tLan many a cadet. fie had found a great
difference between the roads in different parts of India. In
some places they were as good as in England, bat is ethers
they were nearly impassable. By means. however, of the
assistance of Mr. Grey, the active postmaster-general, they
were greatly improved, and in a little time ft had become
possible to send officers as rapidly as the mail Carts. Con-
uttering the cheapness of labour in India, it was quite
astonishing that the government should bare showed such
apathy with regard to public works. There had of late
been a great improvement in Rajpootana, where the public
buildings and works did some credit to our administration,
or rather our influence; but speakin3 generally it was
necessary that we should reform ourselves, and ao some-
thing fur the country. (Hear, hear.) It was true that
there would be some difficulty in finding the necessary
funds. When he looked at the war in which the Indian

government had unfortunately engaged, and of which no
man could prisume to foretell the probable termination—
and at the melancholy state of things in China, which might
impair one greet source of the revenue, he must confess he
did feel some degree of apprehension as to the means of the
government to make any material change. Still, he did
venture to hope that the expression on the part of the
natives of their desire fur improvement, would act upon
parliament and her Majesty's government and lead to some
beneficial result. (Hear, hear.) They had done a good
deal for themselves, and let them therefore consider whe-
ther, without incurring any material risk, or any risk at
all, by lending the credit of the state to the government of
India, for tLe purpose of reducing the interest of those great
incumbrances of which the in was paid in England,
they could not at once procure a new fund, of no inconsi-
derable amount, which he most earnestly desired to see ab-
solutely devoted by parliament to the sole purpose of the
internal improvement of India. (Cheers.) He did not
propose the substitution of tkis fund for that raised for such
purposes in India, but that they should be applied in addi-
tion to that fund, and that an account of the expenditure on
the works completed, with an estimate of those ordered,
should be regularly laid before parliament. (Hear, hear.)
He hoped by the same means, also, to put an end to the
present system of patronage ; and that the persons who
should hereafter be appointed to situations in India
might possess some fitness for the posts for which they
were designed. (Hear, hear.) Above all he felt quits cer-
tain
that such a state of things would not be permitted to
remain, as that any man that purchased 1,0001 East India
stock should be enabled to barter his vote for the patronage
he received. (Hear, hear.) Assuming that the value of
the East Indian Stock to be somewhat enhanced by consi-
derations of this kind, he proposed that it should be con-
verted into a Three per Cent. Stuck, at the rate of
2661. 13s. 4d. per 1001., which as the present price was 2621.,
would be • premium of 41. 16s. Now, supposing that there
should exist a willingaeu on the part of the proprietors to
accept that conversion, the interest upon the 6,000,000/. ;
stock would be 480,0001., instead of 630,0001., which was at
present paid. There would thus be • present gain of
150,0001. upon the transaction. But there was another
debt, the Indian Bood debt, which amounted to nearly
3,900,0001., and which bore an interest of one pound
more than that on Exchequer Bills. At present it was con-
siderably more, but he took the average. Now, he pro.
posed that they should advertise for the immediate pay-
ment, and should raise the money by Exchequer Bills. By
this means they would save 40,0001., which added to the
previous sum, would be 190,0001. • year. But that was not
all. They would have the whole of the fund which had
been created for the purpose of ultimately paying off the
debt. Last year that fund amounted to 3,977,0001. and by
this time must be 4,118,0001. ; so that they would perceive
that the total sum which might be raised, simply by using
the credit of this country, was no less that 300,0001. a year.
(Hear, hear.) Now, he thought that the fairest way of dis-
posing of this fund would be to place it at the disposal of
the several presidencies is proportion to their gross revenue.
Thus Agra would be entitled to 6 parts, Bengal to 10, Madras
to 5, and Bombay to 4 ; or Agra would receive 92,0001. ;
Bengal, 120,0001. ; Madras, 60,0001. ; and Bombay, 48,0001.
In 20 years no less than 6,000,0001. would have been expended
on public works, and if judiciously laid out would do much
to entitle us to the gratitude of India. (Hear, hear.) We
really ought to do something for our civil reputation.
Hitherto we had done everything for ourselves only, while
the dynasties which had preceded our own had not only
consulted their own wants, but the wants of posterity. As
all men desired to leave something behind them to preserve
their name from oblivion tio desired that his country might
be associated in the future of India with something con-
, netted with the permanent good of the people of that na-
tion. At the present moment he feared that the impartial
judgment of all historians would be that while we were the
possessors of one of the most magnificent empires in the
world and the successors of Akhbier and Astrungsebe—al-
though we might have been amongst the noblest of soldiers,
they would eoudema our memory as having been amongst
the very meanest of administrators. (Cheers.)
Earl GRANVILLE had heard with great pleasure the
discussion of that night, and he trusted that the remarks
which had been made would not be lest upon the noble
lords who formed the select committee on our Indian terri-
tories.

After a few words from the Earl of
the Earl of AulawaiLs,
The subject dropped.
LUNACY.
_ .

The Lunatics Can anillice;itrieTi;t Bill, the Lunatic Asy-
lums Bill, and the Lunacy Regulation Bill, were severally
passed through committee.