The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-29 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

Yesterday evening the usual weekly meeting of
this society was held in the great room of Burling-
ton-house; the president, Sir R. Murchison, in the:
chair.

The usual formal business having been gone
through,

The SECRETARY proceeded to read a paper by the
Hon. G. Campbell on a geographical inquiry with
reference to the best site for a capital of India.
After a long and somewhat technical dissertation
on the physical geography of India and its climates
at the various altitudes of its mountain ranges, the
paper went on to say that there were Ave important
conditions necessary to be considered in the choice
of a new capital if a new one was to be chosen
First, it should as far as possible lie in the centre of
India, geographically and politically ; secondly,
within easy reach of the sea, but not too near, in
case of attack ; thirdly, it should have a moderately

temperate climate, or at least one better suited to

Englishmen than that of Calcutta confessedly was,
And especially should it have room for an European
settlement round it, so as to offer an attraction to im-
migrants, and also be as near as possible to Europe.
Always some of these conditions were to be met
with in the mountain ranges of the Ghauts, the Neil-
gherries, or thellimalayas. The Neilgherries,though
less interesting in a picturesque point of view than
the Himalayas, were better situated, though better
than either was the table-land of the Deccan on the
Western Ghauts, about 150 miles above Bombay.
The line of the Great Indian and Peninsular Rail-
way passed close to a spot which afforded a most
eligible site, and where the climate was so favour-
able to Europeans that among troops stationed in
that district the annual death rate was as low as
between 17 or 18 per cent. All its elements for
forming a political centre was equally favourable,
and a spot could be found on the banks of the
Godavery near its source, where soil, climate, and
everything seemed to point it out as the site for a

new capital. The water supply on the spot was,
perhaps, not so abundant as might be wished, but
there was a confluence of two rivers within four or
five miles of the place, and water could easily be
brought.

At the conclusion of this paper—which, it must
be said, was chiefly interesting from the discussion
to which it gave rise—several gentlemen of distinc-
t tion, and thoroughly acquainted with Indian affairs,
spoke for and against a new capital being chosen.
Mr. HAMILTON, the president of the Great Indian
Peninsular Railway, said that it had been very truly
stated that the capital of India might be changed
with great advantage. To change it to Bombay,
however, he considered to be out of the question.
As regarded the site proposed by Mr. Campbell,
it was, no doubt, eligible in every respect but the
all-important one of a good water supply. While
constructing their railway they had had difficulties
in procuring sufficient water for the locomotives.
Calcutta, however, he thought, was too far removed
from all the other important districts to remain the
capital of the Government of a great country.
Sir R. MONTGOMERY, K.C.8., said he could not
coincide in the reasons allegedfor the removal of the
capital from Calcutta. It was not necessary that
the capital should be central. London, Paris,
Washington were none of them so, and it must be
remembered also that the 'Viceroy had as much to
do with China as with India, and Calcutta was
weight
cer-
tainly nearest to the former country. The great
Calcutta, at
centre of Europeanend
p e hu undwoiuthbtedthley
in-
fluence of an excellentsopc ocrpieiesntsyi
an drailways, too, had removed.
,onewxertashasere,ed
great
on the judgment of the Governmetnhte.
necessity
ypohfs
fixing thele seathis
opinionof
theGovernmentGovernor-General
in a more
place.
be almost übiquitous, and, except during the three
or four months while the Legislature was in Ses-
sion at Calcutta, it was his duty to visit the Go-
vernors of the other Presidencies ; for without per-
sonal intercourse it was almost impossible to under-
stand properly their politics.
Sir Ch ARLES TREVELYAN thought the very essence
of the paper was political. The whole political sys-
tem of India was, as they all knew, a system of
local Governments, to a certain extent controlled
by the supreme Legislature. The capital ought not
to be on the site of a local Government, which it
would soon overshadow. The Government ought
to be common to all, and so should the public
opinion which controlled it. No doubt, the climate
of Calcutta and Madras was unfavourable to Euro-
peans, but the Council of India had to endure it at
the former place as they best could, and unless the
Governor took his Council with him on the tours
that had been suggested, they would be liable to the
same peril which had been incurred once before,
when the Governor-General, being away in Cal-
cutta, acting without the advice of a Council,
plunged the country into the disastrous Affgban
war.

Sir EnsEINE PERRY said the question was entirely
political, and one which had been agitated during
the last 30 years. The objections to Calcutta as
the seat of Government were obvious, but he
thought they had been much exaggerated. Mr.
Campbell's choice of a new site was a good one as
regarded sanitary reasons, but the scarcity of water
and the high price of food made it otherwise
objectionable.
Sir HENRYRAWLINSON brought the discussion to
a close by strongly advocating the claims of
Po ona
which he thought to be both from a polfiticalor a new
sanitary point of view, admirably adapted
capital if one waste be chosen.
The meeting then adjourned.

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