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'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874' [52r] (108/502)
The record is made up of 1 volume (249 folios). It was created in 1 Nov 1873-14 Feb 1874. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
X/
houses and property of the firm were placed under attachment, and the records
and papers removed to his house. Deponent was summoned, and directed by the
Sir Foujdar to make a false statement, implicating 1 a certain person in connection
with an alleged transaction of the late Bhao Sindia, and, under a threat of being
imprisoned in fetters, signed two papers of the contents of which he was ignorant.
Four or five months subsequently, he was again summoned and told he had been
fined Rs. 15,000. On his refusing to pay, his debtors were forbidden to pay him
their dues, owing to which he has suffered a loss of Bs. 17,000. The branch
firm at Visnagar was also attached, but was released three months afterwards at
the instance of the Resident. Three months later, the attachment on the firm at
Baroda was removed, and deponent was released from confinement at his house, to
which he had till then been subjected, on his furnishing security for Rs. 15,000,
not to leave Baroda.
He received back the papers of the firm 1 \ years after they had been taken
by the Sir Foujdar.
Deponent now solicits (1) that he may be allowed to collect his debts and car
ry on his business without interference ; (2), that the fine of Rs. 15,000 may be re
mitted; and (3), that his security may be released.
2.—The
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
Agent states that it was brought to the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
's notice that
the complainant had been induced by the late Bhao Sindia to make a false entry
in his accounts in order to support a charge of bribery against Captain Salmon,
the Assistant Resident, and that the accounts of the firm had been tampered with
with this object. The
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
intended to fine complainant, who offered to pay
Rs. 5,000, if allowed to recover his debts,-the payment of which it had stopped,
and it is now prepared to limit the fine to that amourit ; and to cancel the
security bond when it is paid. The complainant's allegation of his signature having
been taken compulsorily to certain documents, is untrue. He signed them
voluntarily.
3.—The Resident, in his final statement on this case, challenges the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
's
version ,of its proceedings in it, and urges l".hat there is no record in the
Residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
of any such nature in connection with Captain Salmon, and that the action taken
against the complainant appears to have been merely owing to personal ill-will
and spite on the part of the Sir Foujdar.
4.—The Commission is not in a position to form a trustworthy judgment
as to the exact merits of this case, but it infers from the' course taken in it by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
, that there could have been no formal conviction of the complainant on
any specific charge, and it is therefore of opinion that the action taken towards ]
him was arbitrary, and unjust as regards the stoppage of his business.
III.— Case No. 1
The agent and representative of the firm of Motilal Samal, Banker of Baroda,
with branches at Surat, Ahmedabad, and Bombay, states that the firm was
established at Baroda 125 years ago, and, at the period of the accession of
the present Maharaja Malharrao, that it enjoyed from the State, cash emoluments
and Inam villages, granted to it by his predecessor, of the annual value of about
Rs. 35,000, and a Paga establishment of 62 horses employed in the contingent.
About 15 months ago, the whole of these were resumed on the plea of an
unfounded claim for debts due by the firm to the State for 50 years past. The
sum claimed was Rs. 1,25,000, and the books of the firm were taken and have
since been kept by the
Durbar
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
. The matter has since been cleared up, with the
exception of an item of Bs. 20,000 claimed as Court fees in a case in which the
firm was specially exempted therefrom by the late Chief, and which the firm
therefore objects to pay.
/
About this item
- Content
Report of the Baroda Enquiry Commission on the administration of the government of Malharrao, Gaekwar of Baroda. The Commission comprised Richard John Meade (President), Edward William Ravenscroft, Mumtazul Dowlah Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Faiz Ali Khan, Colonel Alfred Thomas Etheridge and Thomas Duncan Mackenzie (Secretary).
The report comprises a letter from the members of the Baroda Enquiry Commission to the Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department presenting their report on the results of the proceedings and submitting copies of correspondence, reports and statements relative to the enquiry (ff 5-19):
Appendix A, Part I
- Schedules I-III: Complaints and grievances against the Gaekwar's Government from individuals and groups (ff 21-78).
- Appendix B, Schedules I-III: Cases of complaint and grievance which the commission did not look into during the enquiry (ff 79-81).
- Appendix C: Letter from Colonel Richard John Meade, President, Special Commission of Enquiry on Baroda Affairs, to Colonel Robert Phayre, Resident at Baroda, 1 November 1873 (ff 82-83).
- Appendix D: Translation of an amended notice issued by the Resident to complainants desirous of appearing before the Baroda Enquiry Commission (ff 84-85).
- Appendix E: Schedules presented to the Commission along with Colonel Phayre's introductory statement regarding them. (ff 86-131).
- Appendix F: Letter No. 1128 of 1873 from Colonel Phayre to the President, Baroda Commission regarding the cases already submitted to the Commission, the List of undisposed petitions to be attended to by the Resident which could be used as additional cases if required and the statements that he had yet to make on cases under enquiry by the Commission (ff 132-133).
- Appendix G, Schedule I: Statements from witnesses with cross examination statements from the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). on behalf of the Gaekwar and statements from the Resident as to the accuracy of the information provided (ff 134-229).
Appendix Part II (ff 231-245)
- Letter from James Braithwaite Peile, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kattywar [Kathiawar] to T D Mackenzie, Secretary, Baroda Commission, 13 December 1873 regarding papers requested by the Commission and informing them that the outstanding paper will be forwarded as soon as they are received. Enclosed with the letter are a memorandum from Peile for reconstitution of His Highness the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar, 13 December 1873 and Rule for the guidance of the Officers and Kamdars appointed to the Contingent of Horse of His Highness the Gaekwar, serving in the various Tributary Mahals according to treaty.
- Letter from Peile to Mackenzie, 6 January 1874, forwarding a report and returns received from Colonel Walker, Superintendent to the Gaekwar's Contingent in Kattywar and stating that he does not concur with the Colonel's opinion. Enclosed with this letter is a letter from Colonel Chamberlen William Walker, 30 December 1873, providing the information on the Contingent requested by the Commission and enclosing an extract of the Contingents annual report for 1871 and a statement of the men within the Contingent on duty under officials paid by Talukdars etc, 06 March 1872.
- Letters from John Whaley Watson, Acting Political Superintendent Pahlanpur [Palanpur], Captain Henry Nicholas Reeves, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. Rewa Kanta [Rewa Kantha] and Major Philip Harrison Le Geyt, Acting Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Mahi Kanta [Mahi Kantha] to the secretary of the Baroda Commission 19 December 1873 to 9 January 1874 reporting on the Gaekwar's contingents serving within their districts and commenting on numbers of men, pay and conditions. The letters all refer to enclosed returns, but only the return for Mahi Kanta is included in the report.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (249 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main sequence of foliation consists of a small pencil number in the top front right hand corner of each folio enclosed in a circle.
There is also an original sequence of foliation which consists of larger pencil numbers also in the top front right hand corner of folios, however the sequence is not consistent and some of the numbers may be filing references rather than foliation numbers.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F126/78
- Title
- 'Baroda Enquiry Commission Report, 1874'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:248v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence