Publications, Newspaper Cuttings, Photographs and Correspondence about Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎315r] (632/879)

12
THE TIMES OF INDIA MAIL EDITION.
[JUNE 11, 1910.
to create an appetite for further unearned
windfalls. The indifference to thrift which
is detected among the younger portion of tne
community may be traced very largely to
the conspicuous failure of State education to
impart any working philosophy of practical
human existence or any conspectus of life as
an economic whole. The heads of friendly
societies are putting forth a very modest de
mand when they ask that some instruction
in the pr’nciples of thrift should enter into
the curriculum of all State-aided schools. If
education is to aim at the production of
sound citizenship, that is one of the elemen
tary standards which should claim recogni
tion in any attempt at the inculcation of a
moral code.
There are not improbably fundamental laws
of human nature underlying the fluctuations
of national thrift and improvidence, with
which public policy is at the best imperfectly
fitted to cope. Dr. Shadwell, in his strik
ing work upon “Industrial Efficiency,” offers
a very simple explanation of the moral re
laxation of which reckless expenditure and
disregard of the future are but one symptom.
“It is nothing whatever but over-prosperity,
which has always produced the same results
in every nation which has suffered from
it. . . . The standard of luxury, comfort
and subsistence has risen throughout the
scale. The wealth is diffused ; not equally,
of course, but diffused. There is no coun
try in which wealth is so generally diffused,
and that is why it causes so much demorali-
sation. ” There is more than a tincture of
paradox about this sweeping hypothesis. It
is at best a partial explanation, for all social
observers will testify that the inadequacy of
means to support an ordered and persever
ing plan of life will breed reckless and prodi
gal habits just as surely as a superfluity of
riches. Both extremes have a demoralising
tendency, but Dr. Shadwell is so far right
when he implies that an accretion of national
prosperity will be largely wasted if it is not
accompanied by a growing capacity to make
an intelligent and profitable use of resources.
The national training of the English people
has undoubtedly been seduced from this
mark to a very large extent by the cultiva
tion of ill-defined and pseudo-intellectual
ideals. At the present stage the temptations
of "over-prosperity" seem to be very dis-
tinctiv modified, and if the beneficial lessons
of adversity are about to have a turn, there
should be a visible recovery before long both
of thrift and of other cardinal virtues.
Statesmanship, at any rate, should be res.
ponsible for strengthening the morale of the
sommunitmamainsheithemmi • -i i ■ --
DIARY OF A TRAVELL R.
Amazing Incid nt in Persia.
BUSSORAH, February 5.
Mr. Fraser criticises the Government adversely for
its i< resolute policy as regards Persia. He gives the
details of an amazing incident near Bushire, where a
local chief with impunity, by armed force, prevented
the entry of a small British force into his car a vanserai
He also quotes figures showing the reduction of the
British trade with Bushire by more than one half
within three years.
It is a curious thing that what Britain
strives with her right hand to do in the Per
sian Gulf her left hand continually endeavours
to undo. There are surely in our history few
more honourable chapters than that which
deals with our connection with the Persian
Gulf. We fought for predominance there, and
gained it; we drove piracy out of existence,
and have since policed the Gulf; we have sur
veyed it and mapped it, we have shown our
teeth at one time or another to most of the
kinglets on its shores, and generally thereafter
taken them under our protection. And always
until within the last few years, we have had
a monopoly of the trade. If ever there was a
region where it would seem British wishes
ought to be law it is the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . And
law indeed our wishes might always be if
there were more consistency in the actions of
those responsible for our policy.
How very different is the real situation. It
is a joke throughout the whole of the Gulf
that the gun-running against which we have
always protested, is carried en under our
noses. The majority of the rifles smuggled
are manufactured in Birmingham, while prac
tically everyone of them is brought to Muscat
in British steamers. And now, when we can
stand it no longer, and we have employed war-
-hips and troops to stop it, the situation as
regards the origin of the rifles, their transit,
and their distributing centre remains unchang-
d. We have not put a stopper on the expor
tation from England, nor have we debarred
British ships from engaging in the trade :
while in Muscat our naval officers lunch with
our 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. and watch from his win
dows the transhipment of rifles that at tea-
time they will be hunting on the high seas.
Comedy could go no farther. We are restrain
ad from action in Muscat, of course, by the
xistence of the French and American treaties
with that little principality. In high politics
it is very necessary to regard as sacrosanct
the solemn undertakings of high contracting
parties. There appears recently to have been
a slight violation of this laudable creed in the
case of the Berlin Treaty, but that lapse from
virtue has since been condoned. Gulf politi
cians however know very little of high politics.
Attitude of England
the forenoon at a village about sixteen miles
inland, where there was a large caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
belonging to the local chief. Necessarily the
little expedition arrived in rather a sorry con
dition, the officers keen to get their men under
substantial cover against the midday sun. But
instead of finding the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). gate wide
open and the proprietor waiting to receive
them with open arms, that worthy and his re
tainers had shut the door, and were lining the
walls to the number of several hundreds, arm
ed to the teeth and evidently far from bent
on hospitality. Clearly the shelter of the cara
vanserai was not to be gained without a scrim
mage and as fighting on the way was no part
of the mission entrusted to the officer in com-
mand he was compelled to accept the situation
and to order his party to camp. The erection
of tents in the heat, and resting in them all
day with such feeble protection from the burn
ing sun, was extremely disagreeable and when
two of the sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. shortly afterwards died of
heatstroke, there is little doubt that the try
ing experience of the first day contributed to
this deplorable result. The loss of life was
bad enough, but what are we to think of so
deadly an insult to the British flag? News of
an incident of this kind spreads like wildfire,
and the snub administered to the foreigner
was doubtless immediately known throughout
the Gulf, and all over the south of Persia. It
would be interesting to know in what degree
subsequent outrages on Europeans in these
regions have been a consequence of the cava
lier treatment described above. More travel
lers are likely to be treated with scant respect
when a party of soldiers can be insulted with
impunity—as far as I am aware the village
chief who behaved so impudently has never
been brought to book for his behaviour.
I oss of Trade.
I have repeatedly referred in these letters
to the disorderly condition of southern Persia
and a few observations in regard to its effect
on the trade of Bushire will here be appro-
priate. The following table speaks for itself : -
1 otal
Year. Imports. Expo ts. Tra e.
1907-* £ 1,052.000 497 100 1,549,000
1908-9 „ 793,000 432.000 1.225,000
1909 10 430,2*4 280,-39 71 123
Three years ago the total figures exceeded
one and a half millions sterling, while for the
nine months of the period in which I write
they have fallen to less than half. Of the re
maining three months of the year, ending 21st
March, half has already passed and in that
time the inactivity of commerce has surpass?d
all precedent. The expectation is that for the
complete year the trade will only be half the
value of that for 1907-8. With the exception
of sugar practically all of the items
represented by the enormous drop
in imports are of British or Indian
manufacture, principally cotton and
tea. The British firms which monopolise this
-1. u — - 1.1 int • r ii
truth the urgency of the situation is not re
alised by the Persians. In the north things
are kept quiet for them by the presence of
Russian troops while they think they can
afford to ignore the utter anarchy in the south
because of the conviction that the British will
not make a fuss. What have we not already
stood at the hands of the Persians? Among
a host of other things we allowed them in 1902
to make a commercial treaty with Russia that
entails a heavy handicap on our trade; we
accept without protest customs regulations
that are totally unsuited to conditions in the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and that materially hamper
business; we continually allow our merchants
to be mulcted by fraudulent bankruptcies;
we allow a long list of admitted claims en the
Government to remain outstanding ; we suffer
interest and amortisation on our loan to Per
sia to remain unpaid for years. The list of
grievances could be extended indefinitely, but
it will be sufficient to sum them all up in a
remark made to me by a prominent man of
business in Persia—“Our experience of the
Persian Government has been an exceedingly
bitter one.”
Aggressive Policy Needed.
Well, it seems to me that the Persians are
perfectly justified in taking just as much
liberty with us as we allow them to take. In
the old days they could take liberties freely,
for we did not dare press them for fear of
throwing them into the arms of Russia. The
capacity to foment rivalry between Western
Powers has been one of the few weapons posses
sed by Omental states in their struggle against
encroachment from without, and the Persians
cannot be blamed for employing it to the full
in our case. But that weapon has surely lost
its edge, if the Anglo-Russian Agreement is
worth the paper upon which it is written.
That must be apparent to the Persians too.
though they still find on our part, doubtless
somewhat unaccountably, a great deal of the
consideration for their feelings which used to
be such a feature of our policy. But has the
time not come to consider our interests in the
light of the new situation that has arisen since
our rapprochement with Russia? We are no
longer under obligation to deal tenderly with
the Persian lest he take refuge in Russian
arms. There is no necessity to deal roughly
with him, but merely to insist on fair play.
We have offered him the loan of money on
reasonable terms for the purpose of re-establish
ing order, a result far more to be desired in
his interest than in ours. He declines with-
out thanks, and our interests continue to
suffer because of his petulance. There is not
a country in the world which, nor a states-
man who would not regard it as perfectly
reasonable if we took our own measures for
maintaining tranquillity in southern Persia,
just as Russia has done so successfully in the
north.
We spend a great deal of money in the Per-
sian Gulf on the upkeep of our prestige, and
JUNE 11, 1910.)
THE TIMES OF INDIA MAIL EDITION.
11
would have been more indulgent to the 1
scheme than they have been if India House
rather than the East Indian Association had
been included in its hospitalities. They
must look with unreserved approval upon a
decision which declares to them and to
others that the powers that be at Whitehall
to-day by no means look with active approval
upon efforts to rebut false witness against
England. Other people, with various hap
ponings nearer at hand in their memory, will
ask where strength is to be found, and
whether it is now held to be the business of
anyone in particular to be strong in the pre
sence of men who at every moment are look
ing out for signs of weakness.
demnition bow wows. As a flight of fancy it labour; the poorer classes generally find
(The Times
The Credit
of the Port.
of India, Saturday, June 4.)
It is a curious, and rather
contemptible feature of what
passes for our public life,
that as soon as Sir Walter
Hughes has gone, an attempt should be made
to belittle his work and to aggravate the dif
ficulties of his successor. Amongst those
who were loudest in their approval of the
great schemes for the development of the re
sources of the Port when they were launched,
and who hailed the Alexandra Dock and the
Mazagon-Sewri reclamation as works of
genius, there are now found critics who blow
upon these schemes, and attempt to assail
the financial position of the Trustees. Re
cently a local contemporary indulged in a
regular orgie of gloom. It told us that the
capital debt of the Port, already very large,
would amount to something like fourteen
crores when all the projected works are com
pleted, even if the estimates are not exceed
ed. It shook its head with the enjoyable
mourning of a mute at a funeral at the
thought that this large debt would involve
interest and sinking fund charges amounting
to about six per cent. And then it told a re
solutely unperturbed public that this tre
mendous burden would necessitate not only
the sacrifice of the present rebate, but the
enhancement of rates by something like fifty
per cent, in order to
librium between
ture, and this
diversion of trade.
income
might
Horrible,
secure equi-
and expendi
cause a
is it not? Just
is extremely ingenious accomplishment. As a
serious contribution to the discussion of the
affairs of the Port-—well we hesitate to
characterise it.
It has always been recognised that both the
Alexandra Dock and the Reclamation wJl
not be self-supporting in the first years of
their existence. For that reason the Trus
tees set themselves the task of building up a
big revenue reserve, so that when the full
interest and sinking fund charges have to be
met from revenue, on the completion of the
works, there will be a fund from which to
make good the difference until met by the
normal growth of revenue, without increas
ing the charges on trade. By 1913 the re
venue reserve will be seventy-five lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of
rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , sufficient in itself to meet the whole
interest and sinking fund charges upon the
Alexandra Dock for nearly five years. ft
is possible, of course, that the rebates which
have for the last few years been given to
the trade may have to be sacrificed when
the full interest and sinking fund charges
for the new works have to be met out of
revenue, but in that connection we must
consider the circumstances in which they
were instituted. Then with regard to the
Reclamation. This will give the Trust nearly
six hundred acres of valuable land, or
twenty-eight lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of square yards. Anyone
with a knowledge of land values and land
requirements in Bombay must realise that
such an area cannot fail to be of great value,
and that a net return of only a few annas
a square yard would mean a yearly revenue
of many lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . This would be
reached after taking account of the grievous
handicap Government have imposed upon the
Trust by limiting the duration of the loan to
thirty years. The dock loan is for sixty
years, although some limit may be placed to
the life of a dock. The Reclamation loan is
for thirty years, although it gives a landed
estate which will endure as long as Bombay
endures, and may be expected steadily to
appreciate in value.
We have moreover to take account of the
steady growth in the revenue of the Port
Since 1893 the income of the Trust has nearly
doubled. The Budget for this year shows
consider for a moment the awful position in
which Sir Walter Hughes—this was not dis
covered, of course, until he had left—has
allowed the affairs of the Port to drift. We
are faced with a capital debt in the near
future of fourteen crores. On this the in
terest and sinking fund charges will be about
six per cent. Now a very simple sum in
arithmetic would have shown pur contem
porary that six per cent, on fourteen crores
is eighty-four lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees a year. That is to say,
upon this computation a year or two hence
the interest and sinking fund charges will
swallow the whole revenue of the Trust with
out allowing for such trifles as maintenance
and running charges. The Trust, therefore, is
virtually bankrupt. Yet a study of the finan
ciol columns of the daily papers shows that
Port Trust stock has not declined a fraction
since last Saturday. Well then either the in
vesting public and their shrewd ad
visers are fools, or our contemporary has
been caught eggregiously napping. If only
it had worked out that little sum in simple
interest, it would not have presented its
readers with such a tissue of absurdities
The explanation, of course, is perfectly
simple to anyone acquainted with the affairs
of the Port, or who will take the trouble tc
study the last budget estimates. The capital
debt, when the works to which the Trust is
committed, are completed, will not be four
teen crores of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , even if the estimates
are exceeded. That is a purely arbitrary
figure. There is no reason to believe
that the est’mates on the work in progress
will be largely exceeded, or that when they
are brought into bearing the capital debt will
exceed twelve and a half crores. Next the
interest and sinking fund charges will not be
six per cent, or anything like six per cent.
On page sixty-eight of the budget estimate
the terms of the various loans are set forth.
There it is quite clearly shown that almost
all the loans raised by the Trustees are upor
a sixty years basis, with the exception of
that for the Mazagon-Sewri reclamation.
Sinking funds upon a sixty year loan are cal
eulated on a basis of three and a half or
three per cent, which involves an annual
charge of one half or six-tenths per cent.
As the loans are raised at four per cent., the
interest and sinking fund charges amount
to four and a half per cent. r
slightly over, not six per cent. The re
clamation loan is upon a thirty year basis,
and in that case the sinking fund charges
come to the two per cent, calculated by our
contemporary for the whole debt of the
Trust. So that the gloomy picture of the
financial position of the Trust, painted in
these mournful blacks and greys, is very
easily accomplished. You add a crore Equivalent to ten million, or one hundred lakhs. Used especially in connection with money (rupees). or
two to the capital debt, you add a few per :
cent, to the interest and sinking fund charges,
and hey! presto I the Port is going to the
a comfortable excess of
over expenditure of eleven
of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . This astonishing
receipts
lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
pro-
cress has been accomplished in face of condi
tions of the greatest difficulty. The equip
ment of the Port is bad, the manner in which
trade is carried on is primitive and wasteful
to a degree. Produce is brought in by rail-
ways which are not equal to the demands of a
busy season, it is scattered all over the town,
then it has to be laboriously collected and
carted into the docks in tiny bullock gharries.
The way in which the great coal traffic is
handl’d is a scandal. If despite these handi
caps the trade of the Port has flourished ex
ceedingly, does it not stand to reason that
with improved railway connections and ter
minal facilities, with scientifically planned
grain and cotton depots at Sewri, with faci-
lities for direct raT connection with the docks.
with the
n'ensive
all the
port, this
increase of
cultivation—in
equipment of
rate of progress
irrigation and
short, with
a modern
will be con-
tinned? Nothing could be more foolish, no
thing could be more shortsighed and pre-
judicial to the true interests of the Port than
to carp at schemes launched years ago in
response to the urgent demands of trade,
conceived upon the broadest and most pro
gressive lines, and now being pushed to com-
oletion : nothing could be more unfair and
improper than to represent these schemes as
involving either bankruptcy ' or the
enormous enhancement of dues, by m : squot-
ing and juggling with figures, when the cor
rect statistics are available to everybody.
There are many branches of the administra
tion of the Port which call for vigorous and
expert criticism. There are questions asso
ciated with railway access to the docks upon
which we want all the 1'ght we can obtain.
But to go back on a policy acclaimed at the
time, to which the Trust is definitely com-
mited, and the fruits of which are in sight,
without taking account of the circumstances
in which that policy was accepted, is mere
futile shortsighted, obstruct'on. To damn the
financial aspects of that policy in complete
gnorance of its bearings is mischievous and
unfair. The only consolation is that the in
vesting public has estimated these vagaries
at their proper worth by declining to waver
by a fraction in its confidence in Port Trust
stock.
(The Times
The Progress
of Junagadh.
of India, Monday, June 6.)
In summarising his adminis-
tration report for the past
year Mr. Abbas Ali Baig, the
able Dewan of Junagadh who
left for England on Saturday to take his seat
on the Secretary of State’s Council, remarks
that the general condition of the people con- |
tinues to show signs of unmistakeable im- 1
provement. The development of industrial
enterprise has increased the demand for
work at higher wages than before; cultiva
tion and irrigation are extending and the
artizan classes are sharing in the general
prosperity of the State. We find ample evi
dence in the full pages of the report to jus
tify this general conspectus of the situation
Judged by the standard of income the State
is in a highly satisfactory position. The total
receipts amounted to thirty-one and a hall
lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , which although slightly below those
of the record year 1907-08, were largely in
excess of the average. The expenditure was
twenty-seven and a quarter lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , giving a
surplus of nearly four and a half. Indeed ir
the three years of his administration Mr.
Baig was able to effect a transformation r
the financial position of Junagadh, for a de
fic't of eleven and a half lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees in the trien
nium preceding his arrival was converted intc
surpluses aggregating nearly eighteen, lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
Gauged by the growth of trade the positior
is no less enviable. In this particular year
the value of trade increased from eighty
seven to 110 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , or 27 per cent. Although
Junagadh is, and always must be, an agri
cultural State, its industrial resources are
expanding. This has had its natural effect
upon wages, and unskilled labour can now
command from 22 to 8 annas a day, and
skilled labourers from 8 annas to a rupee.
These have moreover been years when the
resources of the State were conserved and
developed, many minor imposts swept away
and valuable public works either completed
or launched. On a review of these three
years His Highness the Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. Saheb has
every reason to feel grateful to the Govern
ment of Bombay for having lent him sr
valuable a minister, and Mr. Baig, surveyins
the product of his stewardship, has equal
reason for finding it good.
It was shrewdly remarked by a recent visi
tor to this country that for one person inter
ested in politics a dozen were engrossed : r
economics. This is a healthy indication o‘
the growing feeling in India that politics
important as they may be, are after all onk
the expression of the social and economi
forces that really tell in the life of nations
it is then to the economic develonments ir
Junagadh that we turn with chief interest
and first to the foremost of them, agricul
ture. A good deal of activity is being showr
in introducing improved varieties of seed and
agricultural implements. and a nermanen’
seed depot is to be established. The lac One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees in
sect has also been imported from Bilesour
and as the khakra tree abounds the exner
ment promises, to be srtisfactorv. Another
yseful d ev loment is the resuscitsfion o’
the betel orclards of Chorwad which flourish
ed un to 1879. and then declined owing t'
the impoverishment of +he soil and heave
exactors from the cultivators. But still
more valuable, in their permanent infuenc
upon apriculturol ecoromv of the State, ar
the efforts mode to stimulate well irrimstio:
and arboriculture. The State makes lhern
allomances for vell-dicrino on easy terms
and these are beinm utilised in an increasing
decree, besides which cultivators are goir.
has hitherto been applied. Those interested
in building operations in Bombay, and who
are handicapped by the increasing price of
materials, will appreciate this large addition
to the sources of supply. The large dock
scheme at Verawal, at one time mooted, has
now apparently been abandoned, and wisely
too, for a big dock or a costly harbour at this
spot would have been a white elephant.
But minor improvements have been taken in
hand, and a direct steam-borne trade with
Africa inaugurated. Whilst these factors are
signs of the increasing economic health of
the State, other less attractive departments
have by no means been neglected. Village
banks were started, the duration of civil suits
and arrears in the courts were reduced, and
he State steadily pressed forward its liberal
educational policy. Indeed the report is a
close-packed record of substantial unostenta
tious progress, and the advance of Junagadh
has been but fittingly acknowledged in con-
ferring of the high title of G.C.S.I. upon its
ruler, and the selection of its Dewan to fill
the most responsible position under the
Crown for which an Indian could be chosen.
(The Times
The Slump
in Thrift.
of India, Friday, June 10.)
The stagnation of savings
bank statistics has given rise
for some time past to specu
lations on the progress or
decline of thrifty habits among the British
working classes, and the evidence of friendly
societies is now becoming available in a
sense which almost makes for positive con-
viction. At the Whitsuntide Conferences of
hese various orders, which embrace them a
membership of nearly 5,000,000, an almost
uniform retrogression was reported in the
way of numbers. In one or two cases there
was insignificant progress to be shown: in
the great majority a falling-off quite suffi
cient to provoke anxiety. The worst feature
of the statistics was an especially conspicuous
decline in the membership of the juvenile
sections, for this seems to threaten the
societies with the loss of their hold on the
oming generation on which they will ere
ong be depending for their life and stability.
Many causes were adduced in explanation of
this discomposing phenomenon, and some of
them may be admitted without hesitation to
a contributory fact. Four years of indiffer-
nt or bad trade have weakened the ability
if members to continue their saving habits.
Emigration, by removing generally the ablest
ind most forceful, has made heavy inroads
in the class from which these provident orga-
izations should derive their best support.
Several authorities make special complaint
of the
arrogates
claim
extent
to itself
upon the
to which sport
a predominant
workman’s purse
in for wells on their own account.
rocord ed
W.
how voors of co
nerlect had so curtailed the area o’
forest that i+ wos in mmirent danmo
the las’ considerable remnant of the old fores’
area of Gniarat. would assuredly have couse’
irremediable harm to the avriculturel condi
Hons of the Peninsula. The Gr has nor
been demarcoted, laid out unon a scientife
plan, and will he carefully exnloited and con
served. Not only will it continue to afford
sanctuary for the famous Kathiawar lions
but corstituto a direct and indirect economic
ossot of incalculable value. Evon now the
State draws a net revenue of a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees and -
ouorfer from its forest resources. Tn addi
t : on to forest conservation, tree-nlantno o-
on extorsive saolo is being pushed on an-'
+hirtv thousand trees were planted durins
the vear.
Upon the industrial side, Junagadh has or
late seen a considerable improvement in it:
system of communications. During his tour
in Kathiawar His Excellency the Governo'
opened a valuable feeder line from Shahpu
to Kationa : and a metre gauge line from
Junagadh to Bhilka and thence to Visvadar
is projected. It is said that anv feeder rail
ways in Kathiawar. designed with reasonable
regard to the conditions of the country, wifi
return four per cent. upon the capital out
lav. and we welcome this active development
of light railways, which must conduce to the
prosperity of the land through which they
pass. A very useful tramway from Verawal
to the ancient city of Patan, and from the
town to the station is also in working order
Business men are beginning to appreciat,
the advantages of the State. and the report
records the establishment of a ginning fac
tory. two cotton presses,. and two factorie-
for the making of sugar candy. After much
prospecting building stone of excellent
ouality has been discovered at Devda, in the
Katiana mahal, and is said to be suitable
for the purposes to which Porebander stone
ind interest, to the overshadowing of fore-
light and serious ideals. But in practically
very case emphasis was laid upon the effects
of recent legislation which, by placing the '
esponsiblity for certain contingencies upon
ther shoulders, had relaxed the instinct of
-elf-help and diminished the appeal of those
institutions which are the means of express-
ng it. The Workmen’s Compensation Act,
which makes the employer answerable for
practically all the hazards of industry, has
withdrawn one of the worker’s motives for
holding to the friendly society’s anchor, and
he Old Age Pension Act, by doing more
for the thriftless than for the thrifty, has
fisseminated a similarly unpropitious philos-
phy. These indirect fruits of State acti
vity are sufficiently serious to be deplored
n spite of whatever benefits may be consi-
lered to outweigh them. The friendly
societies represent a splendid exercise of
moral effort, and even if them material use-
ulness were entirely supplanted by public
provision, the disbandment of agencies which
maintain habits of voluntary foresight and
self-denial would mean an educational loss
ith no visible compensation.
The experience gained of one form of State
"ction has inspired considerable uneasiness
s to the outcome of another, and the friendly
soc’eties are manifestly nervous about the
forthcoming project of industrial assurance
to which Messrs. Churchill and Lloyd George
have given such assiduous puffs preliminary.
In so far as such a system may further
deplete the membership of the societies it
may be recognised as an evil, since no virtue
enforced by Act of Parliament can have the
same value to the nation’s well-being as the
voluntary self-discipline and co-operation of
individuals. The counter-balancing benefits,
however, are such as may be more confidently
admitted than in a form of refief which re
tains the substance of pauperism while
changing its name. It has been made known
that what is contemplated in the way of in
validity insurance up to the age of seventy
s a provision to which the workman himself
shall be one of the contributors. This will
at any rate help to indoctrinate the thrift
less with some conception of financial reali-
ties, and suggest to them something like a
reasoned pattern of 1 fe. The essential vice
of the non-contributory pension is its entire
lack of educational bearing and its tendency