mess tent. In pickets in rear, where his stable-companions | lic Works Department engaged in making a are already ranged. On the table inside he tour of his district is a singularly happy finds his newly arrived letters laid out to mixture of healthy exercise for the body meet him. In his dressing-tent his bath and interesting occupation for the mind. and fresh clothes are in readiness for use. His work is not confined to the mere rouAnd, once dressed, he is in an excellent tine labours of many fellow-engineers in Eucondition to approach the very substantial rope,-to simply arranging with contractors breakfast proper which is now served in his for certain operations at certain places. addition to the technical duties proper of his craft, he is called upon to exercise his wits in many irregular ways. As a geologist, he has to explore the country for suitable beds of stone, or possibly to determine the means of overcoming some constructive obstacle caused by a peculiar conformation of strata. As a diplomatist, he has to conciliate or coerce some neighbouring potentate into affording the necessary assistance towards obtaining a supply of labour and materials. The resources of the locality have not only to be turned to account; in all likelihood they have in the first instance to be discovered. As for the machinery and plant required to aid his efforts, he is probably too far from any source of supply to hope for such accessories, and is accordingly driven to improvise some rough sort of substitute. The expedients he adopts might excite the amusement of many an engineer in England; but they would meet with a sympathizing approval from men able to appreciate the quality of mind which makes the most of whatever comes to hand. What he has to do must be determined promptly, for ahead of his working season there looms the annual monsoon, which in a couple of days after its outburst may fill the rivers he is bridging with floods which sweep before them the timber stagings it has cost him much trouble to erect; and this gear may in all likelihood be yet intended to serve for many more arches along his line of operations. The loss of apparatus of this kind would not only retard his work. In increasing the general outlay beyond the amount estimated, this mishap might in all probability lead to a sharp official reproof for such an excess of expenditure, unavoidable though it proved to be; and not impossibly end in an attempt, on the part of a secretary sitting under the soft breeze of a punkah in Calcutta, to make the officer refund the extra charge. After breakfast begin the labours of the day. In an adjoining tent, which serves as an office, are seated the few native assistants required to aid him in correspondence or in surveying. A couple of camel trunks contain such files of correspondence as are likely to be required during his tour. If his encampment happen to be on the spot where an important work is actually in hand or is possibly projected, his time is of course much taken up in giving audience to the village authorities and landholders of the locality, as well as in hearing the reports of his out-of-door assistants. In short, the heat of the day finds him so fully occupied that by the time the sun has sunk low enough to let him leave his tent he has often to burst forcibly away from his levée in order to make use of the few hours of daylight that yet remain in inspecting works or in completing surveys. In this evening stroll he possibly enough comes across a friend, in the shape of the collector of the district, or one of his assistants, whose camp may be close at hand. Arrangements are made for dining together in whichever camp promises the best fare-for an Anglo-Indian dinner provided for one knife and fork is always capable of serving the wants of several; and if need be, the simple kitchen gear in use there enables an entire meal to be taken to any table within half a mile of the cooking tent. So when the short twilight has darkened into night, host and guest sit down to table, and a very pleasant dinner they have. News are exchanged and sporting experiences recounted. Nor are the subjects which come under the category of that comprehensive word "shop" forgotten from the talk. Sooner or later their daily work takes a chief place in their chat, and the late hours of night probably find the convives seated outside the tent-door smoking their cigars under the bright moon of the East, while discussing all sorts of matters connected with their district—a much-needed bridge at one point, a favourable spot for throwing up an irrigation-dam at another. Plans are formed for visiting some such place on the following day; trysts are made for seeing more distant localities at a future time. In short, the life of an officer of the Pub However heartily these officers might struggle to provide instalments of the many works wanted in India, their endeavours were usually of small effect, in consequence of the intricate system of control to which they were subject, and from which it is to be feared they have not yet been set free. Individual energy, no matter how carnest, sooner or later expended itself in vain ef forts to quicken the action of the many | authorities who interposed between the man who asked for money to meet the cost of a work and the man who had the power of granting it. Here and there an officer might be found whose sense of a pressing emergency, or even of the clear economy of the step, prompted him to break ground in anticipation of an official sanction. But zeal of this forward kind was seldom exercised with impunity. A hard-worded reproof was hurled at the enthusiast, accompanied, in all probability, by an intimation that the money thus expended would be deducted from his pay. An upright man of action, impressed with the necessity of immediate measures, and pushing on works whose stability was possibly dependent on their completion by a day near at hand, might not unnaturally consider that his time was better employed in personally insuring the accomplishment of his task than in preparing comparativestatistics of the precise cost of each portion of it. But the man of the pen, viewing the matter from a tranquil stand-point of authority established on the pine-clad slopes of the Himalaya, might not be disposed to indorse this line of conduct. Seated at his desk, in sight of the distant snowy range, the Secretary might not think it out of place to put on paper" the feelings of surprise and disapprobation with which Government have learned that no returns of detailed expenditure have been rendered by Captain Dash for several successive weeks." These sentiments of surprise might no doubt have been dissipated had this dispenser of decrees, which in India go by the name of Government Resolutions, but cared to ascertain that for a couple of months past every hour of Captain Dash's waking moments had been spent in the saddle, riding over his extensive district-here superintending the keying-in of a bridge, there making all ready for the admission of water to a canal; and that in his endeavours to insure the safety of his works before the bursting of those ominous banks of clouds which came rolling up each day in greater masses from seaward, the Captain was leading a nomadic existence, spending his nights in idol-temples or roadside rest-houses, his camp being unable to keep pace with his movements. Rebuffs of the sort we have described soften the energy of most men. When they are followed up by that argument applied to the pay of the enthusiast, which in AngloIndian language is termed a retrenchment, the energy is apt to disappear altogether. Then, too, increasing years of subjection to that strange influence which we call System seem gradually to beget a reverence for rou tine in even in the most truculent heart; so that it is not unusual to find a subaltern who commenced his career with an eager appetite for work and an impatient antagonism to vexatious regulations, grow by degrees into an ardent upholder of them. The financial arrangements of the Public Works Department of the Indian Government have, up to a very recent period, been altogether faulty. Formerly, its available funds were confined to such sums as could be spared from the revenues of each year; and the Chancellor of the Indian Exchequer, whoever he happened for the time to be, was usually too intent on framing a favourable ba lance-sheet on which to build up a reputation for future use in England, to listen to the cry for roads and canals which came up from all parts of the country. Indeed, the very multitude of the demands afforded a plausible pre text for passing them over, one and all. At times it might chance that this gentleman was coerced into liberality by one of those ephemeral epidemics of indignation which, at long intervals, prevail in England; and of which leading articles denouncing our neglect of India, or speeches demanding measures of improvement for that country, may be regarded as symptoms. But grants extracted from him under such circumstances only served to meet the wants of the current year. Long before he sat down to frame his next budget English interest in India had probably vanished; for, unless during very exceptional seasons of sensitiveness, our countrymen have little care for the concerns of their Eastern possessions. As a rule, the talk of the town turns to any topic regarding an individual at home, with a relish it cannot extract from the anguish of a multitude abroad. that so The details of Derby bets lost by decrepit peer of five-and-twenty would probably excite more attention in London than news of the starvation to death of a hundred thousand human beings in Orissa. The only motive that can be counted upon to keep up English sympathy for Indian needs is self-interest. We all saw, soon as the blockade of the Southern States of America shut off the supplies of cotton we drew from that country, the men of Lancashire set vigorously to work to insist on our Government constructing the road and canals required to facilitate the export of that ma terial from India. Throughout our manu facturing districts crowded meetings passed resolutions condemning the want of communications in the country which they now discov ered might be serviceable to them. Influential deputations continued to impress on Her Majesty's Ministers the necessity of immediately intersecting each portion of it with water-channels and turnpike roads. And often-urged appeals of the same import were raised in the House of Commons by members representing our great centres of industry. Newspapers were established to serve as organs of agitation. At least one delegate was deputed to proceed to India to stir up the energies of the local Governors suspected of supineness. All these praiseworthy efforts of our countrymen on behalf of India are fresh in our recollection. But equally fresh, unfortunately, is our remembrance of an after-phase to this episode of enthusiasm. The efforts of these reformers of Indian grievances ceased with the cessation of the American blockade. No sooner was cotton procurable from the West than the single-minded spinners of our northern counties gave up all care for the fields of the East. The pressure they had been able to exercise on Government officials -who possibly looked forward to the contingency of having to solicit the suffrages of these gentlemen from the hustings-being thus withdrawn, the old system of starving the Public Works of India again obtained. According to this system, out of many projects put forward in any one year, only a few were favoured with funds, and these were doled out so sparingly as to render energertic action impossible. Almost every proposal was pared down below the limits of stability. And this policy, pursued in in a climate subject to destructive alternations of drought and damp, led to rapid deteriorations in roads, in masonry, and in wood-work. In point of fact, the repairs required for works in existence would, if properly carried out, have swallowed up the better portion of an old Public Works budget. So, to prevent this result, the repairs were cut down to a point scarcely consistent with safety, and the work of dilapidation went on apace. Even at the present time, the inadequacy of attempts to provide works for India out of mere savings of income has been but partially recognised by those who administer it. Men who, in their capacity of English landlords, avail themselves of loans granted by the State for draining, fencing, and otherwise improving their estates, seem, in their capacity of statesmen, incapable of admitting the necessity of similar assistance for India, where a little reflection would show it to be still more required. For, whereas in the United Kingdom capital is abundant and enterprise excessive, in India such capital exists in the shape of bags of rupees buried in hoarding-places under the soil, or of jewelled ornaments locked up in carefully concealed strong-boxes. As for private enterprise, it may be said to be unknown. In the East, then, the need of assistance such as is afforded to improve English farms and forests is essential. And, so far as the experience of works actually in operation can be relied on, there is reason to reckon on any judicious outlay on this score being fairly remunerative. The Indian railways, although yet in an incomplete state, are earning good receipts. The Ganges Canal, which has still to be furnished with distribution channels and other accessory works, yields 3 per cent. on its outlay. The Jumna Canal brings in nearly 9 per cent.; while several extensive irrigation works in Madras have within a comparatively short time repaid themselves twice, and in one case even three times over. Then too it is to be borne in mind that many other advantages are derived by the land-owning State from such works, which although indirect are not the less substantial. Waste lands are reclaimed into rent-paying fields. The rent of land already under cultivation is capable of being increased, or, in the case of the districts where the rent is permanently settled, may at all events be counted on as no longer subject to demands for remission, which in years of drought seriously diminished the public revenue. In the famine of 1837-1838 the loss under this head was about half a million sterling. And it is calculated that a somewhat similar loss must have been sustained in 1861, but for the irrigating waters of the Ganges Canal. Again, the customs dues are very largely swelled by the increased trade arising from easy communications. Indeed, this is a prospective vein of income which a Chancellor of the Exchequer might well envy for his operations. At present, notwithstanding the large comparative increase of the last dozen years, the total customs dues of India do not exceed two and a half millions sterling. Then, too, the cost of moving troops and Government stores is reduced by railways to half its former amount, while the efficiency of the troops is certainly doubled. by the same agency. On the whole, therefore, there seem many inducements to lay out money in improving India. And money for this purpose may be had at once. So implicit is the confidence of the English investor in the securities of the Indian railways, so good a price do these command, that the Secretary of State for India has taken advantage of this circumstance to reduce the rate of interest guaranteed to them by the Government for his recent policy of obliging these railway companies to issue their fresh stock at a considerable premium does in reality bring about this result. At | Grace beware of taunts which may reach the present time any amount of money likely him alleging the inability of the Public to be required for public works in India Works Department to expend with profit might be obtained on loan at 4 per cent. And the amounts now placed at its disposal. It surely English money would seem capable is true that just at present the outlay on of being laid out at least as securely and as certain works, especially canals, is less than profitably in perfecting our means of retain- the amounts allotted for them in the annual ing India, as in furthering the designs of budgets. But it by no means follows from the great military Power whose policy points this circumstance that the limit of useful to an ultimate attempt on that country. It expenditure has already been passed, or is unsatisfactory to see our citizens furnish- even reached. The fact is, that the staff ing funds for railways which are to retained to superintend works under the less render Sebastopol an impregnable base for liberal conditions of the past is insufficient operations on our comunications with the to deal with the ampler funds all at once East; while the road which would best en- provided for the future. Along with more able us to combat the advance of a Russian money, there must be more men; and to army on the Punjab is left unheeded. The explain the present method of meeting such completion of the Indus Valley Railway- a want, we cannot do better than cite a for which capital might be obtained in forty- passage from a recent work by Major George eight hours would place Peshawur, our Chesney, which, under the title of Indian stronghold of Northern India, in connection Polity, affords a valuable fund of informa with Kurrachee, the true base of operations tion on almost every subject connected with for the entire northern frontier. And now that country: that European troops are sent to India, ac"The staff of the department," that is, the cording to a system of reliefs moved forward Public Works Department, "is derived from from England, Gibraltar, Malta, and Aden in four principal sources-1. Officers of the corps succession,succour might be thrown upon that of Engineers. The greater part of the old strategic point of the Punjab within a week corps of Indian (now Royal) Engineers has of its being demanded by telegraph; while always been employed during time of peace in from each station in rear of Aden men mighted to the survey department, only a few being this manner; the rest have been chiefly attachbe pushed on to fill the several gaps. It would be pleasanter to see English money spent on English territory than to look on while it is being sown broadcast over the world. Few sights can be less flattering to us as a nation than that of Her Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs endeavouring to obtain redress for indiscreet compatriots who happen to have lent money to some repudiating monarchy or republic. Few situations can be more unseemly than that of a decorous British diplomatist engaged in an affair of this kind-now coaxing, now complaining—at one time offering advice which is unasked, at another venturing upon demands without having the means of enforcing compliance. It is to be trusted that the principle of providing adequate funds for improving India-which may be said to have been first properly recognised by the debenture loan for public works effected in 1867-may in future be accepted as a fixed policy. Guarded as were the words used by the present Secretary of State for India, in reply to an address presented to him soon after entering office, by a deputation who desired to plead the want of roads and canals under which the country he administers still labours, they were yet sufficient to show that he, at least, may be counted upon as an upholder of this principle. Let his engaged on regimental duty with the corps of Native Sappers. 2. But from earliest times the strength of the Engineer corps has been insufficient for the duties placed on it, and the deficiency was supplied by officers from other branches of the Indian army. Of late years a lished for regulating their admission to the very complete professional test has been estab department, which practically involves that the candidate should first undergo a two years' course of study in engineering and surveying at the Roorkee College, established by Government in 1847. 3. The same college furnishes a supply of civil engineers to the department; officers and other members of the Indian serthe candidates many of whom are sons of vice, while some are natives, besides the professional test, are required to pass an examination in the subjects of general education, of the same kind as that laid down for admission to the British army. Another Governinent civil engineering college was established in Calcutta in 1856, from which a good many have been supplied. There is a similar institucivil engineers, principally natives of Bengal, tion at Madras.* 4. A specified number of young civil engineers is now sent out annually by the Secretary of State; these are nominally selected by competitive examination, but inasmuch as the number of candidates who pass the prescribed minimum standard (which nearly approaches to that of Roorkee) is usually less than the number of appointments offered, the * And also a small one, we believe, at Poona, in Western India. Of the different classes of recruits here enumerated, it may be said that the military members tend each year to decrease in numbers; for on the part of the army authorities there is a disinclination to see officers employed on what they consider purely civil duties. test is usually that of a pass examination. | the spot where it has to be eventually cast. Besides these sources of supply, the demands A more inefficient application of human of the service, arising from the rapid extension strength than is to be seen in long strings of public works, have led to the direct appoint- of labourers, each carrying on his head a ment to the department of a good many civil engineers of standing, drawn principally from tiny basketful of earth on its way to a bank the various Indian railways." or a spoil-heap, can hardly be conceived. Yet this is the almost universal fashion in which such work is done in India. The effective forces of these workmen would be multiplied manifold were they transmitted through the ordinary accessories of the English navvy-the spade and wheelbarrow. No doubt some trouble might be experienced at the outset of any attempt to introduce unfamiliar implements of this kind. But by degrees their adoption might be insured. In point of fact, cases have already occurred where a persevering English overseer, in the employment of a railway contractor, has taught gangs of natives working under him to use these aids to labour. And indeed, in almost every operation connected with earth-work, masonry, and wood-work, similar opportunities exist for increasing the present performances of the artisan. As regards the pupils trained in India, a few may prove fit for the higher offices in the department, but the greater number cannot, even in the expectation of the most sanguine advocates of the engineering colleges, be reckoned likely to be useful except in a subordinate capacity-at all events, not for many years. The aspirants obtained from England consist chiefly of young men just set free from their indentures in civil engineers' offices, and even of this class there is, as Major Chesney remarks, a comparative deficiency. Of the civil engineers of standing mentioned under the fourth heading of the quotation, the number is as yet comparatively few, but is rapidly increasing in consequence of the liberal salaries now offered. The almost entire suspension of work in England has also tended to swell the numbers seeking employment in India, so that we may hope to see a strong staff of men available ere long in this department. Another reason often urged against extending the operations of the engineer in India, is the insufficient supply of labour said to be experienced in that country. Indeed, it is alleged that all, or nearly all, the available workmen there, are already occupied on the railways, canals, roads, and barracks now under construction, and that fresh works could not at present be undertaken without interfering injuriously with the labour market. This allegation is to some extent true. But the circumstances on which it is based admit of modification to an extent which would make it no longer tenable. For, in the first place, manual labour is exercised in India in so rude a fashion, that the result is but a fraction of that which the same hands might turn out if properly applied to the task. In the case of earth-work, the operations of excavating and embanking are performed with an implement resembling a hoe for weeding turnips, which is used to loosen the soil as well as to fill it into baskets not much bigger than a wash-hand bason; and these in turn serve as vehicles for its conveyance to On the other hand, too, the physical powers of the Indian workman are capable in many instances of being augmented by means of better food than hitherto has been accessible to him. Contractors for Indian railways have found that labourers entering their service in the ill-nourished condition arising from feeding on inferior descriptions of grain, come to develop considerable increments of strength and endurance under the generous diet which good wages enable them to indulge in. Instances of this kind. are specially frequent among Mussulmans and the less rigid sectaries of Brahmanism, who without hesitation eat animal food, as well as other things considered unclean by a high-caste Hindu-a noted example being afforded in the native Sappers of the Madras Presidency, who, during every recent campaign in the East, have done as hard work as Europeans, in drawing at the same time the same sort of rations as their white comrades. If we except the districts which of late have been ravaged by famine, we shall find that the standard of diet has within a few years advanced in India in a very appreciable degree, owing to the liberal rates of hire obtainable on railways and other works, as well as to the high prices fetched by cotton and other crops of the cultivator. So that we may well look forward to a corresponding progress in the bodily strength of its people. In the pages of Indian Polity the question of the agency best suited for the works of improvement required in India is ably |