Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

discussed, and many arguments are ad-ture of the tenure on which the land is held vanced to prove that on the whole it is better that these should be executed by servants immediately employed by the State, than that they should be made over as objects for the enterprise of individuals, as in the case of the Indian railways. Major Chesney's reasoning rests on solid ground when he points out that the guarantee, without which no works would be undertaken by private enterprise, does in reality impose on the Government which gives it the responsibility of failure, without any prospect of compensation in the event of success. Already the Government has been called upon in its capacity of guarantor to take over the Calcutta and South-Eastern Railway, as well as the works of the East India Irrigation Company, in repaying in each instance the money expended by shareholders. And doubtless, in the event of unremunerative results, the same expedient would be resorted to by every company placed in the same relation towards the State. For the articles of agreement between the contracting parties provide for such claims being recognised,-subject, it is true, to certain modifications regulated by the market price of the companies' shares.

as to be incapable of being settled apart from this. Moreover, the discernment of local needs, and the ability to contrive a sys tem of collection sufficiently supple to adapt itself to the circumstances of the different cultivators concerned, may reasonably be looked for in a civil servant of the Crown, knowing well the country, its customs and its language. But it is unlikely that these qualities would be found in agents of joint stock companies occupied with the sole end of swelling the receipts of their employers. It would be an objectionable thing to confer on any irrigation company the power of forcing the farmers along its line of operations to pay for its waters although they might not care to profit by them. And it would be no less inconvenient to permit a company of this kind to withhold at will the water which years of use might have rendered essential to the system of cultivation actually in force. The authority and forbearance required to regulate most ques tions connected with irrigation might well be exercised by a powerful Government, which could afford to wait many years for a return on any outlay on this head, knowing that meanwhile its property is being benefited, and its And in addition to this and other consid- general revenues increased by many indirect erations of general expediency urged by the sources of gain. But the case might be dif Major, there are many reasons which go to ferent were the promoters of the enterprise prove that direct State agency for construc- uninfluential indviduals, to whom want of tion as well as for after control does possess dividends may mean want of bread. Irricertain advantages. The overshadowing in- gation works, too, offer tempting facilities fluence of authority which the very name of for the exercise of extortion-the sufferers Government imparts in the mind of an Ori- being the owners of the fields irrigated; a ental to anything the State undertakes, as class even now occasionally plundered by well as to any person it employs, gives it a dishonest servants of the Government Ca great assistance in this direction-not mere- nal Department. As a crop advances to a ly in the shape of words of respect or acts certain point of maturity, and the drought of obeisance offered to its agents, but also of the season goes on increasing daily, the in the more substantial form of cheap work. value of water to it is often so great that For example, it has happened of late years the simple cultivator is easly terrified into that works were carried on in the same lo- bribing the irrigation underling who threatcality by Government engineers and by rail-ens, on one pretext or another, to withhold way contractors, simultaneously, and at times side by side; and in many instances it was observed that the Government officers could obtain labour and materials at rates sensibly lower than those paid by the others.

In the instance of irrigation works the case on behalf of direct State enterprise seems specially strong. Revenues of railways are easily collected on behalf of associations who may have constructed them. But the means required to recoup the shareholders in an irrigational canal might prove difficult of application. Indeed the benefit which any individual field may derive from such works is often so dependent on the na

the requisite supply. To prevent evils of this description the concession of irrigating Orissa, which was made some time ago to a joint-stock company, contained a provision for the distribution of the water being con ducted by the Government.

Many men well acquainted with the subject of Indian irrigation are of opinion that, as a rule, its operations cannot be carried out profitably by any hand but that of the State. It is certain that in numerous instances cultivators are slow to avail themselves of the waters which have been led past their lands. Immemorial usage has rendered the husbandman of India suspicious of all innovations on the practice of his fore

and canals executed by Government officers on the one hand, and in the works carried out by Indian railway companies on the other, it cannot be denied that the latter show a continuity and uniformity of progress which is seldom found in the efforts of the Public Works Department, crippled as these are by a want of sufficient men and means. In short, so far as considerations of certainty and expedition of construction are concerned, the advantage appears to be on the side of private enterprise.

fathers; and he may not always possess even the small capital required to render his fields adapted for irrigation. The Ganges Canal, which has been in operation for nearly fifteen years, is even at the present time imperfectly appreciated by the farmers along its course. During many of its early years it was entirely unremunerative, in so far as direct earnings were concerned. Its profits have at length reached the rate of 3 per cent. on its cost, and doubtless may yet increase very considerably. But it seems unlikely that the example of long deferred success which it affords should tempt Eng-road-making in India is encountered in lish investors to embark in similar ventures-not at least unless under a guarantee of a certain annual dividend.

In favour of committing works of improvement to private enterprise there are not wanting certain good reasons, one of which is especially cogent, viz., that under this system operations are undertaken at once which might have remained for years uncommenced had the trouble of detailed arrangements been cast upon the Government. No reasonable man can deny that at the present moment India might in all likelihood have been destitute of railways, or at best furnished with a very few miles of railroad, had the obligation of constructing them rested directly on the ruling power. In obtaining improvements of this kind at the cost of a guarantee of profit or of a subvention, a Minister conceives that he can reckon with some certainty on the extent of the obligation which he undertakes; whereas he is apt to imagine that little confidence can be placed in estimates of the cost at which the same end may be declared capable of being attained by his own subordinates. We do not say that he is right in this conclusion. Indeed, the experience of the last few years has tended to alter the opinion formerly held by Englishmen as to the superiority of operations conducted by companies or contractors, contrasted with those carried out by servants of the crown. But we may safely say that this idea of the more reliable nature of contract obligations is still sufficiently prevalent in official circles to influence very seriously any question of public works which may come under consideration. Nor is it a small matter that a Secretary of State should by this system be saved the distracting task of determining the merits of many alternative schemes proposed to effect one object in view-each possibly recommended by men whose of ficial position entitles their advice to be well heard.

Again, if we compare the operations of the two agencies as exhibited in the roads N-9

VOL. L.

A very serious obstacle in the way of

many districts, owing to the want of suitable materials. And unfortunately this inconvenience exists in the greatest degree in many provinces where roads are most required. The plains, which produce luxuriant crops of cotton, grain, and tobacco, are often utterly destitute of anything in the shape of stone. Indeed, the portions of the entire peninsula which furnish rocks of a quality suitable for road-metal are inconsiderable. The stratified rocks which in many places afford fair materials for building purposes, are seldom of sufficiently hard texture to resist the passage of carts, and during the long-continued rains of summer are liable to be soaked into a state of pulpiness which yields to the pressure of the first passing wheel. Broken bricks and burned clay have been laid down as substitutes for road-metal in such localities, but with no great success; as these materials also are apt to give way under the action of water. In the event of a high class of road being required, it is absolutely necessary to procure suitable stone. In cases of this kind, where the price of the metal forms the larger portion of the cost of construction, much advantage might be derived from the adoption of some of the artificial roadways which have at different times been devised in various parts of the world. An expedient of this nature, contrived by a civil engineer of eminence in the north of Scotland, and which consists in coating the surface of the road with a concrete formed of broken stone and cement, appears well suited for trial in such loamy localities. The original expense of a causeway of this description is said to be much the same as that of a well metalled road. For by the new process a much less depth of crust is necessary,-the concrete representing from the outset the thickness into which the loosely laid stones are eventually crushed, after undergoing the passage of a tolerably active traffic. respect of maintenance these concrete roads promise much economy. From experimental portions which have for some time

In

been under severe tests, there seems reason to think that, under ordinary circumstances, they may endure many years unimpaired; while the task of making good the gradual effects of wear and tear appears capable of being done both cheaply and easily.

It is probable that railways of an inexpensive kind, or even tramways, might profitably be provided across the alluvial plains of India, in place of roads. Although the first outlay would thus be increased, the ultimate burden to be borne by the State might in all likelihood be less. The examples of existing railways show that, under careful construction and management, lines of this kind may not only be made to clear working expenses, but may be turned into sources of profit; while in the case of ordinary roads it is almost impossible in India to look for any direct returns to meet the cost of maintenance; turnpike tolls having proved impracticable there. And this question of maintenance is sufficiently serious, seeing that, even according to the present progress in road-making, the annual cost of repairs would in twenty years' time consume the entire amount now allotted for construction in each Public Works budget.

Bridge-making in India is usually a heavy task, owing to the number and size of the streams which every where intersect it, and the violent floods to which these are subject at certain seasons of the year. Nothing short of the most substantial structure can resist the summer freshets, and yet the necessary stability is often difficult of attainment, owing to the soft alluvial loam in which foundations have to be laid, and which, in spite of almost any precautions, is liable to be scoured from underneath piers, or, on the other hand, to be swept from the sides of the channel, thus admitting the current to eat a way for itself in rear of the abutments.

Light iron superstructures resting on piles, securely screwed into the bed of the stream, have been successfully employed in such cases. And doubtless these may receive a wide application under the improved system on which they are now turned out of the great iron-factories in England. For, to meet the demands of the foreign and colonial markets, our manufacturers have arrived at supplying structures of this description, which at once combine the requisites of strength, lightness, and cheapness their component parts admitting of being put together by any intelligent artisan, assisted by such labour as may be found on the spot of erection.

The system of employing the class of

[ocr errors]

men who among us are known as contractors, has hitherto been little adopted in the case of works undertaken by the Indian Government, although this method has been generally followed by Indian railway companies. On behalf of this contract system there is a good deal to be urged. Experience warrants the conclusion that works so managed are usually done more expeditiously, and, strange as it may appear, often more economically, than by direct agents of the employing power. For, although many items of construction may be more costly to a contractor, yet his superior or ganization of labour enables him to provide the most efficient superintendence at the smallest possible expense. His efforts, too, are made after a more uniform plan, and are less subject to interference or alteration than the endeavours of a many-mastered piece of administrative mechanism, such as a Government department too often is.

On the other hand, this contract system is liable to many abuses. That dishonest device which is known among us as "scamping work," is said to have been largely prac tised on certain Indian railways, if not by English contractors, then by men to whom they had sublet portions of their task. Without going the length of allegations made by hasty observers among us regarding the innate inclination to deceit displayed by our fellow-subjects in the East,-allega tions which any man who has had an opportunity of forming a fair judgment must ac knowledge to be as applicable to England as to India, it must be admitted that Oriental nations have not that appreciation of the conditions of completeness which is desirable in a good workman.

but

Most of the shortcomings of Indian arti sans are probably due to ignorance of constructive principles rather than to fraudu lent intentions. The defective mortar assigned as the cause of collapse in the masonry along one railway was possibly in some cases due to wilful adulterations; in many instances the fault lay in an idea, by no means confined to Indian workmen, that the power of this mixture depended directly on the proportion of pure lime present in it, so that those charged with its preparation withheld the supply of sand re quired to develop its cohesive qualities. But, of course, whether due to ignorance or evil intention, such practices are equally destructive to workmanship. To prevent their occurrence, much vigilance and many subordinate inspectors of approved honesty are required.

To render the Public Works Department of India really useful, its action must be

[ocr errors]

that since the project had been declared to be necessary it signified little that one man happened to calculate its cost somewhat higher than another. If the officer who has to do the work be upright and energetic, he will surely exert himself to the utmost to complete his task as cheaply as possibleirrespectively altogether of the estimate he may originally have framed. If in the end a flagrant error should be discovered, then let any retribution that seems necessary be awarded. But in any case put the work in hand at once. In almost every instance it proves truer economy to adopt a proposal which, though generally reasonable, may be open to some slight suspicion of extravagance, than to waste time and opportunities in haggling over measures for reducing its estimate by some inconsiderable amount.

The very abundance of advising authorities here begets an evil aptitude for faultfinding. Indeed, but for this resource some officials might have no ostensible occupation. And as each of these is in turn aware that his criticisms have yet to go through the after criticisms of a revising power, it follows that fanciful objections are often raised, which the authors might hesitate to express were they dealing finally with the projects before them. Some very large diminution seems necessary in the number of minds, and still more in the number of pens, that intervene between the man who proposes a work and the man who disposes of the means required to accomplish it.

made more simple and more prompt than it now is. For this purpose many links must be lopped off the long chain of its authorities. Much of the consultative element, which is so superabundant in its present state, might well afford to be eliminated. Let works be done in India as works are done elsewhere. Place good men in charge of them, and on their ability and honesty be satisfied to depend. Let obedience to orders be enforced by all means, but let these orders be so conveyed as to permit the men to whom they are addressed the power of exercising an intelligent discrimination as to the method of giving them effect. Lay down the general principles to be followed or the main object to be attained by an engineer, but do leave him at liberty to adopt the details which seem to him best suited for this purpose. Exact from him an accurate account of the outlay his work has involved, but be content to go without the statistics now elaborated by him as to the precise portion of this which happens to have been spent on any individual part of it. Micrometrical researches of this kind may possibly at times possess certain advantages. They may even serve to confirm or confute the conjectures of an over-curious chief-engineer as to one wingwall of a bridge being more costly than its fellow. Exacted as they now are almost universally, they must be set down as vexatious taxes on the time and temper of men who ought to be fully occupied with higher duties. Much of the preliminary warfare of words which now precedes the breaking of ground may also be usefully dispensed with. At present an executive officer, after submitting a plan and estimate prepared by him for a work which may be urgently required, is liable to have it returned after due deliberation by his superintending engineer, with a request that the proposed outlay may be reduced. Upon which the sub-rate Presidencies or Provinces-we do not ordinate who has drawn up his project after careful survey and consideration possibly represents to his superior that the operation cannot be carried out at a lower cost. But the chief may yet find it in his heart to insist on economy, and yet again to find his subaltern as firm as ever in remaining by his original estimate. Meanwhile amidst this wrangle of words the famine-stricken district which the disputed work was intended to relieve is sunk out of consideration, and days during which alone operations could be undertaken are suffered to slip by.

În a case of this kind-and we have ourselves seen such a case the exercise of ordinary reason might surely serve to show

This phase of Public Works control in India must be looked at along with the wider question of the general administration of that country. Which of the two methods recommended by different schools of statecraft for this purpose be the best-that of vesting all initiatory power in one central government, or that of delegating such duties to the independent councils of sepa

profess to say. But no man who has observed the working of the present administration can fail to perceive that either alternative, if properly carried out, would be an improvement on existing things.

The separate origin of the different Presidencies conferred on their early governments an authority independent in every respect save that of general policy. But by degrees improvements in the postal service, the provision of lines of telegraph, and last of all the construction of railways, tended more and more to extend the sphere of action of that government which in India goes by the name of Supreme, until at the present time no village event is without its ken, no expenditure of a score of rupees beyond

its interference. Their Excellencies who govern the minor Presidencies-and their Honours who rule over Bengal, the NorthWest Provinces, and the Punjab-have not unfrequently to submit to severe censure for acts of authority exercised by them without the previous permission of the supreme power-acts, it may be, involving issues of no greater importance than the engagement of an office-sweeper or the whitewashing of a road-side rest-house.

The consequence of this minute system of supervision is, in the case of an inactive governor, a speedy relinquishment of all interest in his charge, and, in the case of an energetic one, an early arrival at open warfare with his censor. And of the acrimonious manner in which these inter-Presidential disputes are carried on, an idea may be formed by any Englishman who takes the trouble to look over the columns of an Indian newspaper.

The pride felt by Anglo-Indians in the particular Presidency in which their lot is cast is to a certain extent conducive to wholesome emulation. But when this provincial bias is brought to bear on acts which affect the welfare of a great continent it is productive of mischief. Here the opponents are apt to argue not so much for truth as for victory. On one side is an eager struggle to burst through bonds, or, worse still, to evade the restrictions they impose, even at the cost of expedients not always unquestionable. On the other is a desire to strain authority to the utmost, a restless apprehension lest any act of independence should by chance pass unperceived, and thus constitute an inconvenient dent.

prece

As we have said before, it is not in a paper on Public Works that the respective merits of one central or of several separate governments for India fall to be determined, or even discussed. For the purpose we have in view it is enough for us to suggest that one of these systems should henceforth be adopted in place of the present method, which combines the disadvantages of both.

Either give to local authorities final powers of dealing with projects connected with their provinces, and at the same time the undisputed command of money to enable these to be carried out;-or sweep them aside for ever, so as to enable a central government to come into unimpeded contact with the executive men.

Apprehensions of Russian attempts to invade India have long lurked in the minds of Englishmen, and from time to time have obtained expression in our daily talk and our current literature, according as interest

in this subject chanced to be awakened by reports brought home to us by travellers from Central Asia or by rumours of Rus sian prowess culled by correspondents of our leading journals from the bazaars of Calcutta and Bombay. Of late these apprehensions have found utterance even among those who hitherto have treated such a contingency as without the range of possibility. Able articles endeavouring to prove that such an invasion is far from impracticable have obtained a place in our newspapers and our reviews. And in the House of Commons itself, that embodiment of intra-insular interests and sympathies, a good many dozens of members were not afraid last session to listen to dissertations on the subject delivered by fellow-repre sentatives whose knowledge of Central Asia and its tongues enabled them to give entire guttural expression to names resonant with the sounds of the letters khé and έ ghain.

In India, too, the intermittent attention which has long been directed to this question has recently taken the more active shape of overtures made by Her Majesty's Viceroy with the object of arranging an interview with the Ameer of Cabul. That the matter of conversation at such a meeting would be the advance of Russia Affghanistan-wards may be assumed as certain. And that proposals to subsidize, succour, or in some way assist the Affghans might at the same time be made, may also be considered probable. In short, there seems every reason to believe that the ruling pow ers of British India have arrived at the conclusion that the time has come for strengthening the defences and alliances on its northern frontier. And whilst the convictions of our statesmen are thus engaged, there has arisen a circumstance which seems likely to enlist the interests of our commercial classes in the same direction. For news begin to reach us that, at the instigation of the emissaries of the Czar, the semi-subjugated States of Central Asia are imposing duties of a prohibitory nature on all goods imported into their territories from the south; so that the wares of Birmingham and our Eastern possessions cannot as heretofore compete successfully in those Trans-Oxus regions with the productions of Russia Proper or Russian Tartary. Our traders who yearly unite in caravans to traverse the countries north of the Hindoo Koosh have consequently begun to urge the estab lishment of English Consular agencies at those far inland marts. In short, the socalled Central Asian question bids fair to become an object of interest for all classes

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »