CHAPTER VIII.

AN ERRATIC POLICY.

AMONG the questionable policies of the department was that of sending out young gentlemen from this country as signallers, and the experiment is even now about being repeated, when twenty-five more appointments are to be competed for. Ten years ago, when the importation of English signallers was first contemplated, it was pointed out that the experiment would be unsuccessful, because, although 1207. a year may seem a large sum to a young gentleman in England, to commence life upon on leaving school, he would soon find out his delusion on arriving in India. He would find that 1207. a year was scarcely sufficient to support him in respectability as a gentleman, surrounded as he would be on all sides by an artificial state of society. He would find that his position was one of considerable embarrassment and disappointment. He would, moreover, discover the real value placed on European labour in India, soon become dissatisfied, and leave the service. And this in reality has been the result. In the report for 1861-62, the director-general of telegraphs in India states, regarding the European staff-"twenty-five per cent. of the total number of Morse's assistants sent out from England, having already resigned, some to return home, but the greater portion to take other appointments in India, and there are others still in the department, who to my knowledge want a favourable opportunity for leaving it" (page 126). It was expected that E 2

a revised scale of promotion would obviate this large desertion.

But what have those writing from India, and in India, to say on this point? The following is an extract from a letter which appeared in the Irish Times of 10th September last:

"I am sorry to see so many Dublin men have passed for the telegraph and public works departments in India. It is not a gentleman's profession at all, particularly the telegraph, in which the Government has already broken faith with a number of men, who were induced to come out here by plausible promises.

"I fear the poor Irishmen are leaping in the dark. People out here say, 'Oh! none but Dublin or Queen's College men would take such appointments. The pay is not sufficient for gentlemen, and the pensions and other allowances are most meagre.'

999

The Calcutta Engineer's Journal, of 1st June, 1865, in calling attention to this point, remarks:

"Now the fact of a man's having been two years in a school or college, recognised by the Secretary of State, as possessing an efficient class for instruction in chemistry and physics, is a guarantee that his position at home was something, at all events, approaching to that of a gentleman, and he naturally expects that when such an education is at all necessary to enter the department, that the work which he has to perform, and the social position which he occupies in this country, will be such as would give him an opportunity of making use of the knowledge he has acquired, and of meeting men whose education has been at all events equal to his own, and whose position is such as that education would warrant him to expect. It is scarcely necessary to state that he very soon finds out his mistake in ever having expected anything of the kind in the telegraph department. * * * * Nor does it seem advisable to tell a candidate, who has been a few months in the country, that it was a mistake ever having sent him out, for gentlemen are not required in the telegraph department. * * * * Considering that the number of men in the whole of India, whose salary amounts to five hundred a month or upwards, is, including the Director-General, only eleven, their chance of receiving a

*Now increased to about twenty.]

sufficient salary to enable them to lay by a little money, has scarcely even a microscopic existence."

"The

But the official Report of last October says, annual advertisements published in the English papers, read very tempting to the youth of England ignorant of India and her ways," and it would seem as if the "youth of England" were beginning to detect something, for, at the competitive examination last year, only five candidates came forward for twenty-five appointments.

Moreover, there was another misconception in connexion with this measure, for it was an injustice to the Indian community. You offer low wages in India, and as a consequence get inefficient men, then launch out into polished invectives, a sweeping denunciation against the entire Indian community, and finally proceed to remedy the evil by importing labour from a distance at higher rates. Was it politic or just to raise the value of your labour market elsewhere, without first trying the effect of raising it on the spot? How, in the first instance, can it be expected that local respectability will join the department when the salary is low, and the prospects of promotion infinitesimal; or how, subsequently, can an Indian signaller on low wages enter into fair competition with a European signaller on higher pay, who monopolises all the avenues to advancement? Assimilate the labour market and its rewards to a settled standard open alike to all, and you will get your worth for your money. There is a hackneyed maxim, "a bad workman always complains of his tools," which was not inapplicable here.

Besides, every one knows the value and importance of example and early training, and here is an enticing picture of one of the nine Indian training schools as given in the latest very lucid official reports written

"at the top of a three-storied house," whence the administration of the department is "blindly and theoretically"* carried on. "In fact, there is no school whatever, it is simply a training class supplemented by an adjacent empty bungalow, in which these youngsters may find shelter on the same terms as the pariah dogs, and are, in truth, not one whit more cared for." Now, after such an admission from the Director-General himself, is there any use carrying on this discussion?

But there is yet another erroneous notion in connexion with this measure which deserves attention. The introduction of European signallers was intended to operate in improving the status of the department, and was to be the great regenerating medium to elevate it to a higher standard of efficiency. But the idea is illusory; where an entire system is fundamentally at fault, it cannot be improved in this meagre fashion. A few raw recruits added to a mutinous and disorganised regiment, will not raise it to a high state of discipline. It is but adding fuel to the flame. Take an analogous case. When Parliament transferred the government of India from the East India Company to the Crown, the financial condition of the country was enveloped in a hazy atmosphere. Such a precaution as an annual budget was unknown, the state of the Treasury balances was only attended to, and if there was a good balance at the banker's, all was supposed to be smooth and comfortable. And how did her Majesty's Government proceed to remedy the evil? Was it by sending out to the Accountant-General's office in Calcutta a few young clerks with embroidered uniforms, who had passed a satisfactory examination in arithmetic and elementary physics?

*Sic in the original Report.

CHAPTER IX.

FINANCIAL FAILURE, AND ARGUMENTS IN DEFENCE.

IN considering this question, it must be viewed in this light. It must be placed parallel with the policy pursued by the Government towards the Indian railway companies. It must be assumed that the Government, in place of erecting and maintaining the telegraph themselves, had said to a private telegraph company, "You must put up for us telegraphs wherever we require them, and whether it is profitable or not it matters little, we will guarantee you 5 per cent. interest on all the capital expended." Upon this assumption and upon this principle, which is admitted a correct one, the following results are developed. After a careful investigation of the official Parliamentary Return, No. 287, May 19, 1863, and No. 20, February 12, 1866, it will be found, that from the commencement in 1850-51, up to the latest financial returns in 1863-64, or during a period of thirteen years, the results are as follow: