certain cases, a power is reserved to the Viceroy to act independently. The Governor-General's Council is twofold. First, the ordinary or Executive Council,2 usually composed Executive of about six official members besides the Viceroy, which may Council. be compared with the cabinet of a constitutional country. It meets regularly at short intervals, discusses and decides upon questions of foreign policy and domestic administration, and prepares measures for the Legislative Council. Its members divide among themselves the chief departments of State, such as those of Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Public Works, etc.; while the Viceroy combines in his own person the duties of constitutional Sovereign and of Prime Minister.3 Second, the Legislative Council, which is made up of the same members as the preceding, with the addition of the Governor of the Province in which it may be held, and official delegates from Madras and Bombay, together with certain nominated members representative of the nonofficial Native and European communities. The meetings of Legislative the Legislative Council are held when and as required. They Council. are open to the public; and a further guarantee for publicity is ensured by the proviso that draft Bills must be published a certain number of times in the Gazette. As a matter of practice, these draft Bills have usually been first subjected to the criticism of the several provincial governments. Provincial Legislative Councils have also been appointed for the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and for the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal. The members of these local Legislative Councils are appointed by the Viceroy, and their Acts, which can only deal with provincial matters, are subject to his sanction. The Presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the Lieutenant 1 'Cases of high importance, and essentially affecting the public interest and welfare' (33 Geo. 111. c. 52, sec. 47); 'when any measure is proposed whereby the safety, tranquillity, or interests of the British possessions in India may, in the judgment of the Governor-General, be essentially affected' (3 and 4 Will. Iv. c. 85, sec. 49); 'cases of emergency' (24 and 25 Vict. c. 67, sec. 23). 2 The lineal descendant of the original Council organized under the charters of the Company, first constituted by Parliamentary sanction in 1773 (13 Geo. III. c. 63, sec. 7). 3 The mechanism and working of the Governor-General's Council, and of the Secretariats, and chief Departments of the Indian Administration, are described in my Life of the Earl of Mayo, vol. i. pp. 189-202 (2nd ed.). ♦ Originally identical with the Executive Council, upon which legislative powers were conferred by 13 Geo. III. c. 63, sec. 36. The distinction between the two Councils was first recognised in the appointment of the fourth member' (3 and 4 Will. iv. c. 85, sec. 40). Y High Courts of Justice. The law India. Governorships of Bengal and of the North-Western Provinces, have each a High Court,1 supreme both in civil and criminal business, with an ultimate appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England. Of the minor Provinces, the Punjab has a Chief Court, with three judges; the Central Provinces, Oudh, and Mysore have each a Judicial Commissioner, who sits alone; while in Assam and British Burma, the Chief Commissioner, or supreme executive officer, is also the highest judicial authority. The law administered in the Indian Courts consists mainly of British of(1) the enactments of the Indian Legislative Councils (Imperial and Provincial), as above described, and of the bodies. which preceded them; (2) statutes of the British Parliament which apply to India; (3) the Hindu and Muhammadan laws of inheritance, and their domestic law in causes affecting Hindus and Muhammadans; (4) the Customary Law affecting particular castes and races. Much has been done towards consolidating special sections of the Indian law; and in the Indian penal code, together with the codes of civil and criminal procedure, we have memorable examples of such efforts. Administration. But although the Governor-General-in-Council is theoretically supreme over every part of India alike,3 his actual authority is Provincial not everywhere exercised in the same direct manner. For ordinary purposes of administration, British India is partitioned into Provinces, each with a government of its own; and certain of the Native States are attached to those Provinces with which they are most nearly connected geographically. These Provinces, again, enjoy various degrees of independence. The two sister Presidencies of Madras and Bombay still retain many Bombay. marks of their original equality with Bengal. They each have Madras. Bengal. an army and a civil service of their own. They are each administered by a Governor appointed direct from England. They have each an Executive and a Legislative Council, whose functions are analogous to those of the Councils of the GovernorGeneral, although subject to his control. They thus possess a domestic legislature; and in administrative matters, also, the interference of the Viceroy is a somewhat remote contingency. Of the other Provinces, Bengal, or rather Lower Bengal, occupies a peculiar position. Like the North-Western Pro 1 Constituted out of the Supreme Courts and the Sudder (Sadr) Courts in 1861 (24 and 25 Vict. c. 104). Ante, p. 124. 2 vinces and the Punjab, it is administered by a single official with the style of Lieutenant-Governor, who is controlled by no Executive Council; but, unlike those two Provinces, Bengal has a Legislative Council, so far preserving a sign of its early pre-eminence. The remaining Provinces, whether ruled by a Minor Lieutenant-Governor or a Chief Commissioner, may be regarded Provinces from a historical point of view as fragments of the original Bengal Presidency,1 which as thus defined, would be co-extensive with all British India not included under Madras or Bombay. Garrisons on the Madras or Bombay establishment may be posted in outlying tracts of the old Bengal territories, but civil officers of the Madras and Bombay Services are excluded. The Lieutenant-Governors and most of the Chief Commissioners are chosen from the Covenanted Civil Service. In executive matters they are the practical rulers, but, excepting the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, they have no legislative authority. To complete the total area of territory under British administration, it is necessary to add certain quasi-Provinces, under the immediate control of the Viceroy. These consist ofAJMERE, transferred from Rájputána; BERAR, or the Districts assigned by the Nizám of Haidarábád; the State of MYSORE, under British administration since 1830, but restored in March 1881 to its native Rájá, who has long been a minor; and the tiny territory of COORG, in the extreme south.2 tions.' Another difference of administration, although now of less 'The importance than in former times, derives its name from the Regulaold Regulations, or uniform rules of law and practice which preceded the present system of Acts of the Legislature. These Regulations have been from time to time withdrawn as regards certain tracts of country which, from their backward state of civilisation or other causes, seemed to require exceptional treatment. In non-Regulation territory, broadly speaking, a Nonlarger measure of discretion is allowed to the officials, both in Regulation territory. the collection of revenue and in the administration of civil justice; strict rules of procedure yield to the local exigencies; and the judicial and executive departments are to a great extent combined in the same hands. Closely connected with this indulgence in favour of the personal element in administration, a wider field is also permitted for the selection of the administrative staff, which is not confined to the Covenanted Civil Service, but includes military officers on the staff and also 1 See article BENGAL, Imperial Gazetteer, vol. ii. p. 1. For the constitution of each of these Provinces, see their articles in the Imperial Gazetteer. For a list of them, see ante, p. 61. 'Deputy Commissioners.' The 'District' or territorial unit. trict Officer or trate. uncovenanted civilians. The title of the highest executive official in a District of a Regulation Province is that of Collector-Magistrate. In a non-Regulation District, the corresponding officer is styled the Deputy Commissioner; and the supreme authority in a non-Regulation Province is called, not a Lieutenant-Governor, but a Chief Commissioner. The Central Provinces and British Burma are examples of non-Regulation Provinces; but non-Regulation Districts are to be found also in Bengal and the North-Western Provinces. Their existence is always disclosed by the title of 'Deputy Commissioner.' Alike in Regulation and in non-Regulation territory, the unit of administration is the District-a word of very definite meaning in official phraseology. The District officer, whether The Dis known as Collector-Magistrate or as Deputy Commissioner, is the responsible head of his jurisdiction. Upon his energy and personal character depends ultimately the efficiency of our Indian Government. His own special duties are SO numerous and so various as to bewilder the outsider; and the work of his subordinates, European and native, largely depends upon the stimulus of his personal example. position has been compared to that of the French préfet; but such a comparison is unjust in many ways to the Indian District officer. He is not a creature of the Home Office, who takes his colour from his chief, and represents only officialism; but an active worker in every department of the public well-being, with a large measure of local independence and of individual initiative. Duties of the Col lector Magis. trate.' His As the name of Collector - Magistrate implies, his main functions are twofold. He is a fiscal officer, charged with the collection of the revenue from the land and other sources; he also is a civil and criminal judge, both of first instance and in appeal. But his title by no means exhausts his multifarious duties. He does in his smaller local sphere all that the Home Secretary superintends in England, and a great deal more; for he is the representative of a paternal and not of a constitutional government. Police, jails, education, municipalities, roads, sanitation, dispensaries, the local taxation, and the imperial revenues of his District, are to him matters of daily concern. He is expected to make himself acquainted with every phase of the social life of the natives, and with each natural aspect of the country. He should be a lawyer, an accountant, a surveyor, and a ready writer of State papers. He ought also to possess no mean knowledge of agriculture, political economy, and engineering.. The total number of Districts in British India is about 240. Number of Districts in They vary greatly in size and number of inhabitants. The British average area is 3778 square miles, ranging from 6612 square India. miles in Madras to 1999 square miles in Oudh. The average population is 802,927 souls, similarly ranging from 1,508,219 in Madras to 161,597 in Burma. The Madras Districts are thus both the largest and the most populous. In every other Province but Madras, the Districts are grouped into larger areas, known as Divisions, each under the charge of a Commissioner. But these Divisions are not properly units of administration, as the Districts are. They are aggregates of units, formed only for Their convenience of supervision, so that an intermediate authority varying may exercise the universal watchfulness which would be impossible for a distant Lieutenant-Governor. size. The Districts are again partitioned out into lesser tracts, Subcalled Subdistricts, revenue tahsils, fiscal parganás, and police Districts. thánás. The preceding sketch of Indian administration would be The Secreincomplete without a reference to the Secretariat, or central tariat : bureau of each Province, which controls and gives unity to the whole. From the Secretariat are issued the orders that regulate or modify the details of administration; into the Secretariat come the multifarious reports from the local officers, to be there digested for future reference. But although the Secretaries may enjoy the social life of the Presidency capitals, with higher salaries and better prospects of promotion, the efficiency of our Rule rests ultimately upon the shoulders of the District officers, who bear the burden and heat of the day, with fewer opportunities of winning fame or reward. The Secretariat of the Supreme Government of India consists of six of the branches, each of which deals with a special department of the Governadministration. The officers who preside over them are named India; respectively, the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Financial Secretary, the Military Secretary, the Public Works Secretary, and the Secretary in the Legislative Department. In the Presidencies, Lieutenant-Governorships, and Chief Com- of the missionerships, the Provincial Secretariat is formed on the same local model, but the Secretaries are only from one to three in number. THE LAND TAX.-The land furnishes the chief source of Indian revenue, and the collection of the land tax forms the main work of Indian administration. No technical term is ment of govern ment. |