CHAPTER XII.

AT POONA.

WE are now in the Nizam's territory, and a branch line goes off at Wadi to his capital of Hyderabad. Rising to a higher level, the line passes over a poorly-cultivated and sparselypeopled district, with extensive tracts of wasteland. It was very hot all day: even the venetians failed to keep out the sun's rays; and we felt the lightest of clothing too heavy, and motion impossible. Dining at Sholapore, we reached Poona at 4.40 a.m., and found carriages and servants waiting to take us to join the other members of our party in the Napier Hotel.

We heard an admirable sermon from the Rev. Mr. Small, of the Free Church of Scotland, on Sunday evening; and on Monday forenoon paid two visits of great interest to me.

There are six Government schools for females in Poona, over which Mrs. Mitchell and her very energetic assistant, Miss Rosa Morris, preside.

They commenced only ten years ago; but already have sent forth a great number of teachers; and now none are admitted into the higher classes, or those for schoolmistresses only, who have not passed the third standard in the vernacular. On entering that college they get a salary varying from two to eight rupees per month, dependent on length of attendance and progress.

We spent a long time in the principal of these schools; and were greatly gratified by all we saw and heard. Little girls are brought in, on whom the young teachers first try their hand; then the latter are sent out to give instruction in other institutions, still under the eye of their European superiors; and lastly they are available for situations anywhere. I was delighted with Miss Morris's "Marathi Songs for Children," one of them set to music to the old familiar tune of "Duncan Gray." It was

remarkable to see the transformation worked by this able and enthusiastic young lady on the silent, motionless Hindoo youngsters: they were all life and joy when following her lead.

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Many of the women-some of them mere children-are widows; and the popular feeling is much opposed to their being taught and teaching.

Our second visit was to the old palace of the Peishwas' commander-in-chief-now turned to a much better purpose-a school in which 300 young men and boys are taught under the superintendence of Mr. Beaumont, of the Free Church of Scotland. Two hundred learn English, and the good attendance and anxiety to learn were very evident. From the roof of the building I had an excellent view of Poona, with its neat and clean native town of 80,000 inhabitants, the cantonment, public buildings, and officers' bungalows, situated in a basin surrounded by hills.

This morning the Royal Commission on Education, the names of its members, and the instructions to them of the Governor-General in Council, appear in the newspapers, and to my mind the expressed views and orders of the Government appear eminently satisfactory. The extension of primary education to the masses is set forth as the main desideratum of the present

day. Hitherto we have been doing rather too much to instruct, at the expense of the State, classes well able to pay for their own education, and not overloyal, or likely in certain contingencies and in certain respects not to make a very good use of it.* I anticipate much good from this enquiry and new departure. Government has likewise, I see with pleasure, taken up seriously the recommendations of the Famine Commission, of which my friend Mr. James Caird, C. B., was a leading member, which some feared might be allowed to fall into neglect. A new department is to be formed, which will put the rulers of India in possession of all the necessary facts regarding the food supplies, and likewise give an impetus to agricultural improvement, and so render famines less likely and disastrous. I hope that those charged with this important duty will give a

*“Too much money is spent by the Government in giving to the richer classes a superior education for which they ought to pay themselves, while too little is spent on elementary instruction for the masses of the poor." "The Finances and Public Works of India," by Sir J. Strachey and Major-General R. Strachey. London, Kegan Paul, French & Co.

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favourable consideration to Mr. W. Wedderburn's

scheme for the formation of Agricultural Banks, which seems already to have commended itself to the Government of Bombay. He has published a most interesting and readable pamphlet on the subject, in which he narrates what has been done in Germany; points out that "the fundamental error of what has hitherto been done in India consists in the attempt to accomplish through State agency what can only be successfully carried out by private enterprise;" and in a most business-like manner propounds, explains, and defends his own plan; which certainly commends itself to my judgment as one which, if adopted and extensively acted upon, cannot fail to be an enormous boon to India.

We are all constantly being reminded in various ways of the poverty of the people, and the primary necessity of improving their lot. I am no defender of the Government interest in opium; and no one I imagine would, if such a mode of raising revenue were proposed as a new measure, care to defend it; but it is very questionable if China would be morally bene