This, as I anticipated, has caused a very considerable amount of interest. During the last four or five weeks there have been preliminary sittings of the various local committees, who have been making enquiries in different districts and provincial centres to be forwarded to the commission for future amplification.
The commission itself has only just started on its tour. It assembled at Sim-Jo, and has now commenced its long tour throughout the country, which will last for the next four or five months. one admits that the step is sagacious and benevolent in intention; everyone hopes that the labours of the commission will lead to satisfactory result, but at the same time doubts are being expressed on all sides as to whether that result will be any thing like commensurate with the anticipations formed. It must always be remembered that the police in this country are on a very different footing from what they are in western countries. In England, where the first instinct of the people is in favour of law and order, the rear body of the people are in sympathy with the police. ready to come forward and give the po-When a crime occurs they are only too lice every assistance in their power. In other words they look upon the police as their protectors. Here, in India, it is different. Here the first instinct of the People is an unsympathetic one towards the police. With centuries of tradition of oppression behind them the people are reluctant to come forward, and, in fact, Prefer, if possible, to conceal from the Police the fact that they know anything about the crime whatsoever. There are many good reasons for this reluctance, Once a man gets connected with a criminal case, as a party or a witness, ho never knows how much of his time will be taken up; what distances he will have to travel; how much money it will cost him; and whether the result may not be disastrous to himself. A great deal of this feeling is due to our modera departmental system, which has utterly destroyed the old village and community system. The various departments, which supervise the different kinds of works, are all separate from the villages and communities. They are under their own officers and, therefore, the more perfect the discipline, the less they are in touch wis! the village communities. For my own part I do not share the anticipations that there will be yo practical result. If the commission conducts its enquiries with tact and discretion, I sce no reason why important results should not be obtained. One thing is certain, the report, when it is published, will' be very. me teresting reading, and from a journalistic Point of view will provide plenty of "pah."
Before leaving Simla this commission together with the Irrigation Commission, was entertained by the Viceroy, and they were then, both of them, sent on their way with his blessing. This will be the second season of the irrigation commission, and there is still a great deal of work to be got through before they can formulate their report. In the meantime the official view of irrigation in India for 1900 and 1901 has just been published, and shows that a total a little short of twenty million acres are now being irrigated. This is the largest number on record, and gut of the irrigation works "for which Capital accounts are kept the produce raised has. brought: in a revenue of 414
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.