DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68024#0022
14
“ I have already recommended to the Director an arrangement which would release you
from some of the school-work and give you more time for the College class, or get you some
assistance, but the Director objects to it, unless the fees are raised, which seems impossible.
“ In the meantime some arrangement must be made to give these boys some instruction,
or they will leave the institution which will at once bring up the question of your salary or your
present appointment.
“ I am nearly well again now, and hope to be at the Madrassah on Monday.
“ Yours truly,
“W. N. LEES.”
“ The 14th February 1868.
“ ORDERS.
“ Send to Mr. Blochmann, and afterwards file.
«W. L.”
This, I think, completes the case as regards Mr. Blochmann, and all that will remain for
the Lieutenant-Governor to do is to decide upon the evidence before him, at least as regards
the failure of the College classes.
12. As to the value to be attached to Mr. Blochmann's evidence generally, I have already
given in my reports, perhaps, sufficient instances to show how little reliance can be placed upon
it. As the Committee, however, have apparently accepted the whole of it as worthy of cre-
dence, and as it affects others besides myself, I may be excused if I point out some of its dis-
crepancies more in detail.
13. In his evidence given on the 1st August, he states that the Resident Munshi does
not see the applicants for admission, nor the person signing the certificate, and is seldom on
the premises, with the view, no doubt, to lead the Committee to believe that he was useless
and did nothing. A few lines further down he refutes this evidence by saying that 25
students recommended by him had been refused admission by the Resident Munshi. Having
the same object in view, he says—“At the present moment we have boys in the Department,
the sons of peons and khansamas, who certainly ought to be excluded.” But the complete
list of the parentage of the students given by the Committee in paragraph 68 of the Report
does not give one khansama or peon. Out of three hundred boys, one is the son of a baker,
but for the rest the parents of the boys are highly respectable, and show clearly that the
Maulawi did his duty, although the terms of Mr. Blochmann's remarks tend to show that
the school was full of the sons of menials and low people. He has asserted that he knew
most of the respectable Mahomedans of the city, and felt perfectly qualified to discharge this
duty as well as the Resident Munshi; and has lower down adduced an instance in which a
certificate signed by a respectable Mahomedan and recommended by him was not passed by
the Resident Munshi. The papers of this case (which fully show the proceedings observed
in like cases, and which I am informed were shown to the Committee) are all filed in the
Resident Munshi's Office, and show that the applicant's appeal was rejected by the Principal,
as he was the son of a mochi, or of that class which is considered the lowest of the low;—thus
Mr. Blochmann proving the converse of his own statement, and that the Maulawi did his duty.
He states that Babu Nund Lail Dass has not the necessary qualifications for the post of Head
Master of an Infant School, and “ that this opinion is shared in by the Examiners who have
examined the class.” I have stated that the only two boys who gained University Scholar,
ships last year came up from Babu Nund Lail's Infant School. I now find that I was wrong-
For two years past the only boys who got scholarships were Nund Lail's boys; and the reports
of the Examiners were always favorable to the Babu, although in most cases they came
from the Doveton College, or were selected by Mr. Blochmann himself. In one instance
only that I remember they remarked upon some disorder existing in the classes during
examination, upon which the Babu was called upon for an explanation, and he gave a
satisfactory answer. He states that one of the Mahomedan teachers, Zahoor Alum (son
of one of the Resident Munshis), was not qualified to teach the 5th Class, but he might
do to teach any of the lower classes; but it was optional to Mr. Blochmann to employ him
so or any of the lower teachers to teach the higher classes as is often done. He states
there would be no difficulty in getting properly qualified Mahomedans to teach the lowest
classes, or indeed any class in the school,—a statement which Mr. Blochmann must know
to be untrue. He says applications for leave go through him, but he was not asked to
express any opinion, and he did not do so. A reference to the rules furnished to him for his
guidance proves this to be untrue. In the next line he admits it, and says that at first he
was asked, but he discontinued expressing an opinion, as his recommendations were not
“ I have already recommended to the Director an arrangement which would release you
from some of the school-work and give you more time for the College class, or get you some
assistance, but the Director objects to it, unless the fees are raised, which seems impossible.
“ In the meantime some arrangement must be made to give these boys some instruction,
or they will leave the institution which will at once bring up the question of your salary or your
present appointment.
“ I am nearly well again now, and hope to be at the Madrassah on Monday.
“ Yours truly,
“W. N. LEES.”
“ The 14th February 1868.
“ ORDERS.
“ Send to Mr. Blochmann, and afterwards file.
«W. L.”
This, I think, completes the case as regards Mr. Blochmann, and all that will remain for
the Lieutenant-Governor to do is to decide upon the evidence before him, at least as regards
the failure of the College classes.
12. As to the value to be attached to Mr. Blochmann's evidence generally, I have already
given in my reports, perhaps, sufficient instances to show how little reliance can be placed upon
it. As the Committee, however, have apparently accepted the whole of it as worthy of cre-
dence, and as it affects others besides myself, I may be excused if I point out some of its dis-
crepancies more in detail.
13. In his evidence given on the 1st August, he states that the Resident Munshi does
not see the applicants for admission, nor the person signing the certificate, and is seldom on
the premises, with the view, no doubt, to lead the Committee to believe that he was useless
and did nothing. A few lines further down he refutes this evidence by saying that 25
students recommended by him had been refused admission by the Resident Munshi. Having
the same object in view, he says—“At the present moment we have boys in the Department,
the sons of peons and khansamas, who certainly ought to be excluded.” But the complete
list of the parentage of the students given by the Committee in paragraph 68 of the Report
does not give one khansama or peon. Out of three hundred boys, one is the son of a baker,
but for the rest the parents of the boys are highly respectable, and show clearly that the
Maulawi did his duty, although the terms of Mr. Blochmann's remarks tend to show that
the school was full of the sons of menials and low people. He has asserted that he knew
most of the respectable Mahomedans of the city, and felt perfectly qualified to discharge this
duty as well as the Resident Munshi; and has lower down adduced an instance in which a
certificate signed by a respectable Mahomedan and recommended by him was not passed by
the Resident Munshi. The papers of this case (which fully show the proceedings observed
in like cases, and which I am informed were shown to the Committee) are all filed in the
Resident Munshi's Office, and show that the applicant's appeal was rejected by the Principal,
as he was the son of a mochi, or of that class which is considered the lowest of the low;—thus
Mr. Blochmann proving the converse of his own statement, and that the Maulawi did his duty.
He states that Babu Nund Lail Dass has not the necessary qualifications for the post of Head
Master of an Infant School, and “ that this opinion is shared in by the Examiners who have
examined the class.” I have stated that the only two boys who gained University Scholar,
ships last year came up from Babu Nund Lail's Infant School. I now find that I was wrong-
For two years past the only boys who got scholarships were Nund Lail's boys; and the reports
of the Examiners were always favorable to the Babu, although in most cases they came
from the Doveton College, or were selected by Mr. Blochmann himself. In one instance
only that I remember they remarked upon some disorder existing in the classes during
examination, upon which the Babu was called upon for an explanation, and he gave a
satisfactory answer. He states that one of the Mahomedan teachers, Zahoor Alum (son
of one of the Resident Munshis), was not qualified to teach the 5th Class, but he might
do to teach any of the lower classes; but it was optional to Mr. Blochmann to employ him
so or any of the lower teachers to teach the higher classes as is often done. He states
there would be no difficulty in getting properly qualified Mahomedans to teach the lowest
classes, or indeed any class in the school,—a statement which Mr. Blochmann must know
to be untrue. He says applications for leave go through him, but he was not asked to
express any opinion, and he did not do so. A reference to the rules furnished to him for his
guidance proves this to be untrue. In the next line he admits it, and says that at first he
was asked, but he discontinued expressing an opinion, as his recommendations were not