DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68024#0023
15
attended to. It is, however, perfectly untrue. The Head Master’s recommendations on all points
connected with the school were never rejected by me without very good reasons, which were
always stated in writing, and are filed in the Office. In his evidence regarding the attendance
and muster of the students, Mr. Blochmann has admitted that he disobeyed orders, and the
reasons assigned are that because the Resident Munshi neglected to send him reports he did
not report to the Principal. He says that rooms have been vacant for six mouths, although
there were applicants for them. There are now, I believe, three vacancies, and no applicants
for them. He says that he understood the Maulawi’s desire was to provide accommodation
for comparatively rich people, which is palpably untrue, as it is known that, however respect-
able, all are poor, and the Committee state that all come from Eastern Bengal, where the
Maulawi is not supposed to have friends. Rich people’s sons, moreover, would not live in
the Madrassah. The great majority of the students live with charitably disposed people, or
with people whose children they teach and who give them food and Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 a month.
It is the scholarship-holders chiefly who live on the premises; for the rest, in my time, the
discipline was too strict to be agreeable, and there was not a great demand for rooms. He
states that when he joined there were only eight or nine resident students. The register of
attendance shows that there were 12 resident students when Mr. Blochmann joined his appoint-
ment. He says that a great number of the rooms were occupied by the Professors; and
adds—“ No Professor has a right to live on the premises,” but he omits to mention that when
room was wanting and I turned them out, they were re-admitted on his recommendation.
He says that the Resident Munshi is required to live on the premises, “ but has never done
so,” which is simply untrue. He says (page 10, line 10), when anxious to show that the
Resident Munshi’s office is useless, “ the Resident Munshi is seldom on the premises.” He
says (page 11) that he used his rooms for his private library, and a store-room for his publica-
tions, &c., which is the very best proof Mr. Blochmann could possibly have given of the
falsity of his previous statement, as it clearly shows that the Munshi did reside on the premises,
although perhaps lately or since he was married he did not sleep there. He says that a number
of outsiders are living on the premises, and that he constantly sees strangers residing in the
rooms of the students; but he does not explain why be omitted to turn them out or report
it, according to the orders he had received, although he adds that he is quite willing to super-
intend the whole of the internal arrangements for the resident students.
14. I have already noticed Mr. Blochmann’s evidence given in the 11th August regard-
ing the College classes, and I may pass over his evidence regarding the College or Arabic
Department. He had nothing whatever to do with it, except to give instruction to the
Under-graduates in English, and that he did not do. He is not qualified to express any
opinion upon the curriculum of Arabic studies, and this the Committee who describe him
(page 76) as an “ energetic and intelligent teacher conversant, we understand, with Persian
and also possessing some acquaintance with Arabic,” ought to have known. I could easily
point out how defective is his acquaintance with this portion of the subject from his own evi-
dence, but that is not my object. I will pass on, therefore, to his evidence given on the 3rd
September.
15. He commences by saying that the returns of the College were false, and implies that
they were falsified so that the pay of one of the durwans might be paid to a servant maintained
for my own use, and that this was not a solitary instance. His words are “ the establishment
differs from the actual establishment entertained; for instance, three durwans are mentioned,
whilst only two are employed, and the pay of the third durwan is appropriated for the payment
of a furrash attached to the Principal’s Office in Elysium Row.” Now this is a direct falsehood,
a malicious falsehood, and Mr. Blochmann knew it was a falsehood when he uttered it. If he
had not said another word, this statement is sufficient to disqualify him for ever serving Gov-
ernment again in any capacity. There was, I find, some alteration made in the duties of the
establishment years ago, but that any such arrangement was made for my private advantage or
convenience as is implied, is a direct untruth. A chaprassee has always, I believe, been sent
from the Madrassah to attend at the Principal’s residence or quarters between 10 to 4 o’clock to
carry communications to and from the Madrassah, and other letters of the Principal’s on Mad-
rassah business. Such certainly was the case in my predecessor’s time; and such is the case, as
the Lieutenant-Governor well knows, in almost all public offices in Calcutra, when the head of
ths Office transacts public business at his own residence; but the arrangement was left entirely to
the clerk, and I had no idea, and up to this hour I have no idea, whether the man usually employed
on this duty was called a furrash,or a peon,or a durwan,or what he was. All I know is that the ser-
vants of the Madrassah, as far as my knowledge extended, were not in excess of the requirements
of the institution, and that no Madrassah servant was ever attached to me personally, or
attended to. It is, however, perfectly untrue. The Head Master’s recommendations on all points
connected with the school were never rejected by me without very good reasons, which were
always stated in writing, and are filed in the Office. In his evidence regarding the attendance
and muster of the students, Mr. Blochmann has admitted that he disobeyed orders, and the
reasons assigned are that because the Resident Munshi neglected to send him reports he did
not report to the Principal. He says that rooms have been vacant for six mouths, although
there were applicants for them. There are now, I believe, three vacancies, and no applicants
for them. He says that he understood the Maulawi’s desire was to provide accommodation
for comparatively rich people, which is palpably untrue, as it is known that, however respect-
able, all are poor, and the Committee state that all come from Eastern Bengal, where the
Maulawi is not supposed to have friends. Rich people’s sons, moreover, would not live in
the Madrassah. The great majority of the students live with charitably disposed people, or
with people whose children they teach and who give them food and Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 a month.
It is the scholarship-holders chiefly who live on the premises; for the rest, in my time, the
discipline was too strict to be agreeable, and there was not a great demand for rooms. He
states that when he joined there were only eight or nine resident students. The register of
attendance shows that there were 12 resident students when Mr. Blochmann joined his appoint-
ment. He says that a great number of the rooms were occupied by the Professors; and
adds—“ No Professor has a right to live on the premises,” but he omits to mention that when
room was wanting and I turned them out, they were re-admitted on his recommendation.
He says that the Resident Munshi is required to live on the premises, “ but has never done
so,” which is simply untrue. He says (page 10, line 10), when anxious to show that the
Resident Munshi’s office is useless, “ the Resident Munshi is seldom on the premises.” He
says (page 11) that he used his rooms for his private library, and a store-room for his publica-
tions, &c., which is the very best proof Mr. Blochmann could possibly have given of the
falsity of his previous statement, as it clearly shows that the Munshi did reside on the premises,
although perhaps lately or since he was married he did not sleep there. He says that a number
of outsiders are living on the premises, and that he constantly sees strangers residing in the
rooms of the students; but he does not explain why be omitted to turn them out or report
it, according to the orders he had received, although he adds that he is quite willing to super-
intend the whole of the internal arrangements for the resident students.
14. I have already noticed Mr. Blochmann’s evidence given in the 11th August regard-
ing the College classes, and I may pass over his evidence regarding the College or Arabic
Department. He had nothing whatever to do with it, except to give instruction to the
Under-graduates in English, and that he did not do. He is not qualified to express any
opinion upon the curriculum of Arabic studies, and this the Committee who describe him
(page 76) as an “ energetic and intelligent teacher conversant, we understand, with Persian
and also possessing some acquaintance with Arabic,” ought to have known. I could easily
point out how defective is his acquaintance with this portion of the subject from his own evi-
dence, but that is not my object. I will pass on, therefore, to his evidence given on the 3rd
September.
15. He commences by saying that the returns of the College were false, and implies that
they were falsified so that the pay of one of the durwans might be paid to a servant maintained
for my own use, and that this was not a solitary instance. His words are “ the establishment
differs from the actual establishment entertained; for instance, three durwans are mentioned,
whilst only two are employed, and the pay of the third durwan is appropriated for the payment
of a furrash attached to the Principal’s Office in Elysium Row.” Now this is a direct falsehood,
a malicious falsehood, and Mr. Blochmann knew it was a falsehood when he uttered it. If he
had not said another word, this statement is sufficient to disqualify him for ever serving Gov-
ernment again in any capacity. There was, I find, some alteration made in the duties of the
establishment years ago, but that any such arrangement was made for my private advantage or
convenience as is implied, is a direct untruth. A chaprassee has always, I believe, been sent
from the Madrassah to attend at the Principal’s residence or quarters between 10 to 4 o’clock to
carry communications to and from the Madrassah, and other letters of the Principal’s on Mad-
rassah business. Such certainly was the case in my predecessor’s time; and such is the case, as
the Lieutenant-Governor well knows, in almost all public offices in Calcutra, when the head of
ths Office transacts public business at his own residence; but the arrangement was left entirely to
the clerk, and I had no idea, and up to this hour I have no idea, whether the man usually employed
on this duty was called a furrash,or a peon,or a durwan,or what he was. All I know is that the ser-
vants of the Madrassah, as far as my knowledge extended, were not in excess of the requirements
of the institution, and that no Madrassah servant was ever attached to me personally, or