DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68025#0078
72
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:,
Mr. C. H. to estimate the relative needs of different districts
Dompas. amounts to control of expenditure. The Govern-
- ment of Bengal has recently made lump sum grants to
30 Dec., 1907, District Boards through Commissioners : it has also
given Commissioners lump sums to be distributed as
doles to local institutions. This has been a very useful
method of decentralization.
I think in all matters one appeal is sufficient. This
should prevent all gross injustice. Beyond this there
•should only be power of revision, only to be exercised
where new facts come to light or a manifest injustice
has occurred.
The influence of the Government of Bengal has been
in the direction of excessive rigidity and uniformity.
This was due to the province being too large to allow
of the central authority paying due attention to the
needs of particular localities. The district of the
Santhal Parganas is the main exception to an un-
fortunate uniformity. The fact that special laws even
under present circumstances are from time to time
passed for the Chota Nagpur division, merely shows
the existence of a need, for such exceptional legislation
is undertaken with great reluctance. I look to the
creation of smaller provinces : they are essential if
Local Self-Government is to develop. Something would
be accomplished by localising the Services to particular
divisions and thereby strengthening local opinion and
concentrating attention on local wants.
A possible, and in my opinion an essential, reform is
■ to stop transfers. Executive Officers have not sufficient
personal contact with the people because the people
have no object in keeping personal contact with ever-
changing Executive Officers. Young officers have small
inducement to master a vernacular which they may
possibly not hear spoken for years. Frequency of
transfers is almost considered an object in itself.
That an officer has been three years in a sub-division
or a district is a reason not for considering that
he is just becoming useful, but for removing him
elsewhere. This system of transfers is carried down
to the lowest grades, even to a constable. One result
is that if a District Officer wishes to know anything
of what happened in his district five years before,
he can turn to no one but a clerk : another result
is that a habit is formed of dealing with everything by
poring over papers. An officer spends his service
in dealing with matters of which he and everyone
with whom he deals is entirely ignorant. It is as
essential that a district staff should be permanent as
that the officers in a native regiment should be
permanent. The fact that an officer has served three
years in a Gurkha regiment is not considered a reason
for ipso facto transferring him to a Sikh regiment.
If officers know their district the district knows its
officers, and knowledge begets sympathy. If an
officer is to be a Collector for ten years of his service,
I would require him to spend them in one district and
not in five or six. Frequent leave is no drawback if
the officer returns to the same district. I would let
officers of the Subordinate Services freely act in leave
vacancies even up to six months where the same per-
manent officer is to return. Officers of the superior
services I would confine from the beginning to one
division : officers of a lower grade as far as possible
to one district. Administration would often not pro-
ceed so smoothly, but the present system mainly aims
at preventing men from doing much harm : at the
same time they are prevented from doing much
good. The Santhal Parganas is a district where in
the past some attempt has been made at continuity
of administration and where officials and people are
more in contact than elsewhere.
The question of a decrease in the area of districts is
largely a matter of money : I think that the time has
come when the question of a general re-distribution of
districts should be investigated. Work is increasing
every year in volume and complexity, and primd facie
charges should be reduced. On the other hand, if
officers had not to waste so much time in learning
elementary facts about new charges they could do
more work than at present. Unity of administration
over a considerable area is also an advantage.
Greater care should be exercised in the selection of
all Government officers. The assured prospects of
Government Service bring enormous advantages in
attracting a high class of men and inducing a high
standard of conduct. Unless a Government officer
embezzles money or is grossly insubordinate he can go
through his service without ever doing an honest day’s
work and earn a pension at the end. I would engage
all Government officers for a first term of five years,
with a bonus if the contract were not renewed : then
for a second term of 10 years, again with a bonus :
then for a third term of 10 years after which they
would be entitled to pension. These terms would still
be so much better than those offered by private
employers that recruiting would not suffer, while men
much below the average of efficiency would be weeded
out, and the public interests would not suffer in order
that unfit men might earn a pension.
16126. You have a particular system of Government
in thetSanthal Parganas, have you not?—Yes.
16127. The Commissioner has very large powers in
all departments?—Yes, as superior to the Deputy
Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner is practi-
cally the person who exercises the powers and he has
the local knowledge, but he is subject to the control of
the Commissioner in every way, and the Commissioner
is the High Court.
16128. What is the distinction between that col-
lectorate and others ?—-The Santhals once rose in re-
bellion against an artificial system of government,
and the idea was to abolish everything between the
European official and the people. The ordinary laws
do not apply unless they are specially extended ; the
ordinary departments have no authority unless they
are specially empowered; there are no pleaders to
come between the people and the officials ; the High
Court has no authority, because it acts on too cen-
tralized lines ; the zamindars have had their powers of
interference with the land curtailed, and throughout a
greater part of the district the police were abolished,
so that there is nobody between the people and the
English officer.
16129. What has been the result of the peculiar
system of Government ?—I think those who can judge
recognise that it has been very successful. People like
the European managers of estates and land-holders in
the district. It is not popular with the educated
foreign class, that is to say, with the educated Ben-
galee, who comes into the country wanting to become
a pleader.
16130. Is there much crime there ?—No. I do not
think there is more crime there than there is in regular
police areas. The question was gone into the other
day and the police said there was crime, but I do not
think there is.
16131. On the whole, is it a satisfactory form of
Government ?—For a primitive people most satis-
factory, and I should like to see it extended to all
those districts where the people can be described as a
primitive class.
16132. Does the Deputy Commissioner there have
any particular grant made to him which he can spend
more or less at his discretion ? —There was a Road
Fund which was practically spent at his discretion, but
the budget requires the sanction of the Commissioner.
16133. Has the Deputy Commissioner no lump sum
grant made to him as the Commissioners have in the
rest of Bengal?—The Commissioner gets his lump
sum and he gives it in smaller lumps to the District
Officers.
16134. Did you get a lump sum such as the Com-
missioners get elsewhere ?—I got my share of the
Commissioner’s lump sum.
16135. What is your view with regard to appeals ?
—I think in executive matters one appeal should be
sufficient.
16136. Have you found that work well in the par-
ticular district of which you have been speaking?—
There, there were two appeals practically ; there was
an appeal from the Sub-Division Officer to the Deputy
Commissioner, and anything could be taken up from
him to the Commissioner.
. &
16137. And beyond him?—It could be taken to
Government, but in practice that seldom occurred.
16138. With regard to revenue appeals, is one appeal
sufficient ?—Yes, except on points of law ; on a point
of law I think an appeal to the Board of Revenue is
necessary to secure uniformity, just as an appeal to
the High Court is sometimes necessary.
16139. What do you mean exactly by your remarks
with regard to localising the Services ?—I think it is
desirable that Government officers should know more
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:,
Mr. C. H. to estimate the relative needs of different districts
Dompas. amounts to control of expenditure. The Govern-
- ment of Bengal has recently made lump sum grants to
30 Dec., 1907, District Boards through Commissioners : it has also
given Commissioners lump sums to be distributed as
doles to local institutions. This has been a very useful
method of decentralization.
I think in all matters one appeal is sufficient. This
should prevent all gross injustice. Beyond this there
•should only be power of revision, only to be exercised
where new facts come to light or a manifest injustice
has occurred.
The influence of the Government of Bengal has been
in the direction of excessive rigidity and uniformity.
This was due to the province being too large to allow
of the central authority paying due attention to the
needs of particular localities. The district of the
Santhal Parganas is the main exception to an un-
fortunate uniformity. The fact that special laws even
under present circumstances are from time to time
passed for the Chota Nagpur division, merely shows
the existence of a need, for such exceptional legislation
is undertaken with great reluctance. I look to the
creation of smaller provinces : they are essential if
Local Self-Government is to develop. Something would
be accomplished by localising the Services to particular
divisions and thereby strengthening local opinion and
concentrating attention on local wants.
A possible, and in my opinion an essential, reform is
■ to stop transfers. Executive Officers have not sufficient
personal contact with the people because the people
have no object in keeping personal contact with ever-
changing Executive Officers. Young officers have small
inducement to master a vernacular which they may
possibly not hear spoken for years. Frequency of
transfers is almost considered an object in itself.
That an officer has been three years in a sub-division
or a district is a reason not for considering that
he is just becoming useful, but for removing him
elsewhere. This system of transfers is carried down
to the lowest grades, even to a constable. One result
is that if a District Officer wishes to know anything
of what happened in his district five years before,
he can turn to no one but a clerk : another result
is that a habit is formed of dealing with everything by
poring over papers. An officer spends his service
in dealing with matters of which he and everyone
with whom he deals is entirely ignorant. It is as
essential that a district staff should be permanent as
that the officers in a native regiment should be
permanent. The fact that an officer has served three
years in a Gurkha regiment is not considered a reason
for ipso facto transferring him to a Sikh regiment.
If officers know their district the district knows its
officers, and knowledge begets sympathy. If an
officer is to be a Collector for ten years of his service,
I would require him to spend them in one district and
not in five or six. Frequent leave is no drawback if
the officer returns to the same district. I would let
officers of the Subordinate Services freely act in leave
vacancies even up to six months where the same per-
manent officer is to return. Officers of the superior
services I would confine from the beginning to one
division : officers of a lower grade as far as possible
to one district. Administration would often not pro-
ceed so smoothly, but the present system mainly aims
at preventing men from doing much harm : at the
same time they are prevented from doing much
good. The Santhal Parganas is a district where in
the past some attempt has been made at continuity
of administration and where officials and people are
more in contact than elsewhere.
The question of a decrease in the area of districts is
largely a matter of money : I think that the time has
come when the question of a general re-distribution of
districts should be investigated. Work is increasing
every year in volume and complexity, and primd facie
charges should be reduced. On the other hand, if
officers had not to waste so much time in learning
elementary facts about new charges they could do
more work than at present. Unity of administration
over a considerable area is also an advantage.
Greater care should be exercised in the selection of
all Government officers. The assured prospects of
Government Service bring enormous advantages in
attracting a high class of men and inducing a high
standard of conduct. Unless a Government officer
embezzles money or is grossly insubordinate he can go
through his service without ever doing an honest day’s
work and earn a pension at the end. I would engage
all Government officers for a first term of five years,
with a bonus if the contract were not renewed : then
for a second term of 10 years, again with a bonus :
then for a third term of 10 years after which they
would be entitled to pension. These terms would still
be so much better than those offered by private
employers that recruiting would not suffer, while men
much below the average of efficiency would be weeded
out, and the public interests would not suffer in order
that unfit men might earn a pension.
16126. You have a particular system of Government
in thetSanthal Parganas, have you not?—Yes.
16127. The Commissioner has very large powers in
all departments?—Yes, as superior to the Deputy
Commissioner. The Deputy Commissioner is practi-
cally the person who exercises the powers and he has
the local knowledge, but he is subject to the control of
the Commissioner in every way, and the Commissioner
is the High Court.
16128. What is the distinction between that col-
lectorate and others ?—-The Santhals once rose in re-
bellion against an artificial system of government,
and the idea was to abolish everything between the
European official and the people. The ordinary laws
do not apply unless they are specially extended ; the
ordinary departments have no authority unless they
are specially empowered; there are no pleaders to
come between the people and the officials ; the High
Court has no authority, because it acts on too cen-
tralized lines ; the zamindars have had their powers of
interference with the land curtailed, and throughout a
greater part of the district the police were abolished,
so that there is nobody between the people and the
English officer.
16129. What has been the result of the peculiar
system of Government ?—I think those who can judge
recognise that it has been very successful. People like
the European managers of estates and land-holders in
the district. It is not popular with the educated
foreign class, that is to say, with the educated Ben-
galee, who comes into the country wanting to become
a pleader.
16130. Is there much crime there ?—No. I do not
think there is more crime there than there is in regular
police areas. The question was gone into the other
day and the police said there was crime, but I do not
think there is.
16131. On the whole, is it a satisfactory form of
Government ?—For a primitive people most satis-
factory, and I should like to see it extended to all
those districts where the people can be described as a
primitive class.
16132. Does the Deputy Commissioner there have
any particular grant made to him which he can spend
more or less at his discretion ? —There was a Road
Fund which was practically spent at his discretion, but
the budget requires the sanction of the Commissioner.
16133. Has the Deputy Commissioner no lump sum
grant made to him as the Commissioners have in the
rest of Bengal?—The Commissioner gets his lump
sum and he gives it in smaller lumps to the District
Officers.
16134. Did you get a lump sum such as the Com-
missioners get elsewhere ?—I got my share of the
Commissioner’s lump sum.
16135. What is your view with regard to appeals ?
—I think in executive matters one appeal should be
sufficient.
16136. Have you found that work well in the par-
ticular district of which you have been speaking?—
There, there were two appeals practically ; there was
an appeal from the Sub-Division Officer to the Deputy
Commissioner, and anything could be taken up from
him to the Commissioner.
. &
16137. And beyond him?—It could be taken to
Government, but in practice that seldom occurred.
16138. With regard to revenue appeals, is one appeal
sufficient ?—Yes, except on points of law ; on a point
of law I think an appeal to the Board of Revenue is
necessary to secure uniformity, just as an appeal to
the High Court is sometimes necessary.
16139. What do you mean exactly by your remarks
with regard to localising the Services ?—I think it is
desirable that Government officers should know more