DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68026#0080
Mr. II. R.
Carlyle.
4 Apr.. 1908
74 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:
Superintendent of Surveys), the Final Report of
the Director of Land Records on the more im-
portant crops (written by the Director), and the
Report of the Colonization Officer of the Chenab
Colony (written by that officer). It also dealt
inter alia with such matters as Land Records and
Settlements. The inconvenience of a voluminous
report of this kind both to the Local Government,
which had to review it, and to the Government of
India which had to read it, will be obvious, and in
1901 it was arranged in consultation with the Local
Government that the working of the departments
of Land Records and of Settlement and the Ad-
ministration of the Canal Colonies should be dealt
with in separate reports. A special season and
crop report was also prescribed, as information
regarding the harvest of the year is wanted before
the date at which the Administration Report can
be submitted to the Government of India. Similar
reforms were introduced as far as possible into the
reports and returns of other provinces. Oppor-
tunity was taken at the same time to apply the
pruning knife where practicable to unnecessary
statistical tables and to redundant matter gene-
rally, and in this direction very real relief was
afforded to Local Governments and their officers.
'By 1903 the bulk of the various reports received
in this Department had been reduced from 5,442 to
3,675 pages ; and the following table, which ex-
hibits in figures the effect of the reforms of 1901
on the Punjab reports referred to above, will
illustrate my point even more clearly : —
Before 1901.
After 1901.
Number of
Number of
No. of pages
of letterpress
(including
Number of
Report.
pages of
letterpress.
pages of
statistics.
Total.
Reports.
Financial
Commis-
sioner’s
review).
pages of
statistics.
Total.
Land Revenue
ministration
port.
Ad-
Re-
142
195
337
Land Revenue Ad-
ministration Re-
port.
Report on Settlement
Operations.
Report on Land
Records Depart-
ment.
Season and Crop
Report.
Colonization Report
16
6
12
7
32
46
3
4
28
13
62
9
16
35
45
1
142
195
337
5
73
94
167
It will be seen therefore, I think, that so far from
increasing their demands for reports and returns
from Local Governments, the Government of India
has done much in the last few years to improve
the system of reporting, and to relieve Local
Governments as much as possible of the duty of
collecting useless statistical matter. Something
no doubt remains to be done in this direction,
and the question will continue to be examined
periodically, but it seems doubtful whether many
of the reports now received can be dispensed with,
consistently with the maintenance of a complete
annual review of administrative progress.
The only new report prescribed by the Secretary
of State for India in recent years is the general
review by the Government of India of the working
of the Co-operative Credit Societies Act.
As regards the question whether there has been
any increase in the calls by the Government of
India for information from Local Governments and
Administrations, the number of circular references
for information issued in the last ten years (97) is
smaller than the number issued in the previous
ten years (119). These figures, however, do not
include requests for information addressed to in-
dividual Governments, and the question is one
which it is impossible to answer satisfactorily
without a more detailed examination of the corre-
spondence registers of my office than it has been
possible to make in the time and with the staff at
my disposal. The business of the Department,
however, is increasing every year in volume. Ten
years ago the average annual number of receipts
and issues was 23,074 ; five years ago it was 24,054 ;
now it is 28,405. But these figures again are mis-
leading without explanation. The most striking
increase of work occurred in the General Branch
of the office which has little to do with correspond-
ence with Local Governments, and where the in-
crease in the last five years is mainly due to special
and temporary causes, such as the disposal of an
immense number of surplus books, the receipt of
1,300 applications for the new appointments
recently added to the office establishment and the
transfer of files to the Department of Commerce
and Industry when that Department was con-
stituted. Even allowing however for temporary
causes of increase, the conclusion may safely be
drawn that the correspondence between the
Government of India and Local Governments has
shown a tendency to increase in the last five years.
This tendency is most noticeable in the Forest
Branch and the Inspector-General of Forests’
office and in the Agricultural Branch. In the last-
named it is the natural result of the re-organization
of the Imperial and Provincial Agricultural Depart-
ments which has taken place since, in 1905, the
Government of India decided to make a recurring
grant of 20 lakhs (subsequently raised to 24 lakhs)
for purposes of agricultural improvement in India.
In the Forest Branch and the Inspector-General
of Forests’ office the increase is due mainly to the
re-organization of the Department, the revision of
the scale of pay, the establishment of the Forest
Research Institute at Dehra Dun, and to corre-
spondence connected with revision of the Forest
Code. The Government of India, however, are
disposed to think that some measure of decentrali-
zation in the Inspector-General of Forests’ office is
possible and desirable, and they requested him in
October last to overhaul his office, and to consider
whether some classes of references to Local Govern-
ments might not be discontinued. In the Famine
Branch some increase of work has been caused by
the correspondence which ensued on the reports
of the Commissions of 1898 and 1901, but now that
all Local Governments have newly revised Famine
Codes this class of work is not likely to recur in
the same volume, and the work of the branch will
vary with the state of the season. The only other
branch which calls for notice is the Revenue
Branch. The slight increase observable in the
work of this branch is due partly to the labours
of the Irrigation Commission and the Survey Com-
mittee, but mainly to the fact that after the issue
of the Land Revenue Resolution of 1902 each of
the most important branches of Land Revenue
Administration was taken up in turn and subjected
to detailed examination. Speaking generally I
would ascribe the growth in the business of the
Carlyle.
4 Apr.. 1908
74 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE:
Superintendent of Surveys), the Final Report of
the Director of Land Records on the more im-
portant crops (written by the Director), and the
Report of the Colonization Officer of the Chenab
Colony (written by that officer). It also dealt
inter alia with such matters as Land Records and
Settlements. The inconvenience of a voluminous
report of this kind both to the Local Government,
which had to review it, and to the Government of
India which had to read it, will be obvious, and in
1901 it was arranged in consultation with the Local
Government that the working of the departments
of Land Records and of Settlement and the Ad-
ministration of the Canal Colonies should be dealt
with in separate reports. A special season and
crop report was also prescribed, as information
regarding the harvest of the year is wanted before
the date at which the Administration Report can
be submitted to the Government of India. Similar
reforms were introduced as far as possible into the
reports and returns of other provinces. Oppor-
tunity was taken at the same time to apply the
pruning knife where practicable to unnecessary
statistical tables and to redundant matter gene-
rally, and in this direction very real relief was
afforded to Local Governments and their officers.
'By 1903 the bulk of the various reports received
in this Department had been reduced from 5,442 to
3,675 pages ; and the following table, which ex-
hibits in figures the effect of the reforms of 1901
on the Punjab reports referred to above, will
illustrate my point even more clearly : —
Before 1901.
After 1901.
Number of
Number of
No. of pages
of letterpress
(including
Number of
Report.
pages of
letterpress.
pages of
statistics.
Total.
Reports.
Financial
Commis-
sioner’s
review).
pages of
statistics.
Total.
Land Revenue
ministration
port.
Ad-
Re-
142
195
337
Land Revenue Ad-
ministration Re-
port.
Report on Settlement
Operations.
Report on Land
Records Depart-
ment.
Season and Crop
Report.
Colonization Report
16
6
12
7
32
46
3
4
28
13
62
9
16
35
45
1
142
195
337
5
73
94
167
It will be seen therefore, I think, that so far from
increasing their demands for reports and returns
from Local Governments, the Government of India
has done much in the last few years to improve
the system of reporting, and to relieve Local
Governments as much as possible of the duty of
collecting useless statistical matter. Something
no doubt remains to be done in this direction,
and the question will continue to be examined
periodically, but it seems doubtful whether many
of the reports now received can be dispensed with,
consistently with the maintenance of a complete
annual review of administrative progress.
The only new report prescribed by the Secretary
of State for India in recent years is the general
review by the Government of India of the working
of the Co-operative Credit Societies Act.
As regards the question whether there has been
any increase in the calls by the Government of
India for information from Local Governments and
Administrations, the number of circular references
for information issued in the last ten years (97) is
smaller than the number issued in the previous
ten years (119). These figures, however, do not
include requests for information addressed to in-
dividual Governments, and the question is one
which it is impossible to answer satisfactorily
without a more detailed examination of the corre-
spondence registers of my office than it has been
possible to make in the time and with the staff at
my disposal. The business of the Department,
however, is increasing every year in volume. Ten
years ago the average annual number of receipts
and issues was 23,074 ; five years ago it was 24,054 ;
now it is 28,405. But these figures again are mis-
leading without explanation. The most striking
increase of work occurred in the General Branch
of the office which has little to do with correspond-
ence with Local Governments, and where the in-
crease in the last five years is mainly due to special
and temporary causes, such as the disposal of an
immense number of surplus books, the receipt of
1,300 applications for the new appointments
recently added to the office establishment and the
transfer of files to the Department of Commerce
and Industry when that Department was con-
stituted. Even allowing however for temporary
causes of increase, the conclusion may safely be
drawn that the correspondence between the
Government of India and Local Governments has
shown a tendency to increase in the last five years.
This tendency is most noticeable in the Forest
Branch and the Inspector-General of Forests’
office and in the Agricultural Branch. In the last-
named it is the natural result of the re-organization
of the Imperial and Provincial Agricultural Depart-
ments which has taken place since, in 1905, the
Government of India decided to make a recurring
grant of 20 lakhs (subsequently raised to 24 lakhs)
for purposes of agricultural improvement in India.
In the Forest Branch and the Inspector-General
of Forests’ office the increase is due mainly to the
re-organization of the Department, the revision of
the scale of pay, the establishment of the Forest
Research Institute at Dehra Dun, and to corre-
spondence connected with revision of the Forest
Code. The Government of India, however, are
disposed to think that some measure of decentrali-
zation in the Inspector-General of Forests’ office is
possible and desirable, and they requested him in
October last to overhaul his office, and to consider
whether some classes of references to Local Govern-
ments might not be discontinued. In the Famine
Branch some increase of work has been caused by
the correspondence which ensued on the reports
of the Commissions of 1898 and 1901, but now that
all Local Governments have newly revised Famine
Codes this class of work is not likely to recur in
the same volume, and the work of the branch will
vary with the state of the season. The only other
branch which calls for notice is the Revenue
Branch. The slight increase observable in the
work of this branch is due partly to the labours
of the Irrigation Commission and the Survey Com-
mittee, but mainly to the fact that after the issue
of the Land Revenue Resolution of 1902 each of
the most important branches of Land Revenue
Administration was taken up in turn and subjected
to detailed examination. Speaking generally I
would ascribe the growth in the business of the