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 BAHU SHYAMA CHURN AS A TAGORE LAW-PROFESSOR. 107 CHAPTER V. BABU SHYAMA CHURN AS A TAGQRE LAW-PROFESSOR. The Tagore Law-Professorship, with an annual honorarium of Rs io,ooo, is, according to the terms of the bequest of the late Babu Prusuna Kumar Tagore, who made an endowment of 3 lacs of rupees for the creation of this Professional Chair in the Calcutta Pre- sidency College is thrown open to public competition. In those days, this and similar other- high appointments in the Education Department had to be filled up by scholars indented from Europe, as no qualified native could be found, competent enough to hold them. To Babu Shyama Churn Sirkar is due, therefore the sole credit of snatching away such a prize appointment from the field of European competition. Since the creation*, of this Chair, European Jurists and Barristers-at-taW had hitherto held the appointment ; and when Shyama Churn stood as a candidate, in 1872, Mr. Cowell, Mr.. Piffard, and Mr. Goodeve, Barristers-at-Law contest- ed his claims. The question of eligibility to the post was not, as is now too often the case, between a Na- tive and Native but between Europeans and Natives, Europeans had a prestige of their own while the Na« tive had none. Under these circumstances, Shyama Churn the Native Jurist ventured to oust the Euro- peans from the Chair for the first time in the history of the Calcutta University. He was first selected for the post by the Faculty of Law, and the Senate afterwards ratified the selection- It is said by his son Babu Dena Nath Sirkar that on the day when the Senate of the Calcutta University met together in 1872, at the Town •Hall, Babu Shyama Churn sent him to bring an early news of the result of that day's meeting. Sir Charles Hobhouse, the then. Law .Member of the Supreme