Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/792

768 768 INDIA [ADMINISTRATION. the population proves the danger to which an isolated province is exposed. The people of Orissa died because they had no surplus stocks of grain of their own, and because importation was absolutely impracticable. Passing over the prolonged drought of 1868-70 in the North-West Provinces and Rajputana, we come to the Bebar scarcity of 1873-74, which first attracted the interest of England. Warned by the failure of the rains, and watched and stimulated by the excited sympathy of the public at home, the Government carried out in time a comprehensive scheme of relief. By the expenditure of 6-i millions sterling, and the importation of one million tons of rice, all risk even of the loss of life was prevented. The compara tively small area of distress, and the facilities of communication by rail and river, alone permitted the accomplishment of the feat, which remains unparalleled in the annals of famine. During the recent famine in southern India the authorities worked with no less energy, and charitable bounty was far more conspicuous, yet the con ditions of the case predestined failure. The stricken tract was many times larger than Behar. No early warning was given. The rain fall failed, not once, but for three successive seasons, and, above all, adequate importation and distribution of grain were physical impossibilities. The people were dying while the grain that could have kept them alive was rotting on the beach of Madras or on the railway sidings of Upper India. What administrative enterprise can accomplish where the circumstances are within the compass of human control may be learned from the case of Bombay. In that presidency the famine affected about 34,000 square miles of country, with a population of about 5,000,000 souls. The highest number of persons in receipt of relief at one time- was 529,000 in June 1877, of whom the great majority were employed on remunerative works. The importation of grain was left entirely free ; and within twelve months 268,000 tons were brought by rail and 166,000 tons by sea into the distressed districts. The total gross cost to Government was estimated at 1J millions, of which about 1 million will be returned. ADMINISTRATION. The supreme authority over all British. India, both for executive and legislative purposes, is vested by a series of Acts of Parliament l in the viceroy or governor-general- in-council, subject to the ultimate sanction of the secretary Execu- of state in England. Every executive order and every legis- tive lative statute runs in the name of the &quot; Governor-General- council. i n _c ounc ii;2 k^ j n cer tain exceptional classes of cases 3 a power is reserved to the viceroy to act independently of his council. This council is twofold. First, there is the ordinary or executive council, 4 usually composed of. about six official members besides the viceroy, which may be compared with the cabinet of a constitutional country. It meets regularly at short intervals, discusses and decides upon questions of foreign policy and domestic administra tion, and prepares measures for the legislative council. Its members divide among themselves the chief departments of state, such as those of foreign affairs, finance, war, public works, &c. ; while the viceroy combines in his own person the duties both of constitutional sovereign and prime minis- Legisla- ter. Secondly, there is the legislative council, 5 which is tive constituted by the same members as the preceding, with ^g addition of the governor of the province in which it may be held, and official delegates from Madras and Bom bay, together with certain nominated members represent ing the non-official native and European communities. The meetings of the legislative council are held when and council, 1 The chief of these Acts are 13 Geo. III. c. 63 ; 33 Geo. III. c. 52 ; 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85 ; 21 and 22 Viet. c. 106 ; and 24 and 25 Viet. c. 67. 2 A style first authorized by 33 Geo. III. c. 52, 39. 3 &quot; Cases of high importance and essentially affecting the public interest and welfare&quot; (33 Geo. III. c. 52, 47) ; &quot;when any measure is proposed whereby the safety, tranquillity, or interests of the British possessions in India may in the judgment of the governor-general be essentially affected &quot; (3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, 49) ; &quot; cases of emer gency &quot; (24 and 25 Viet. c. 67, 23). 4 The lineal descendant of the original council organized under the charters of the Company, first constituted by parliamentary sanction in 1773 (13 Geo. III. c. 63, 7). 6 Originally identical with the executive council, upon which legis lative powers were conferred by 13 Geo. III. c. 63, 36. The distinc tion between the two councils was first recognized in the appointment of &quot;the fourth member&quot; (3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, 40). as required. They are open to the public ; and a further guarantee for publicity is insured by the proviso that draft bills must be published a certain number of times in the Gazette. As a matter of practice, these draft bills have usually been first subjected to the criticism of the several provincial governments. In regard to the supreme judicial authority there is no such uniform system. The presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and also two of the three great province s which have been created out of the old presidency of Bengal, and are now known as the lieutenant-governor ships of Bengal and the North-Western Provinces, have each a high court, 6 supreme both in civil and criminal business, with an ultimate appeal to the judicial committee of the privy council in England. Of the subordinate pro vinces, the Punjab has a chief court, with three judges ; the Central Provinces, Oudh, Mysore, and Berar have each a judicial commissioner, who sits alone ; while in Assam and British Burmah the chief commissioner, or supreme executive ofiicer, is also the highest judicial authority. The law administered in the Indian courts consists mainly of (1) the enactments of the Indian legislative councils above described and of the bodies which pre ceded them, (2) statutes of the British parliament which apply to India, (3) the Hindu and Mahometan laws on domestic inheritance or other cases affecting the Hindus and Mahometans, and (4) the customary law affecting particular castes and races. Much has been done towards consolidating individual sections of the Indian law ; and in the Indian penal code, together with the codes of civil and criminal procedure, we have memorable examples of such efforts. But, though the governor-general-in-council is theoreti- Pi cally supreme over every part of India alike, 7 his actual c jj authority is not everywhere exercised in the same direct isl o) manner. For ordinary purposes of administration British India is partitioned into provinces, each with a government of its own ; and certain of the native states are attached to those- provinces with which they are most nearly connected geographically. These provinces, again, enjoy various degrees of independence, in accordance with the course of their historical development. The two sister presidencies of Madras and Bombay still retain many marks of their original equality with Bengal. They each have an army and a civil service of their own. They are each adminis tered by a governor appointed direct from England, with an executive and a legislative council, whose functions are analogous to those of the councils of the governor- general. 8 They thus possess a domestic legislature ; and in administrative matters, also, the interference of the viceroy is a somewhat remote contingency. Of the other provinces, Bengal, or rather Lower Bengal, occupies a pecu liar position. Like the North- Western Provinces and the Punjab, it is administered by a single official, with the style of lieutenant-governor, who is controlled by no executive council ; but, unlike those two provinces, Bengal has a legislative council, so far preserving a sign of its early pre eminence. The remaining provinces, whether ruled by a lieutenant-governor or by a chief commissioner, may be re garded from an historical point of view as fragments of the original Bengal presidency, which as thus denned would be co-extensive with all British India that is not appropriated either to Madras or to Bombay. The lieutenant-governors and most of the chief commissioners are chosen from the covenanted civil service. In executive matters they are the practical rulers ; but, excepting the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, they have no legislative authority. To com- 6 First constituted out of the Supreme Courts and the Sudder (Sadi) Courts in 1861 (24 and 25 Viet. c. 104). 7 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 85, 39 and 05. 8 24 and 25 Viet. c. 67, 42.