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is, no doubt, the pivot of an administration, and no one will deny that the smoothness of the government machinery in His Highness's Dominions at the present time is largely due to Sir George Casson Walker, I.C.S., who held the position of Finance Minister in Hyderabad from 1901 to 1910.

One of the first things undertaken by him was the establishment of an up-to-date mint. No coining had been done for ten years, and the coinage had become seriously depleted in consequence. The experiment proved a complete success, and, although silver was not as cheap then as it is now, the coining profits were very large, the government securing a profit of nearly a crore and a half of rupees on their mint expenditure. Good seasons favoured the nine years that Sir George Casson Walker held office, the departments of land revenue, customs, excise, opium and to some extent forests,