Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/39

Rh The instructions to the local committees on this head are, “that the pupils should be constantly exercised in translating into their own language, as well as into English, from the time they enter the seminaries till their departure; and that they should also practise original composition in both languages as soon as their minds have been sufficiently opened to attempt it with advantage.”

The revenue authorities took advantage of the establishment of the new provincial seminaries to carry into effect a plan, which had been previously attempted without success, for securing a proper education for the numerous wards of the government. Rules were laid down for this purpose. The wards are either to be brought up at the nearest seminary, or to be provided with tutors and books for their instruction at their own homes. Their attention is to be particularly directed to those branches of knowledge which have an obvious bearing on the good management and improvement of their estates; and their progress in their studies is to be periodically tested and reported on. There is, perhaps, no part of the world where so much wealth and influence is possessed by persons so little able to make a good use