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 EDITOR'S PREFACE

THE casual visitor to India, who limits his observations of the country to the all-too-short cool season, is so impressed by the contrast between Indian life and that with which he has been previously acquainted that he seldom realises the great local diversity of language and ethnology. This local variety, however, receives expression even in the forms of administration; for the success of the British rule in India is largely due to the fact that the early administrators adopted the local systems of government and moulded them gradually according to the lessons of experience. And this was because the British occupation was that of a trading company of which the present Government of India is a lineal descendant — a fact too often apparently overlooked in the modern administration of the country.

The recent enlargement of the functions of the Local Governments, and more complete management of local affairs, with the formation of Executive, and extension of the Legislative, Councils, all tend to direct more intensely the people's thoughts to the affairs of their own provinces. It is hoped that these Provincial Geographies will in some way reflect this growing tendency to develop special provincial atmospheres, and with this object in view endeavours