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 have brought out mining experts to inspectoutminea We have imported a Government architect to purify our egregious taste. We have created a Department of Agriculture with an Inspector-General at its head, and rte

now gopore. with the aid of the muni ent donation that I recently received from a wealthy American gentleman. Mt. Phipps. to unify in one all the variotn departments 0! the investigation in connection with agriculture."

The creation of the Puss Agricul- tural Station, trith its expert staﬂ' and its splendid machinery for conducting agricultural 'tnents. has since been com and its ralne to the commercial community is and all doubt. One morematter in I ich the commercial world is under a debt at gratitude tolord Curson is the creation of the Railway Board. Ile telerted to this project also at the Anniversary Banquet: “I havelortghad my eye on railways, and it has always been my hope. below I leave India. todo sane- thing to introduce a we and a less departmental element into their administration." Therecan he no question that the Railway Board, composed as it is of practical and experienced men, will bring Indian railways more into with the needs of the community.

It Lord Cut-son in his his.

taiul speech dealt with the htmdest s of cornmercisllile, it issigni— ﬁantthat ltedweit at lengthen the needs oi Calcutta itself. It must not be forgotten. and the Berna! Chamber at Commerce have shown themselves alive to the matter. that Calcutta is theport dapeatl’rorirrce,sndthat as commerce progresses. thecity in all its must he made adequate. An unclean city. of evil repute among the nations. would have a terribly had eﬂcctotttradc.aud ltisl’otlhis.“ tor no higher reason. that the Ilenpl Chamber at Commerce has so much attention to the question ol improving the city. In the speech made by lard Curaott he eloquently pictured the Calcutta ol the future, while touching realistically on the imperfections ol’ the present city. “There is." he said. “the vast-ad unsettled problem of the interior oi the city. the congested areas that shttlh behind a fringed laces. the palpitating slums. \ 'hat ate Ie going to do withthern?’ Then in answer to his query he outlined the

THE CYCLOPEDIA OF INDIA.

ohjectsol the Calcutta Improvement Scheme. 80 wonderfully did the pos- sibilities ot Calcutta appeal to the imagination at Lord (Turzon that he said : "stnnetitnes, when I cnntem~ plate the poulhilitics, the enormous possibilities. at this place. I almost feel—you may regard it as a strange ambition—as ll when I laid dorm the post of Viceroy I should like to be. come Chairman of the Calcutta Cor- poration . . . . . . . . . . Perhaps. il l were Chairman ol the Municipality, I should eaact rather large conditions. I should require ten years of olhce, suﬂicient cash,and a free hand Give me those commodities and I would undertake to malte this city the pride 0! Asia and a model of the I-Iasltrn World. I would 0 out all your crowded quarters an slums. I would employ electricity as the universal illuminant. I would have a splendid service of river steamboats. for it is astonlthing to me how little use is made of the river by the ordinary residents of Calcutta. I would have all the quarters of the town connected by a service of suburban railways or electric trams. ..,............laong after I have gone I shall study the records of your pro- ceedingssnd shall never cease to regard itasapridethatloranumher ol’ the hardest working years of my life I machines: and a son of this great imper’ul city.”

It is needless to say that this

speech of Lord Curzon’s made a great impression. It brought

vividly helore ople the condition and the pearl illties ol Calcutta. The Chamber of Commerce has

aluays been lteenly aware of the necessity of improving the city. but this direct appeal went far to stimulate interest in those who were perhaps somewhat indill‘ercnt to the physical needs at the city. The value of the Chamber ol‘ Commerce to the com- munity. apart from its unique position as the Parliament of Com- merce. rests on its vigilance for the public interest. It has served lalth. lolly in this direction in keeping the necenity for the improvement of Calcutta helore the Government and pen. The special commercial

ems ol the city are the condition of the river and vthsrtes. the railways and railway stations. and the state of the mmunications generally. It is a vital matter though that the health ol the city should be guarded.

Plague has I"! years claimed its thousandsnlrictims. Besides hamper- ing trade with foreign countries. the terrible mortality has all'ected disas troust the labour market. The gravity of these contingencies has not been lost on the Chamber at l‘otntnerre. and it has done valuble oath to urging preventive and special measures against the spread at the disease. Its powerlul voiCr has been raised again and again tn otest trith great el'r ct. Tin-Chant hasearncdthc rati- lttrle ol the community not on y lo: laying public needs belore the Gov. eminent. hut by its dignified delence 01 public interests. Not only in mere cantile matters has it proved itseh the champion oi the public Wellarc. but in political and itttper'ial allatrs it has stood out strongly and made the u ' t ol its inﬂuence lelt. It would dillicult to give in detail the many occasions when it has con. grimoualy up or supgorted the overnntent. titsteco has been a triumphant one. until the Bengal Chamber of Commerce has come to be ' as a very con. siderable factor in the government of the century. When the enor- mous interests involved are mid and and the great strides that the bushes ol the Province has made. this is hardly to be wondered at. When the merchants of Colo cutta were ﬁrst impressed with the utility oi combination the trade ol Calcutta was with what it is today. Tea was almost unknown. and What the Chamber was lounded. the great jutt- industry oi Bengal was just struggling into existence. and the value ol jute ex rted did not amount to more t n :2 lakhs at m tees a year. I has now thirty-tour mills with an estimated annual outpm valued at about 11 cmres at ru es. The coal in- dustry during t last titty years has come into cat‘s‘t‘snce 3??ng hi [Inform. oua ’ t ingustrtal activity has developed and increased It is dilhcult to believe that lty years an India had huttmeshortline of annoy. twenty miles in length, 0 lot traﬁ’tc. There are non amt twenty-six thousand miles open. The tonnage oi ships arriving in Calcutta'tn ﬁlly years has risen lrom 1.735 tons a year to 4.533- m-