Page:The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India.djvu/25

 and were authorized, in cases they deemed proper, to declare licenses otherwise valid as void. Counterfeiting licenses and unlicensed residence were made crimes punishable with fine or imprisonment; and persons who were dismissed from, and who had resigned service, were declared guilty of illicit trade if they lingered beyond the 10-mile limit after their time had expired. Unlicensed British subjects were made liable to be deported, and such as were licensed were required to register themselves in the court of the district in which they resided. Subjected as they were to the regulations of the Local Government they were made amenable to justice in India as well as in Great Britain for all illegal acts done in British India, or in Native States. To render them impotent to cause complications, they were not allowed to lend money to or be concerned in raising any for native princes or foreign companies or foreign European merchants. Similarly to protect the natives from their oppression they were forbidden to lend money to the latter at a rate of interest exceeding 12 per cent. per annum on penalty of forfeiting for every offence treble the value, and they were placed under the jurisdiction of the Justices of the Peace in all cases involving assault or trespass on, and small debts due to, the natives of India. Moreover, every British subject of European birth was required to register in the office of his district the name, etc., of his native stewards, agents, and partners, on penalty of being disentitled to recover or receive any sum or sums of money by reason of the joint concern or to compel an account thereof by any suit in law or equity in any court within the provinces.

The ruling race had long chafed at these restrictions,