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 known as 'red-tapism,' that as a rule they cannot originate a single administrative measure capable of producing beneficial results to an appreciable extent. We have lately had a small number of native District Officers in some parts of the country ; but their opportunities also are very limited, while the success which has almost invariably followed their appointment strongly refutes the theory that the Indians are unfit for superior administrative work, and clearly shews that with better opportunities they might develop talents which now lie unused and dormant.

Another reason why the Native States are highly regarded is that they are associated in the popular mind with recollections of the political independence that was once enjoyed, and form landmarks as it were of that ancient civilization whose traces are still visible amidst the wreck and debris of ages. In spite of the absence of those refined methods which distinguish the (government in the British territories, the rule of the Native