Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/170

166 Calcutta Conservancy was reformed; transit duties were abolished between Native States in Central India and on the Sutlej, that river and the Indus being now practically freed from these imposts; while the cultivation of tea was much encouraged, under the superintendence of Dr. Jameson — especially in Assam, where a company was formed for that purpose.

The preservation of the ancient monuments of India also engaged the attention of the Governor-General. He greatly admired the Táj, and ordered parts of it to be repaired, as well as the palace at Agra. He also removed the unseemly and grotesque ornament which had been placed on the top of the Kutab Minar at Delhi. Of all these celebrated buildings he caused photographs to be taken — photography then being an art almost unknown in India.

This slight sketch of what was accomplished in civil administration shows that the Governor-General had not been idle or remiss. When the charge was brought against him, that he was so immersed in warlike operations as to neglect such duties, a writer in the Calcutta Review called it one of those 'drizzling criticisms which he could well afford to ignore.'

As some misapprehension may exist with regard to the military reforms which Lord Hardinge carried out after the close of the Sutlej campaign, it must be noted that, on the one hand, the condition of the finances imperatively demanded that some reduction should be made in the military budget; while on the other, his experience in the field had taught him how