AN 'EXAMPLE OF INDIAN HOME RULE.
(To-rus-11mroa or THE " SnersToa."l "811k, —The lion.tagn-Chelmsford scheme has forced us to discuss the- fitness Of Indians' to manage their own affairs. Permit me to place before your readers 'the illuminating case of the Munici- pality of Burdwan, an important town in the relatively enlightened province of Bengal. The Council of this Municipality has just been suspended for one year, by order of the Govern- ment of Bengal, in order that a " bureaucrfirt " may clear up the shocking mess it has made of the town's affairs and redress the vigorously represented grievances of the unfortunate Indian rate- 'payers- The report on .Burdwan for 1915-16 said : " The roads are bad; the drains are not flushed; the water-supply is abused with impunity; the finances are mismanaged and in confusion; the -municipal board is-rent by friction." The report for 1917-18 says : "Dishonesty and corruption among the municipal staff have caused serious loss." When, latterly, the British District Magistrate, after having vainly lavished advice and remonstrance on the Municipal Councillors, ordered an inquiry into the affairs of the Municipality, documents were suppressed wholesale, though enough. CR/O0' to light to prove gross incompetence and dishonesty. Let the Indian inhabitants of Burdwan be asked whether they wish their late Municipal Councillors and other members of the educated _classes to--rule over them in- matters political as well as _municipal. Ask them whether it. is the interference or the exces- sive forbearance of -the British " bureaucrat " that is harming
Secretary, The European Association.
Calcutta.
Previous page
