Lord Mayo appears to be determined to bring the Public
Works Department in India into better order. One of the buildings of the gun-carriage factory at Allahabad recently fell in and killed people, and it was discovered on inquiry that the mortar used was all rotten. Accordingly, Lord Mayo ordered the lime con- tractor to be prosecuted, the supervisor of the work, Mr. Bertram, to be dismissed; the superintending engineers, Major Cobbe and Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, to be removed from the department ; a third superintending engineer, Colonel Alexander, to be " sent down" some steps ; and the chief engineer, Colonel Hodgson, to be very heartily wigged. Lord Mayo finally describes the whole affair as a "deplorable history of negligence, incapacity, and cor- ruption." Lord Mayo is energetic, but neither he nor any other man can root out the vices of this department until he has a ser- vice of men who can do the actual work and yet be trusted not to steal. At present, the actual builder usually steals, while the officer who is supposed to look after him, and who does not steal, is so loaded with desk work that he is compelled to trust the untrustworthy subordinate.
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