Before the budget Mr. Ayrton produced his suggestions, which are,
(1) that the Viceroy's Council shall consist of chiefs of depart- ments, each of whom, but not all of whom, shall be consulted on each subject ; (2) that there be a Minister for Trade and Agricul- ture; (3) that the Government of Bengal be placed on the same footing as that of Bombay ; (4) that two members of the Council of India retire every year. The main debate which followed is analyzed elsewhere, but Sir Stafford Northcote's trumpet gave out a very uncertain sound. He seemed to think the first suggestion already realized, which is not the case, the Council being still an undivided body, though each councillor attends chiefly to his own department. He thought the Minister for Public Works all that was needful, an odd judgment when he has nothing to do with either agriculture or trade, and held that the mode of governing Bengal was dependent on the residence to be selected for the Supreme Government, two questions with very little relation to one another. A Governor could get along with a Viceroy just as well as a Lieutenant-Governor could, and in ordinary cases better, for both would be Englishmen. And, finally, he left the question of retirements to the members of Council themselves, who are to be tempted with pensions but not made to go, and who will consequently stay. Old gentlemen of reputation like to have something dignified to do, and will never give it up. We do not see precisely why they should, if their power of dictating to the parliamentary officer is, as Lord Cranborne advises, taken away.
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