ABSTRACT
110. A Choice of Benefits. A few years ago the writer was travelling from Poona to Bombay in the company of three gentlemen at a time when the Great Indian Peninsular railway was breached by floods near Thana. One of the travellers was a Brahman official, the second was a Parsi lawyer, and the third a well-known Mahomedan citizen of Bombay engaged in commerce. A discussion was raised as to the various departments of the British administration, and the question was propounded as to their respective merits. The Brahman gentleman urged that the system of public instruction, and in particular higher education, had conferred more benefits upon India than any other measure of government. The lawyer thought that British justice was a more valuable gift than the university, colleges, and schools. The former laid stress on the coincidence that, when the British government was actually engaged in suppressing the mutiny, it found time and money to establish the first university in India. The latter pointed to the respect shown by the highest British officials to the majesty of the law. He considered that nothing was at the same time so strange to Indian ideas and so suggestive of justice as the fact that not even the viceroy or the governors would disregard a decree of a High Court, although the court itself had to rely upon the government to give effect to its orders even when they were opposed to the wishes and policy of government. At this point of the conversation the train was shunted, and an engine passed by, drawing a number of trucks full of workmen, tools, and a large crane, as well as sleepers and railway material, in charge of a British engineer. The Mahomedan gentleman jumped up and pointing to the train he said, “There, look at that; the strongest claim which the British have upon the people of India is their power of organization and resource. The break on the line occurred this morning, and now within a few hours an army of native workmen is on its way to repair the disaster under an officer who knows what has to be done and will teach the coolies how to do it. The public works of India are the best school in it.”
