THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM 83
But, as a matter of fact, till after the Mutiny not one of the natives was appointed to any office except such as they were eligible for before this Statute was passed, because the Court of Directors in interpreting it advised the Government of India at the very start that by this enactment
“practically......no very marked difference of results will be occasioned. The distinction between the situations allotted to the convenanted service and all other situations of any official or public nature will remain generally as at present.” [1]
The Judicial and police charges, which together absorbed something like 10 per cent. of the total revenue raised, can only be regarded as protective in their character. Thus the bulk of the money raised by injurious taxes was spent in unproductive ways. The agencies of war were cultivated in the name of peace, and they absorbed so much of the total funds that nothing practically was left for the agencies of progress. Education formed no part of the expenditure incurred and useful public works were lamentably few. Railways, canals for navigation or irrigation and other aids to the development of commerce and industry for a long time found no corner in the Imperial budget. For a total area of 837,000 square miles there were constructed a few miles of railways, 2,157 miles of land ways,
580 miles of waterways and 80 miles of telegraph. Or speaking in terms of money spent, we find that for the entire period of fifteen years from 1837-8 to 1851-2 the average expenditure of a productive character amounted only to £ 299,732
1 Despatch to Bengal No. 44 dated December 10, 1834, para. 107.
*Report of the Civil Finance Committee on Native Establishment at the three Presidencies,—Bengal Financial Consultations dated April 13, 1830. India Office Records. The subordinate establishments of uncovenanted Christian and native servants attached to the several presidencies were divided by the Committee into four classes, (1) comprehending Head clerks, Registrars, Managers and their assistants, Examiners, Investors, etc., employed under the Secretaries in superintending and conducting the business of the office; (2) Current Business Writers, and permanent Copyists; (3) Sectioners or copyists paid by piece work, and (4) all inferior servants. The Committee found that
Para. 35. The salaries received by the Current Business Writers in Calcutta vary from Rs. 20 to Rs. 300 per mensem, an average for each individual Rs. 104; in Bombay they vary from Rs. 15 to 120, an average Rs. 48; at Madras it is an established rule that the average remuneration to servants of this description in the Secretariat at that Presidency is Rs. 27½, which is distributed at various rates from 10½ to 87½, rupees, according to the claims of the individuals from length of service and utility......
Sectioners in the Secretariat office, Bengal, were paid at the rate of 750 words per rupee; while at the other two Presidencies it was about 1333 words for a rupee.
Para. 51. The present charge for servants attached to the Secretariat in Bengal is Rs. 1,142 per month; at Madras, including mochies (cobblers), Rs. 455; and at Bombay, Rs. 261. In Bengal there were 186 servants; in Madras 56; and in Bombay 42.