558 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



not rather fair to assume that they are accumulating wealth 

 faster than they know how to use it ? 



Various estimates of the hoarded wealth of India have 

 been made but they are all mere guesses and it would perhaps 

 be unwise to give further currency to them ; it suffices for our 

 purpose to assume that the sum-total is very large and that 

 it is enormously greater than any possible demand that can 

 be made for generations to come for capital for the development 

 of the country. From an international point of view this 

 hoarding of gold in India is of great importance in preventing 

 an inconvenient depreciation of the monetary standards of the 

 world ; in time to come, when the folly of the practice has been 

 recognised, the dispersal of these hoards may be equally 

 serviceable ; in maintaining equilibrium, if the productiveness 

 of the mines should fall short of the demands of an ever- 

 increasing traffic and commerce. This service India renders 

 to the world at large and its people pay the cost not grudgingly 

 but with a cheerful alacrity which is the outcome of extreme 

 simplicity. 



It must be remembered that this hoarded wealth is very 

 generally diffused and that it can only be rendered useful by 

 concentration in the hands of a comparatively small number 

 of men who are competent to assume the responsibility of 

 directing the enterprises which can be started by returning it 

 into circulation. This implies the existence of an instinct for 

 co-operative working that at present is but slightly developed ; 

 also a knowledge of and desire to participate in the amenities 

 of life which our modern civilisation offers ; finally, what is in 

 no way less important than these, an intelligent comprehension 

 of the elementary principles of credit and finance, without which 

 it is impossible to create the feelings of security and confidence 

 which form the basis of commerce and industrial enterprise. 



Need of Education 



It is only by educating the people that any progress can be 

 made in this direction, and the efforts now being made to extend 

 primary education may be viewed with intense satisfaction by 

 all who are interested in the welfare of India ; but much more 

 might be done than has so far been attempted. In the year 

 1907-8 the total expenditure of British India on education was 

 £4,018,764 or slightly over fourpence per head of the popula- 



