DIFFICULTIES 325 



to generalise and suggest to their superiors lines of 

 action based upon the facts they have learnt, there 

 should again be nothing to interfere in any way 

 with practical efficiency. 



It is when those who have collected facts 

 and given some time and thought to their con- 

 sideration come to occupy the higher positions 

 in government that the policy advocated in this 

 essay would bear its full fruits. Only those who 

 have themselves studied facts at first-hand can 

 properly appreciate those facts and especially their 

 practical bearings. It is when those who direct 

 the lines of policy to be adopted in the government 

 of subject peoples have themselves a practical first- 

 hand knowledge of the facts that we may look 

 forward to the formulation of policies which will 

 reconcile the general needs of the Empire with a 

 due regard for the moral and material welfare of 

 the peoples towards whom the Empire has so great 

 a responsibility. 



I have just considered and attempted to answer 

 one objection which will be brought against the 

 proposals of this essay, and I may take this 

 opportunity to consider another. It will be urged 

 that those who govern the subject peoples of the 

 Empire have already as much to do as they can 

 manage, and that it is impracticable to add to their 

 already manifold duties that of collecting ethno- 

 graphical facts. 



To this objection there are two answers. First, 



