322 



members was 207 and of non-official members 66 i. Of 

 the total number 158 were Europeans or Eurasians and the 

 remainder natives. For the administration of local affairs 

 of rural tracts there are 270 Union Panchayats, 86 Taluk 

 Boards and 21 District Boards. There are 654 members 

 serving on the District Boards, 277 being elected by the people 

 and the remainder nominated by Government. 118 of them 

 are Europeans or Eurasians and 536 are natives. In the 

 Taluk Boards there are 1,141 members, of whom 317 are 

 officials and 824 non-official persons. 66 among these are 

 Europeans or Eurasians and 1,076 natives. In the Union 

 Panchayats there are 2,511 members, of whom 865 are officials 

 including 622 village officers and 1,646 non-official persons. 

 Thus the total number of persons taking part in municipal 

 and local administration is 5,177, of whom 3,562 are non- 

 official persons. 



114. The figures given above show that there is a con- 

 Difficuitiesofiocaiad- sidcrable number of non-official persons 

 ministration and sue- who are being trained in the perform- 

 cess attained therein. ^^^^ ^f ^^^j-^ dutics ; and, as the num- 

 ber of Local Fund Union Panchayats increases, still larger 

 numbers of such persons will, in course of time, be entrusted 

 with such duties. Since 1884 the Government has paid un- 

 remitting attention to Municipal and Local Fund administra- 

 tion, and by close scrutiny of the work done, and of the 

 attitude of Government officers towards it, has sought to 

 awaken in non-official bodies an adequate sense of their 

 duties and responsibilities. The success that has attended 

 these efforts will be seen to be considerable when it is remem- 

 bered how entirely new the idea of combination for public 

 purposes of persons not organized in castes, or guilds under 

 natural leaders, is in this country. In reviewing the results 

 of Local Fund administration for 1889-90, the Madras Gov- 

 ernment remarked : " These results are, to a great extent, 

 " due to the exertions of the Taluk Boards and Union Pan- 

 " chayats, which worked, on the whole, with considerable 

 *' success and energy and has thus amply justified the action 

 " which called them into existence. His Excellency the Gov- 

 " ernor in Council trusts that, in course of time, all these local 

 *' bodies will become still more efficient and that their indi- 

 " vidual members will devote more and more of their attention 

 *' to the interests of the administration. The advancement 

 " of primary education, the extension of medical relief and vac- 

 *' cinatiou, the improvement of village communipations, and 

 *' the utilization of sanitary allotments are subjects calling for 



