158 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



of this continent, without having received in most cases any pre- 

 paration which will enable them to study, appreciate, or under- 

 stand an alien civilisation. Thus, with the best of intentions, they 

 misunderstand those among whom they are sent, and are in turn mis- 

 understood. Guiltless of any evil intent, they offend the susceptibilities 

 of those among whom their lot is cast, and acts are put down to 

 indifference or ill-nature which are only the product of ignorance. 

 After making their initial mistakes the more intelligent and well- 

 meaning set to work to study the people committed to their charge, 

 but faced with problems of extreme intricacy, and without any previous 

 training, more often than not they give up the attempt as hopeless. 



That candidates for the Indian Civil Service should receive a full 

 training in anthropology before leaving this country has been pleaded 

 time after time by this Section and by the Anthropological Institute, 

 and though I repeat the plea, which will probably be as useless as its 

 predecessors, I would add more. The problems confronting the anthro- 

 pologist and the administrator in India are of such extreme complexity 

 that it needs a very considerable amount of combined action and research 

 even to lay down the method and the lines along which future inquiries 

 should be made. Such a school of thought, such a nucleus around 

 which further reseai-ch may be grouped, does not yet exist; the mate- 

 rials out of which it can be formed can scarcely yet be found. And 

 yet until such a nucleus has been created, and has gathered around it 

 a devoted band of researchers, no true understanding will be found of 

 the problems which daily confront both peoples, and the East and the 

 West will remain apart, subject to mutual recriminations, the natural 

 outcome of mutual misunderstanding. 



One solution only do I see to this dilemma. For many years past 

 there have been institutions at Athens and Eome where carefully chosen 

 students, with the best of qualifications, have spent several years 

 studying the ancient and modern conditions of those cities and their 

 people. By this means a small but well-selected group of Englishmen 

 have returned to this country well-informed, not only as to the ancient 

 but the modern conditions of Greece and Italy. Besides this we 

 have had in each of the capitals of those two States an institution, 

 subserving no political or diplomatic ends, which has acted as a centre 

 or focus of research into the civilisation of those countries. Although 

 the main objects in both cases have been the true understanding of the 

 cultures of the distant past, the constant intercourse of students of 

 both nationalities working for a common end has resulted in a better 

 understanding on the part of each of the aims and ideals of the other. 

 I have no hesitation in saying that the existence of the British Schools 

 at Athens and Rome has been of enormous value in bringing about 

 and preserving friendly relations between the people of this country 

 and those of Greece and Italy. 



I cannot help feeling that a similar institution in India, served by a 

 sympathetic and well-trained staff, to which carefully selected university 

 men might go for a few years of post-graduate study, would go far 

 towards removing many of the misunderstandings which are causing 

 friction betAveen tlie Bintish and Indian peoples. Such a- British School 



