November, 1910.] 



447 



Miscellaneous. 



progress of India largely depends on the 

 proper appreciation of her , greatest 

 asset— abundant cheap labour— labour 

 at present not without some measure 

 of skill but almost entirely untrained 

 and unorganised. 



The Need of Studying Local 

 Conditions. 

 Our work is to show the educated 

 classes how they can find useful careers, 

 honourable and remunerative employ- 

 ment, work that will benefit both them- 

 selves and the whole community in 

 supplementing the deficiencies of the 

 workers, in dispelling their ignorance 

 and softening their conservatism. 



First we must train them in our 

 schools and colleges, then in our work- 

 shops and laboratories and finally start 

 them in life, giving them practical work 

 to do under competent supervision un- 

 til they get accustomed to the new 

 atmosphere and surroundings and are 

 able to launch forth by themselves. 

 But we ourselves have to discover how 

 this may best be done ; we must call to 

 our aid all the resources of science and 

 obtain the services of experienced men 

 to study the local conditions. It will be 

 for them to train our students, make 

 surveys of the existing industries, take 

 stock of the natural advantages, search 

 for hidden resources and suggest new 

 lines of work and innovations which 

 may be introduced. 



In regard to matters purely agricul- 

 tural, this procedure has already been 

 adopted by the Government of India 

 and by all the Provincial Governments. 

 At Pusa an Imperial College of Agricul- 

 ture has been started, a staff of highly 

 competent scientific and practical ex- 

 perts appointed, an experimental farm 

 has been laid out and for some years 

 now the many problems of Indian 

 Agriculture have been the subject of 

 close study and unremitting investi- 

 gation. Valuable results have already 

 been obtained. Each Province has been 

 provided with an Agricultural Depart- 

 ment on similar lines, the officers of 

 which deal with the special problems of 

 the Province and by demonstration 

 farms, by direct teaching and by per- 

 sonal intercourse with the people on the 

 land make them acquainted with new 

 discoveries, new crops, new implements 

 and the advantages of adopting im- 

 proved methods of cultivation. The 

 great primary industry of India is 

 well provided for and in the years 

 to come the country at large cannot but 

 greatly benefit by the thorough and 

 patient way in which the capabilities of 

 the soil are being examined. 



The lengthy discussions on the methods 

 by which the industrial problems are to 

 be solved have not yet crystallised into 

 the form of a comprehensive declaration 

 of policy on the part of the Government 

 of India and the Secretary of State. 

 The various. Provinces have examined 

 the question, have submitted proposals, 

 and in some cases have tentatively 

 embarked upon active measures, but no 

 clear line of action has been marked out 

 as in the case of agriculture. In the 

 education departments, the need of 

 improved science teaching has been 

 admitted and, through the munificence 

 of the late Mr. Tata and his sons, an 

 Imperial Institute of Science has been 

 established at Bangalore for post 

 graduate work and research which 

 should in time do a great deal to attract 

 the highest intellect of the country to 

 practical pursuits. 



The subtle mind of the Hindu delights 

 in philosophic speculations and in un- 

 ravelling the intricacies of legal enact- 

 ments ; it is possible that the same 

 qualities applied to scientific invest- 

 igation would afford their possessors 

 equal gratification in probing the hidden 

 mysteries of natural phenomena. That 

 the practical aspects of such inquiries 

 would appeal to them is less certain, but 

 whether or not, their work will be in- 

 sensibly influenced by the growing need 

 of the country for scientific help in solv- 

 ing the problems which the increased 

 activity of the people will force upon 

 public attention. 



The important principle is gradually 

 meeting with acceptance that scientific 

 education must precede attempts at 

 technical instruction and the latter can 

 only be usefully provided to meet the 

 requirements of existing industries. So 

 long as the great organised industries in 

 the country are mainly controlled by 

 Europeans, so long will the technical 

 assistance be obtained from Europe, and 

 Indians must go there for training and 

 to acquire experience if they want to 

 take a part in such work. This is tacitly 

 admitted by the incresing numbers who 

 year by year leave India to seek such 

 instruction in countries more favourably 

 situated for supplying it. The unfor- 

 tunate feature in this movement is that 

 the majority of the students who go 

 abroad are inadequately prepared in the 

 way of preliminary education to avail 

 themselves of the facilities which they 

 find placed at their disposal and they 

 are in almost every case quite unable to 

 supplement the purely college courses of 

 technology by practical experience in 

 workshops and manufactories, svithout 

 which their whole training is imperfect 



