provinces and thus, in course of years, come into equal contact with them all. The only objection to this

plan would be the cost of buildings and the heavy expense involved in moving the records of the Imperial offices. Perhaps the present arrangement is on the whole the most economical and advantageous, when the duties devolving upon the government of India are considered.

59. Imperial Duties. The functions of the supreme government may be described as either original or appellate. In some matters it takes the lead and directs action, while in other matters it corrects the action taken by the local governments and administrations. Its original jurisdiction is exercised in the following concerns:

i. Foreign relations, including war, treaties, and consular arrangements,

ii. Measures affecting the army and marine forces, iii. Imperial legislation,

iv. General taxation,

v. Matters of currency and debt,

vi. The post office, telegraphs, and railroads,
vii. Emigration,

viii. Mineral resources.

Its appellate jurisdiction covers the whole area of the administration, legislation, and expenditure of the local governments. Parties or bodies who are aggrieved by the action of the provincial authorities can seek redress from the government of India by presenting appeals in accordance with the petition rules published for general guidance. But quite apart from such appeals, the Governor-General in Council has, under the authority of an Act of Parliament, a general power to superintend, control, and direct the several

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governments in all points relating to the civil or military government of their territories. In particular, certain functions are expressly reserved by parliament and by the various legislatures of India for exercise by the supreme government, so that the same law which gives to local authorities power to act, requires that in certain directions they should only use their legal powers if the supreme government approves.

60. Wide Range of Imperial Action. Complaints are sometimes heard that too much authority is exercised by the Government of India, and that the executive officers in the provinces or districts are weakened thereby. Those who feel this danger must bear in mind the reasons which have suggested the distribution of work just described. The frontiers of India extend from Arabia to the river Mekong, and even touch Abyssinia on the Somali coast of Africa. Some great powers of the west-Russia, France, and Turkey-hold territories that are in contact with India or its protected states. The empires of China, Persia, and Afghanistan are its close neighbours. The conduct of British and Indian relations with these powers and states is a difficult matter, frequently touching on dangerous ground. It must rest with one supreme authority in India to hold in its hands all the strings of foreign policy. Equally necessary is it that the power which dictates the policy should be able to execute it, and should command all the resources and means of offence and defence. The military and naval forces of India may have to work together, and in time of peace, arms, equipments, and all the machinery of war must be prepared and maintained with an eye to uniformity. Delay and confusion on the eve of war

WIDE RANGE OF IMPERIAL ACTION.

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can only be prevented by the issue of orders from a central authority.

Similar considerations apply also to legislation and taxation. There is not a law passed by any provin

cial legislature which the council of the GovernorGeneral for making laws could not pass. But its legislative action is reserved for those matters which require to be dealt with at the centre of the empire. Laws affecting the finances, or those which apply to every province in India, like the procedure codes or jail acts, and in some cases laws which involve new principles of an experimental character, like the Dekhan relief act, are passed by the imperial legislature, which also legislates for provinces having no lawmaking councils of their own. Since the whole machinery of government depends upon the proceeds of taxation, the supreme government takes charge of the ways and means. It provides the legal powers for taxing the empire, and it assigns to the several provinces their share of the proceeds. It prepares the budget and feels the pulse of the accounts from month to month, so as to contract expenditure if need be, and thus ensure the solvency of the empire. No debt can be incurred by any local or provincial authority without its sanction, and the difficult subject of currency is dealt with by it. Imperial departments like the post office, the telegraph, and the railway, which carry on their operations in every part of India, are directly administered by it in the interests of public economy and safety. Finally, it acts for each province in all cases where action must be based upon information and statistics collected throughout the empire, in which case the local governments could not obtain from

district officers not subject to them the requisite data for themselves. Therefore the supreme government watches the course of trade, collects from stations inside and outside of India observations and returns of wind, tide, and rainfall, and fixes the terms upon which the mineral resources of the country are to be prospected or worked. In short, the business of India, like that of any large mercantile firm, is partly conducted at the head-quarters, and partly at the branches, and matters of principle, or those which concern all the branches, are decided by the central authority.

61. Provincial Contracts. In the list of imperial duties given above there is one headed " general taxation," upon which it is necessary to make some remarks. If it were left to the thirteen provinces to supply themselves with funds by imposing such taxes as they thought fit, there would inevitably be inequality and ground for complaint. The supreme governinent therefore settles what taxes shall be imposed, and it divides amongst the provinces the funds so collected, reserving for itself the means for discharging its own duties. Before Lord Mayo entered on his term of office as viceroy, the local governments annually received such provision for the purpose of their administration as the government of India chose to allot, and if they wanted additional funds they asked for them. Whether they got what they wanted or not, depended upon the state of the finances and the claims or good fortune of other applicants. The local governments collected the taxes and revenues for the supreme government, and had no personal interest in expanding them.

So long as their own demands were satisfied