Lord Curzon clearly does not believe the elective principle to
be applicable to India. A reform was proposed in the muni- cipal government of Calcutta which the progressive party re- sisted, as not being liberal enough, but the Viceroy has decided on a scheme which is more conservative still. He has directed the Government of Bengal to reduce the number of the Council from seventy-five to fifty, of whom half are to be nominees appointed either by the Government or the commercial bodies. This body, again, will elect eight members of the Executive Committee, the remaining four being nominees. The plan works fairly well in Bombay, but in Calcutta we should rather have seen a paid Commission of five with extensive sanitary powers. Indian cities are best governed by strictly controlled and responsible public servants who are thoroughly educated, who have no axes to grind, and who really intend that the cities should be clean. No native municipality, whatever its other merits, intends that, or intending it, has the nerve to realise its intention.
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