The civil engineers are in a great rage with the
Government of India for issuing an order warning the profession that although it is the practice at home to take commissions from contractors and others, such conduct will in India be punished. The Council of the profession has remonstrated strongly against this slur on its lionour, and has denounced the practice condemned as a fraud. That is very proper, and no doubt the Government of India is a little too favourable to military engineers, who can be punished summarily if they misbehave, but still the civil engineers are very unfortunately placed. A man on £1,000 a year has to superintend a contractor who is making ten times the sum, and who openly or tacitly offers a partnership. The temptation is severe to all but the most honest, and every guarantee against it should be welcome. We doubt if any is so strong as the organization of engineers into a service which, being employed and paid for life, is under less temptation to make hay while the sun shines, and which. exercises a silent espionage over the honour of its members. Why this ser- vice should be military we do not see, except that we can pay sol- diers in things cheaper than money ; but then neither do we see why a civil engineer should be so jealous of a brother professional because he is also a soldier. Do doctors hate Army surgeons?
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