Arakan Library - Araka Past Present Future

Arakan: - One Who Preserves and Takes Care of Their Own Nationality.

Publication by Arakan Action Association (AAA.)

Arakan Past – Present – Future

BY JOHN OGILVY HAY, J.P.

Arakan Library was founded by a group of Arakan Action Association (AAA) in exile in Thailand from Burma in 2007 doing to voice for the knowledge, the people democratic and human rights.

Arakan Action Association (AAA)

Chotana Road , Chaing Mai ( 50301 ), Thailand.

Email : arakanactionassociation@walla.com , +66—089-637-4383, +66—053-409-577

The system adopted may thus be brielly summarized : -

The public resident so near the line as presumably to benefit by its construction was invited to subscribe to the undertaking. The shares were fixed at Rs. 100 each. On these interest at 4 per cent was guaranteed by Government, being, in fact, first charge on earnings, thus placing the shares from the very beginning on the same footing as any other Government 4 percent loan.

This interest being a fixed charge is payable at fixed dates to the shareholders. When the accounts for the financial year are made up, which may be about August, any surplus after paying all charges of working, maintenance, and the guaranteed 4 per cent interest, is ratably allotted per share, whether held by private individuals or by Government, if it be a part stock holder.

As the Muttra-Hathras line has only been open for about on and three-fourths of a year, comparison in exact figures cannot be made between two whole financial years, but we can compare the first forty weeks of working with the corresponding form weeks of the following year. It is found that passenger traffic has increased by nearly 20 per cent; the goods traffic by nearly 40 per cent; the average receipts by nearly 24½ per cent; and that, in spite of unexpected drawbacks, this year (being only the second year of working) will give a handsome surplus over and above all the charges before referred to.

This very satisfactory result is largely to be attributed to the directorate, which consists partly of official nominations, collectors, and some tahsildars of the districts through which the rail way runs, and partly of native gentlemen or traders selected from the body of the shareholders. Whether the latter should be selected by Government or by election of the shareholder themselves is not yet determined with reference to future projects; it would probably depend on the amount subscribed by the public, and the interest it may be considered to have in the undertaking.

This system has been found to work remarkably well. The knowledge of details which the native gentlemen and trader bring to bear on the deliberations of the Board of Direction has proved so great an aid to the executive officers of the line and to the Government, that Sir George Couper will adhere to and endeavour to extend the principle of including in the Provincia Railway directorates a suitable proportion of members selected from the body of the shareholders.

Among other possible lines of communication on which light railways might be advantageously employed, his Honour’s attention has been drawn to line from Rae Bareli into Lucknow from Lucknow to Sitapur, from Sitapur on to Kheri, and perhaps ultimately from Kheri north ward so as to tap the rich country about Sera Mau, Muradpur, and Puranpur in the Bareilly district.

I am to request you to make such inquiry and to collect such information as may assist the Lieutenant – Governor in forming a definite opinion; to note what the amount of traffic is along the suggested lines, and to cause meetings to be held in the several districts of capitalists, traders, and landholders; to explain to them what is suggested, the proposed method of working, and the success that has attended such working on the avowedly “experimental” provincial line; to ascertain the amount of private subscriptions that may be expected, and then to communicate such facts as are gathered, together with your own opinion, to his Honour in the Public Works Department.

As a guide to the probable cost of such railways as are contemplated I may mention that £4000 per mile, including rolling stock fittings and all, will be ample, except where an unusually large river – such as the Cumti – may have to be crossed. The Muttra Hathras line has cost much less per mile than the sum named. There is one more point to which I am desired to refer.

The native press, and even the European one, has asserted that shares have been forced upon unwilling subscribers, and it is not improbable that such statements find credence in the bazaars. Sir Georage Couper wishes it to be distinctly made known that he will discountenance any pressure whatever. He wishes it to be understood that, if the inhabitants believe the railway would benefit them, if they are willing to provide the capital, or a substantial part of it, on the terms mentioned, and if they take so much interest in the undertaking as to accept a share in its administration, the local government will willingly help them to provide railway communication; but if they be unwilling or indifferent, the project will certainly not be for the present entertained. Should you desire to have any further particulars as to the works, or the working of the existing Provincial Railway, please communicate with the engineer-in-chief, Provincial Railways, Allahabad, who has been instructed to give you any information or assistance he can. – Pioneer.

Railways The sine qua non for the Development of a Country, and the only Real Safeguard against the Ravages of Famine.

‘Arakan News,’ 6^th October 1877.

“Once more unto the breach, my friend, once more!”

“Warwick is hoarse with calling thee to arms.”

“And he that might the vantage best have took

Found out the remedy.”

Last week we drew attention to the subject of light railways as being encouraged by Sir George Couper, Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces. We would now ask attention to an article from the ‘Spectator’ as to the want of light railways in Madras for the distribution of food during the present famine, and the necessity of their construction to guard against a similar calamity in the future. Everywhere they are thinking of railways but in this sleepy hollow, Government-forsaken country. Our province-or rather, as we have been corrected, and must speak more officially, our division – is not afflicted with famine, but it nevertheless requires roads and railways. What, we would ask, are our rulers – Mr Thompson, our Chief Commissioner, and Colonel Sladen, our Commissioner – about, that some similar scheme is not devised for the development of this so long-neglected country? Why don’t they bestir themselves? We call upon them – Echo answers. How long? Nevertheless we say again, we call upon them to be up and doing. We must speak plainly, and will – to strengthen his hand and encourage him to action – say, we are quite confident the latter officer, our Commissioner, sees the necessity as much as we do. Why then, does he not openly declare his views? He may possibly get from his Chief the same answer as he has given to another representation on this subject, that while he has on hand in Pegu “such works as the extension of the Irrawaddy State Railway to the frontier, and the construction of a line from Rangoon to Tonghoo, he could not undertake, in the present condition of the finances, to press upon the Government of India the expenditure (Strangely enough the Government of India gives this same unsatisfactory excuse at the very time this article is being reproduced in 1892.) which your proposal would involve;” but let him be nothing daunted –

“Screw your courage to the sticking – place,

And we’ll not fail.”

The division is in his hands for Government, and it is his bounden duty, coute que coute, to do and say what he considers for its advancement. He must speak out his mind plainly, and tell authorities in high places of the injustice they are doing to his division, and how such thwarts his Endeavour’s for its benefit by denying it its dues. This is not the day for soft talk and mincing matters. See what such has brought on the Lighthouse establishment, and such will bring grief to other departments where firmness and persistent endeavors are not used to do that which is right. The ‘Daily Review,’ in an article we quote headed 100 LAKHS A – YEAR, shows that to be the surplus drawn by Government for years from the province of British Burmah. Of this, Arakan gives a fifth or twenty lakhs; and what has it got for this? – just nothing! We revert to the old, old story – we have not got thirty miles of road in a territory containing 311,100 acres of land cultivated, and 568,760 uncultirated but culturable. It is no use asking our rulers if this state of matters should not bring on them the blush of shame –

“O shame ! where is thy blush?”

As they unblushingly say that much has been done to develop the resources of the country, but in what direction deponent sayeth not. We are thankful we do not, as we have said, require roads to protects us or assist us in times of famine. We want roads to open up the country, be bring us in settles, as they most assuredly would do, and to bring under cultivation our waste but rich lands for the benefit of the Government – whose short-sighted policy, Lowever, does not see it – by increasing the revenue by other means than screwing the last life-drop out of the scant population now in the country. The Chief Commissioner seems to be posed at the want of funds. He need not look for them out of provincial allotments; if he waits for the construction of the roads and railways required from these, he will have to wait a while, and are that time comes we trust he will have retired land to enjoy his otium on his official laurels. ( Ay, indeed, he has not only retired from office, but has gone to his long home, and nothing yet done! – 1892.) No, let our Chief now add to his laurels, and win the character of an enlightened far-seeing ruler, by taking such action as shall unfailingly bring this Arakan out of its present stagnant slough of despond, transforming it into a country teeming with an industrious thriving population, and yielding to Government a much desired and abundant revenue. This can only be done by the Iron Horse. The speedy development of Arakan is now in the Chief Commissioner’s hands. Writing of the Madras famine, and urging the construction of light railways, the ‘Spectator’ says, “ the circumstances never were so advantageous. India is borrowing at 4 per cent. (Now at 3.) Parliament, appalled as it will yet be by this present famine, which will exceed in real magnitude any calamity of our time, will be just in the mood for a large scheme.” Why should not advantage be taken of this mood for the advancement of Arakan? Parliament will not be slow to see the increasing revenue certain to accrue to the Treasury by the development of a rich country to meet the expense of the present and maybe future famines, and there will be no difficulty about the money. Apply the following couplet to the affairs of Arakan –

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.”

Now is our vantage-time – let us at once profit by it, and so go on to ultimate success.

Railways the great want to meet the Famine, and as a future Safeguard.

The Government of India appears to be stretching every nerve to save the people, but the destruction will be awful. The ‘Times,’ which animadverts on the conduct of Government in not buying grain, misses the true point, which is not deficiency in supply, but a total impossibility of distributing it. There are no distributing railways, though is one main line; there are not sufficient cattle, and men cannot haul for hundreds of miles without eating more than they can pull. There is nothing for it but to march the people to the neighbourhood of the great lines, and risk the diseases which follow. Even then it is more than doubtful if food can be urged forward quickly enough. Imagine, for that is the truth, all France without food, and only one railway, carrying at its utmost working power enough. Imagine, for that is the truth, all France without food, and only one railway, carrying at its utmost working power enough grain to keep Paris and Lyons healthy. The edible roots, the grass, the very thatch of the huts, all are gone, and after a hundred years of secure rule, we are paralysed by want of locomotive power. A telegram, which is, we trust, exaggerated, says the condition of Guzerat also is hopeless; that is, the thickest population in the richest native State of Western India must perish. One-third of all the misery in the south is directly traceable to the cynical idiots who abused Lord Salisbury, Sir Richard Temple, and the ‘Spectator’ for urging even extravagant measures of relief in Behar. They frightened the officials into a parsimony which has prevented reasonable measures of precaution. – Spcctator.

Ten Thousand Miles of Railways for Madras.

The prevention of famines in Southern India, though immensely difficult, is not so difficult as it looks – that is to say, it is possible, and possible without sacrificing every object of government to that of keeping the people alive. We do not believe, it is true, that Joseph’s plan in Egypt, which the ‘Times’ appears to favor, would succeed. That early Jewish Premier knew the famine was coming, and could provide for a definite need, at an expense which, if the famine had not come, would have rendered the Treasury bankrupt, but, as it was, made the State owner of all surplus wealth. Housing a two year’s supply of grain in the villages of Madras would be enormously expensive; and the regular sale of it in good years – which would be indispensable – would annihilate the last vestiges of private trade. Nor do we believe that the “ultimate remedy” – the irrigation of the whole country till Madras is as Lombardy – can as yet, while the country is so poor and so little civilized, be safely attempted. The expense would be too great for the resources of the State. Madras engineers and English jobbers are always eager for the experiment, and both of them, though from very different motives, promise unheard-of profits; but neither of them can show a new Indian canal ( a canal, that is, not assisted by old native works ) which produces a clear 7 per cent in cash dividend for its owners. The Madras Irrigation Company, which just now is availing itself of the famine to reopen its old case, confesses, even in the form of its plaints, that it is not sure of large dividends, for if it were, it could find the remaining money needed without a guarantee, or would be ready to transfer its guarantee from the State to capitalists, who would lend the money still wanted to complete the works on debentures. The India Office would consent to the reasonable and honourable arrangement without a word of remonstrance. But we do believe that the native form of irrigation the formation of vast tanks, lakes, and reservoirs of water, the method which made Tanjore a garden – could be pursued to a much greater extent without inordinate expense; that the villagers could be taught to sink wells, if the State would only find the brick-work; and that artesian wells, on the plan adopted by General Daumas in Algeria, could be sunk without any very ruinous outlay. The districts to be covered are very great; but an artesian well could be sunk in every hundred (talook) without ruining the State, and would reduce the losses from a famine-year at least one-half, by rendering it possible to keep the animals alive. The storage of water could be effected, if the India Office sincerely wished it, much more cheaply than the storage of grain, and without involving grants of money to a population not yet fitted, if they ever will be fitted, to endure a poor law.

All these plans might wisely be tried, and tried by the State, through the Cooper’s Hill Engineers, without delay, and without pledges, which the State may find it inconvenient to keep; but the true remedy lies elsewhere, not in the increase of production to an amount for which there is as yet no markets, but in a vast and sudden increase in the means of distribution. India throughout its extent, but especially in the south, has just throughout its extent, but especially in the south, has just arrived at the stage where roads are indispensable, yet roads of the old kind cannot be made without preposterous, and indeed, unendurable losses. If we could order the whole population to labour for half its time on State roads without pay, we might in ten years cover the Presidency with firm roads, which would yield no revenue, but which would gradually develop traffic, and would make communication in a year of famine comparatively easy. This is what Roman prefects would have done, and what a Russian Government of India would do; but the plan is opposed to every English notion of right and wrong, and would involve in execution almost as much misery to the millions as the famine does. We can only supply roads of a kind which will pay for themselves, and those roads must be in India, as in the Western States of America, railways – rail – ways built as lightly, as cheaply, and with as steep gradients as scientific knowledge will allow. There is not the slightest reason why they should be built to allow of high speeds. Ten miles an hour – the speed of an English gig – is sufficient to bring grain from the North – west to Travancore in four days – that is, quite as quickly as there is any necessity for bringing it, and quite ten times as quickly as it can now be carried. There is not the slightest need for a wide gauge, or for grand tunnels, or for brick bridges, or for any attention to aesthetics in the construction of the roads. All that is wanted is rough, safe, slow railways, to be built upon Government land, to be fitted with the thinnest and cheapest rails that will bear the traffic at all, and to be considered first and last not “engineering triumphs,” or “evidences of civilization,” or “outcomes of the Western brain,” but the convenient makeshifts of overpressed poor-law guardians. Such railways can be constructed, if contractors can be kept off them, for less than £5000 ( Colonel Fraser says these can be made for £4000 or less – the Muttra Hathras having cost less. – ED.A.N.) a mile, and if so constructed will indubitably either prevent famine, by allowing free traffic in grain, or enable the State in an exceptionally bad year easily to relieve it. India is, for the purposes of grain, and so many varying conditions of soil that a general famine is not to be expected. These probably never has been a year – certainly there never has been one under British rule-when the vast continent, as large, be it remembered, as all Europe west of the Vistula, did not produce grain enough to feed its people, and all that is needed to make hunger impossible are means of distribution and money to buy the food. About the money there is no serious difficulty. The people will accumulate gradually under their new tenure, imperfect as it is, and as they accumulate, Government can step forward, as the Government of France does, as universal muhajan, and lend them in difficult years the money they require to keep alive. Their jewels, their lands, when once secured them, and their future crops, are security enough – quite as good security, Government being absolute, as the Government of France obtains through its Monte de Piete. The single necessity is the distributing railway, and, as experience in Madras has proved, 10,000 miles of light railway could be built for fifty millions sterling – that is, for two millions a – year in interest, at 4 per cent. Supposing one-half this interest to be lost for ever, the expense of poor relief for Southern India – a million a-year – would not be unendurable, while the immense probabilities are that not one shilling would be sacrificed.