The Other Tests Applied.
I need not delay over the second, third, and fourth tests, for the
answers _sautent aux yeux_.
_The second test, Local Self-Government:_ Under Lord Mayo (1869-72) some
attempts were made at decentralisation, called by Keene "Home Rule" (!),
and his policy was followed on non-financial lines as well by Lord
Ripon, who tried to infuse into what Keene calls "the germs of Home
Rule" "the breath of life." Now, in 1917, an experimental and limited
measure of local Home Rule is to be tried in Bengal. Though the Report
of the Decentralisation Committee was published in 1909, we have not yet
arrived at the universal election of non-official Chairmen. Decidedly
inefficient is the Bureaucracy under test 2.
_The third test, Voice in the Councils:_ The part played by Indian
elected members in the Legislative Council, Madras, was lately described
by a member as "a farce." The Supreme Legislative Council was called by
one of its members "a glorified Debating Society." A table of
resolutions proposed by Indian elected members, and passed or lost, was
lately drawn up, and justified the caustic epithets.
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