In concluding this chapter, and my remarks on planting, I have only to observe that, if a planter chooses to take an interest in everything that is going on around him, and learns to make himself at home in the country, he will find the life both interesting and agreeable.  In former times there was, no doubt, a sense of remoteness in the situation, but that, as we have seen, has been considerably removed by the railway extensions of recent years; and when the proposed lines, to which I have alluded in my introductory chapter, are carried out, planters, during the unimportant seasons of the year, may reside either at Bangalore or on the Nilgiri hills (the climate of the latter, taking it all the year round, is the finest in the world), and yet be in full touch with their affairs.

Finally, I may observe that in Mysore we have the great advantage of being out of reach of the faddists of the House of Commons, who, for the sake of their votes, have to be humoured, whether the interests of India suffer or not.  There is no chance, for instance, of the opium faddists thrusting a Commission on the Mysoreans, and then making them pay for part of the expenses of the inquiry.  The progress of India may be checked by the ignorant or unprincipled action of a party in the House of Commons (and certainly will be checked if the opium faddists are allowed to have their way), but Mysore is free from the only danger that threatens India—­the sacrifice of its interests in order to serve party ends in the House of Commons.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE INDIAN SILVER QUESTION.

Since the preceding chapters were written a great and most momentous step has been taken by the Indian Government.  On the 26th of June, 1893, the Finance Minister in India announced that a gold standard was to be established, and that the mints were to be closed to the free coinage of silver.  This measure, which so profoundly affects the prospects of the producers and manufacturers of India, I am compelled to notice.  To do so, however, in an exhaustive manner would be quite beyond the scope of this book, and I shall confine my remarks as much as possible to the points of the subject which bear upon the welfare of those who produce or manufacture anything in India.  The reports[61] and papers enumerated at the foot of the page supply me with a large amount of information and opinion, but I must warn those interested in the subject that a complete view of the whole situation, as far as India is concerned, cannot be obtained from them.  For some, and in my opinion the most important, points connected with the question, have either not been alluded to at all, or quite inadequately investigated.  These defects I hope in some degree to be able to supply from my long experience of the effects of the expenditure of capital in developing the resources of India—­and I say in some degree, because I feel sure that a much fuller investigation is required