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present of law reports, the gift of the Bengal Government, worth several thousand rupees.

We were asked at one stage to show cause why the law classes should not be disaffiliated. Subsequently the attitude of the Syndi- cate was modified and the affiliation of the law classes was con- tinued on our complying with the requirements of the University. I was invited to a meeting of the Syndicate and was subjected to a rigorous cross-examination, which ended in a compromise accept- able to both parties, the Syndicate and the Ripon College authorities. In all these negotiations, in the change of temper that was manifest, the influence of the Rector (Sir Edward Baker) was throughout apparent.

The work of collecting subscriptions for the college building was one of no ordinary difficulty. To obtain money for a public purpose from the general body of the public, except when the feelings of the community have been deeply stirred, must always be a matter of considerable labour and trouble. In India the task is beset with peculiar difficulties. Our people are not rich. Those who are rich are not always willing or patriotic enough to pay. It is the same men who are every time called upon to subscribe. We have a limited circle from which to draw public subscriptions, and the yield is more or less unsatisfactory.

Sir Edward Baker having gone home on leave, I appealed to Sir William Duke, who was officiating for him, to help us with Government money and influence. He promised to assist, and very kindly came over to inspect the buildings. We had then made very little progress in paying off the contractors' bills. He said, 'Mr. Banerjea, you have been building upon faith'. I said, in reply, 'Your Honour, faith removes mountains'; and my faith was abundantly justified by the result. The estimates had originally been fixed at Rs. 1,14,000. They mounted up, as Sir Edward Baker had prophesied, to Rs. 1,44,000. Government contributed Rs. 60,000; and the balance I raised from the public and only a small sum from the college funds. I made an appeal to the ex-students of the Ripon College, some of whom had obtained their education free at the college. The response, however, was unsatisfactory and disappointing.

We have now cleared off the debt; we have added a fourth storey to the college building, and have laid by a reserve fund of over a lakh of rupees. The college, with the school department, is one of the largest educational institutions in the country, with