Page:A Nation in Making.djvu/358

Chancellor of the Exchequer? There are the permanent officials of the Corporation, who will furnish Mr. Mullick with all the details that he need know.' What is wanted in the head of a great depart- ment like the Corporation is a broad outlook, the capacity to for- mulate policies and to master details, so as to guide and instruct the permanent officials. These views commended themselves to His Excellency the Governor, whose entire approval I had in making this appointment.

At first the appointment was an officiating one, and the sanction of the Government of India was all that was needed. But after a few months Mr. Payne, the permanent incumbent of the office, definitely resigned, and his successor had to be appointed. And here it was not all plain sailing. The Chairmanship of the Corpora- tion was one of the appointments reserved for the Indian Civil Service, and I had to move the Government of India and the Secre- tary of State to obtain their sanction to its being withdrawn from the reserved list. I had no difficulty in obtaining it. As a matter of fact, the appointment had in any case to be removed from the reserved list, as under the new Municipal Act it has been broken up into two separate appointments, both clected by the Corporation.

Mr. Mullick's conspicuous success as Chairman undoubtedly facilitated his confirmation in his office. The Chairmanship of the Corporation is one of the most important administrative offices in the province, and Mr. Mullick has vindicated the capacity of our people for the higher executive responsibilities. I received the thanks of the General Committee of the Corporation, and, indeed, the appointment evoked general approbation, and, in a more or less subdued form, of even the Extremist Press. They recognized my courage and were willing to admit that it was a departure. But it was only a temporary aberration from their settled attitude of uniform disapproval. Soon the fit was over, and they relapsed into their old ways, seeing nothing good in me or my administration, or in the Government.

Mr. Mullick was the subject of universal idolization. Parties and entertainments were got up in his honour—here, there and every- where. All of a sudden the discovery was made by an apparently somnolent public that there was living among them, almost un- known to them and in obscurity, a highly meritorious citizen whose worth they had not appreciated, or to whom they had not rendered sufficient homage. A prophet is not honoured in his own country; but even this time-honoured saying, sanctified by immemorial