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in a similar direction had been made a few months earlier by the appointment of Dr. U. N. Brahmachari and Dr. K. K. Chatterjee as additional physician and surgeon, respectively, to the Medical College Hospitals. This was the first time in the history of the Medical College that Indian medical officers in the grade of Assis- tant Surgeons were appointed to these posts. In referring to these facts, a leading English newspaper observed at the time:

'In any case, it is evident that Sir Surendranath Banerjea means to do his utmost to give effect to the ideal of India for the Indians.'

That must be the ideal of every true citizen of the Empire. The Imperial civic spirit must have its roots in local patriotism. The hearth and the home, the province and the country, are the centres of those patriotic affections which radiate forth and include in their comprehensive sweep the larger and wider interests of the Empire. And what is the Empire, but the Commonwealth of a congeries of self-governing nations, each protecting and safeguarding its special interests, with justice to all, and with an eye to the solidarity of the Imperial system? That is the ereed of the party to which I belong. It ensures domestic freedom and local autonomy, combined with Imperial unity, the surest guarantee for peace at home and of prosperity abroad.

Before I leave this subject, I desire to call attention to an impor- tant constitutional question which I raised in connexion with the appointment of Indian Medical Service officers in Bengal. Hitherto these appointments, though paid for by the Government of Bengal, used to be made by the Government of India. I pointed out that the procedure involved an infraction of my constitutional position. I was responsible to the Legislative Council for the administration of the transferred departments under my charge, and the personnel of those departments was an important factor in their administra- tion, for which I could not be held responsible unless mine was the determining voice. I claimed that these appointments should be made by me, subject to the advice of the Government of India, information being given to that Government in every case. The claim has been practically admitted, and the justice of my conten- tion upheld.

As Minister, I claim to have given an impetus to the establish- ment of medical schools in Bengal. Of Arts colleges for higher education, we have enough and perhaps more than enough. I