A Revised and Enlarged Account of the Bobbili Zemindari/Chapter 11/1900
1900
H. E. the Governor re-nominated the Rajah in April for the third time as a Member of the Legislative Council.
In the beginning of May some disturbances of the hill tribes occurred near Pachipenta, in connection with which the Rajah offered his services to the Government in a letter of which the following is a copy:—
BOBBILI,
5th May, 1900.
"From,
- THE RAJAH OF BOBBILI, k.c.i.e.,
To
- W. O. HORNE, Esq.,
- Collector and Agent
- to the Governor of Madras.
- Collector and Agent
- W. O. HORNE, Esq.,
"Sir,—I have the honour to inform you that I hear you have come to Salur in connection with the gathering of the hill-tribes who killed two of the Police Constables the other day. It is also said that the Reserve Police at Vizagapatam is shortly expected there. As I am quite close to the place, I beg to offer my services to the Government. I do not mean that my sepoys and Velama people are of much use to you, but I beg you will kindly give me a chance to show my loyalty to the Government as was done to my forefathers on former occasions. If you also want some sowars to convey messages quickly from the scene of the disturbances to the telegraphic place, Salur, or some elephants to carry loads on the hill tracts, I am quite ready to send them to you.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) V. S. RANGA ROW, k.c.i.e.,
Reply given by th Collector to the Rajah's letter:—
No. 1233.
Vizagapatam,
District Magistrate's Office,
9th May, 1900.
Despatched 11th May.
"From
W. O. HORNE, Esq.,
District Magistrate,
Vizagapatam,
To
The Honourable
The RAJAH OF BOBBILI, k.c.i.e.
"Rajah,
I have the honour to acknowledge with cordial thanks the receipt of your letter of the 5th instant, and to thank you for the timely offer therein contained. I have already informed you demi-officially that if occasion should arise I would have the greatest pleasure in availing myself of your assistance, which I shall accept in the same spirit as that in which it was offered. Happily I now believe that there will be no occasion to call upon you. I shall have much pleasure in submitting to Government copies of this correspondence.
- I have the honour to be,
- Rajah,
- Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) H. A. B. VERNON,
for "District Magistrate"
| D. Dis. 1501. | Vizagapatam, |
W. O. HORNE, Esq.,
Collector and District Magistrate,
To
"Maha-Rajah,
In continuation of my letter No. D. Dis. 1233, dated 9th May, 1900, I have the honour to inform you that I am directed to convey to you the thanks of Government for your loyal offer of assistance, which I have much pleasure in doing.
I have the honour to be,
Maha-Rajah,
Your most obedient servant,
(Signed) R. SURYA RAO,
for "Collector and Magistrate."
In this year the Maha-Rajah contributed Rs.5,000 to the Indian Famine Charitable Relief Fund.
He built a pakka quadrangular building for the Samasthanam Poor House, which was for the first time used by the poor on Her Majesty's Birthday.
In Her Majesty's Birthday Honours Gazette His Excellency the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, was pleased to confer on the Maha-Rajah the title of Maha-Rajah as a personal distinction.
In connection with this event, the residents of the Capital and the Samasthanam presented a congratulatory address to the Maha-Rajah at the Victoria Town Hall, and by public subscriptions have also laid a park called Maha-Rajah Park in commemoration of the memorable occasion.
In replying to their address, the Maha-Rajah said as follows:— "Ladies, Gentlemen, and Residents of Bobbili Town and Samasthanam,—I thank you most sincerely for the address you have so kindly just now presented to me. The design of the casket is excellent, and it is really a souvenir of the occasion. I am also very glad to observe that you quoted in the address the very words kindly expressed by the last and present Governors of our Presidency, though you have flattered me to some extent. You said you purposely abstained from making any request on this occasion, fully believing, I suppose, that I would do something in memory of this event. When I was thinking over what it would be a proper thing to undertake, my wife, the Maha-Rani, requested me to associate her name with any institution I would propose to give you. To meet the double purpose I cannot undertake any other one than to provide you with the Maha-Rani Caste Girls' School. Gentlemen, you are all aware there are Caste Girls' Schools, even maintained by the Government, in many places where there are Mission Girls' Schools. Therefore the future one will not be in any way rival to the existing Mission Girls' School here.
"You, Gentlemen, Residents of the Town and Samasthanam of Bobbili, have already, with great kindness and affection towards me, been forming a Public Park after my name by public subscriptions. The roads, paths and compound walls of the Park are fast approaching their completion. Now, Gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to thank you very much for laying a Public Park in memory of the present occasion. I hope it will be a splendid place for you all to enjoy yourselves in in the evenings after the day's labour.
"I am sure that you all will be more pleased to hear what I am going to say now. It may be somewhat praising myself, but unless I should tell you, it cannot be known to you at all. In my youth, i.e., when I was about 13 years of age, I set before myself five ideals, or rather ambitious wishes, which I hoped in the course of my life to realise. (1) To pay my most loyal and humble respects to Her Gracious Majesty the Queen-Empress. (2) To become a Knight. (3) To become a Member of the Legislative Council. (4) To become a Maha-Rajah. (5) The fifth one, quite a Providential one, and one that, when it will be fully realized, will be known to you. As regards the titles, I must tell you my ideals were simply based on the last words of my worthy grandfather on his death-bed to my adoptive father who did not live long enough to realise them. I dare say you are all aware that it is the duty of every person to carry out the good wishes of his forefathers, especially in a family like mine.
"Allow me once more to thank you most heartily for the address you have so kindly presented to me." In the month of December the Maharajah paid his respects to Lord Curzon, the Viceroy, at Madras, and endowed a bed in the Caste and Gosha Hospital, Madras, in the name of Lady Havelock. He was present at the assumption of the Governorship by Lord Ampthill, and to bid farewell to Sir Arthur Havelock when he left Madras.