Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/68

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
8
Mr. Adam’s letter to Lord W. Bentinck, on Vernacular Education.

Auditor’s Office the amount of Dr. Buchanan’s allowances, and I have learned that a sum of 440 Sicca Rupees was allowed him for establishment alone. This for me is unnecessarily large, and I have reduced it to the following scale:—

One Maulavi . . . Sa. Rupees 60
One learned Brahmun . . . Sa. Rupees 50
One Writer or Copyist . . . Sa. Rupees 40
One Duftry at 8, Stationery 32 . . . Sa. Rupees 40
Two Hurkarus, at 6 . . . Sa. Rupees 12
Two Burkundazes, at 8 . . . Sa. Rupees 16
. . . Total Sa. Rupees 218

I have not ascertained what were Dr. Buchanan’s travelling expenses, but it is probable that they were included in his personal allowance, which was Sicca Rupees 1,500 per month. Estimating my travelling expenses separately, and including under that item boat hire, palkee and palkee-bearers, tent and khalasees, extra pay to personal servants, and small presents for the encouragement of deserving teachers and students, I do not suppose that the whole can be less than 200 Rupees per month. I should apprehend that my travelling expenses during eight or nine months of the year will rather exceed than fall short of that sum; but on the other hand, although I shall be frequently, I shall not be always, on the move, and the saving at one time will balance the deficit at another. In regard both to establishment and travelling expenses, I avow that I write in considerable uncertainty of what is really necessary for the efficient performance of the service, and it is quite as probable that in some respects I may have over-rated as in others that I have under-rated the expense; but I trust your Lordship will be satisfied that, upon the whole, I have kept within moderate limits. According to this estimate the total monthly expense, consisting of personal allowance, establishment, and travelling expenses, will be Sicca Rupees 1,118 per month. I submit the whole to the correction which your Lordship’s better information may supply, and have the