نشرة دورية رقم ٥١٠٥ لسنة ١٨٥٥ من هنري أندرسون، سكرتير الحكومة في بومباي، إلى المقيم البريطاني في الخليج العربي [ظ‎‎١‎٩‎٢] (٤/٢)

I* 2 ]
Extract Paragraph of a Despatch from the 28//.
October 1840.
No. 7.
3 V In this letter a proposition is submitted for o«r approval, that all Judicial fines should
be appropriated to the improvement of the distriet in which th.y are le ^ f ^ 1"°
perceive any propriety in proportioning public imprevements to the amount of fines impos
ed by Courts of Justice ; and the'rule might possibly a? ^ m0 "^/^/"ifvied in
mode of punishment. To this we are the more averse, from see.ng.that the fines levtet
the year 1838 amounted to no less than Rs. 58,000.
r
No. 6 of 1844.
Judicial Department.
Our Governor in Council at Bombay.
Para. 1. In your letter in the Revenue Departn^ent, dated 31st January (No. 6) 1844,
you refer for our decision a question at issue between you and the Government of India,
respecting the continuance of the Funds formed in Public Offices under your Presidency
from fines and deductions from the pay of establishments, and appropriated as gratuities ior
good conduct at the discretion of Heads of Offices.
2. We think the practice liable to the objection suggested by the Government of India,
that payments from the Funds are made without means of securing uniformity, or guard-
in- aaainst caprice. But we consider the imposition of fines, for the purpose of forming such
Funds, much more seriously objectionable than the discretionary authority for awarding
gratuities. The salaries of our public establishments, from a necessary regard to economy,
are upon the lowest scale on which the requisite services are procurable. The consequence,
therefore, of imposing a fine upon any servant, is to subject him to pecuniary embarrass
ment, and, in situations of trust, to take away a guarantee for the faithful discharge of his
duty,'or at leasts lay him open to the temptation of betraying it. Nor, considering the
variety found in the temper of different men's minds, and even in the same man's mood at
different times, do we think that every person at the head of an establishment can with
propriety be entrusted with the arbitrary power of inflicting a heavy punishment, which
must always be attended-with hardship, and, in the case of the higher class of servants, with
some degree of disgrace. Absence from duty is generally .visited by a fixed rate, with some
loss of allowances, not liable to the same objections ; and want of zeal, diligence, or capacity
can be corrected by censure, or by the fear of ultimate removal by competent authority.
3. The considerations thus explained have the more influence on our minds, as we deem
it an object of great importance that our Native public servants, through whose intrumen-
tality so large a share of the administration of the several branches of civil government is
carried on, should be encouraged to entertain a feeling of self-respect, and should be raised
in the estimation of their official superiors as well as of the community.