case of special legislation for Parsis and Khojas, and that proposed for the benefit of the Hindus. The former was I conclude based on applications made at the outset by the communities concerned; as regards the Hindus they are split into so many castes that no combined action, within a given time can be expected. The way in which I propose to overcome this drawback is that the legislature may at present pass an Act on the basis of Act XXVI of 1850, " an act to enable improvements to be made in Towns."......

The special Act need only be a brief one. It should prescribe the minimum marriageable age and lay down working details. The recently appointed Local Boards and Municipalities can be well utilized in this connection..

It will be premature to say much on the question of age at present....... ........... What I would do is to prescribe three classes, leaving it to the people to apply to be placed in any one they may be prepared for. The third or the last class

*I say 10, as that is should be that in which the minimum age most consonant with for the marriage of children of both sexes the prevalent ideas on should be 10 years*. In the second class the subject. the age of the girl should be 11, and that of the boy 14; in the first class the age of the girl should be 12, and that of the boy 16.

16. M. G. RANADE.-There are among the friends of reform those who think that the evils are gradually disappearing, and for their total abolition we must depend exclusively upon the growth of education, or upon a change in our public opinion, or upon a revival of our religious spirit, and that nothing can be done by direct State action. I am fully alive to the force of these considerations. I set most value upon the revival of the religious spirit among us, for till such a renovation of the heart is accomplished, men will never learn to be fully in accord with their best natures, and will not be inspired with the warmth which it is necessary to feel on such matters, for practical action to result in good. I set no less value upon the spread of education and the growth of public opinion. These

are necessary and indispensable factors, without which State action will always be futile. One reason why State action is now urgently called for, is that these agencies have been working for a considerable time past, and they have prepared the ground sufficiently to make State action intelligible and beneficial. These agencies are undoubtedly working for us, and they are likely to work greater results in the future, if they are concentrated, emphasized, and properly directed by corporate State action. The scattered forces will thus be brought into a single focus, and in their united strength will bring about the desired end earlier and with far less expenditure of national energy, with a very limited help, than without it......

The State is the nation itself, as represented by those who are its leaders in thought and action............Social reform, so far as it is confined to the fixing of minimum limits of age, when men and women can do acts for which they are held responsible, implies a social compact or agreement among the leaders of society, and this circumstance has been held to justify the State in fixing the age of civil majority, as also the responsible age for certain classes of offences.

But it is asserted that we have no right to force our views upon an unwilling majority ...... ......The thinking and responsible portion of the community press this reform, on the same grounds that justify the enactment of all coercive law,. civil or criminal. The majority are not unwilling, they are inert, and their inertia encourages the evil doers to break the rule with impurity. If this argument be valid, it would put an end to to many useful practical reforms set on foot in our administrative machinery. A large number of people do not like sanitation or vaccination, and they do not like to be taxed for schools and roads, and yet we do not comply with their wishes. Even in the most free countries, the final power of choice and action does not rest with the numerical majority but the majority only determines the choice of those individuals to whose guidance it will submit. These few leaders can

never have force with them. They must appeal to higher principles of justice, of expediency and right, and if these principles warrant a certain course of action, they must act with their best lights.

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But it has been said all this may be true in free countries where people have choice of their rulers, and can have no application to a country subject to foreign rule as India is This argument however cuts both ways, for I think if the fact of foreign rule is to shut us out from all corporate action, we may at once cease all our activities. Where the interest of foreigners clashes with ours, this caution may be necessary and justifiable, but in this case the interests do not clash, and I maintain that the distinction of foreign and native rule has no place............To look upon the ruling body as a separate entity with hostile interests, and to shun their good services, is as foolish as it would be for a man with a deceased heart to shun the doctor, be cause be was not of kin and kith with the patient. In these matters the State in its executive and legislative capacities, is only the minister to give formal expression and legal validity to what the best, the wisest, and the purest minded men are inclined to support. I grant that the Legislative Councils as at present constituted, can not grapple effectively with these questions. A more liberal representation of native interest is desirable, and in a matter like this the State will be but too willing to convene an assembly of our notables, and listen to their representations in the way it has already done for Parsis, and proposes to do for the Khojas. A commission of inquiry, and a conference held under State auspices would be preliminary steps, and we should agitate for them, but it will not do for us to fold our hands, and say that, as long as we are under foreign rule, no reform of our social arrangements shall be undertaken. India cannot hope to be the master of its own destinies for centuries to come, and till then I do not see that it is either manly or wise to sit still and let things take their course..

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If our society had a self-regulating power in any of its relations I could have certainly understood the hesitation felt in respect of State action....... .The religious texts which are supposed to regulate our life are immovably fixed, and we cannot adopt them, or change them, nor better them to suit changing conditions. Our civilization has been smothered by this bondage to past ideas. The only way in which our emancipation can take place, is to withdraw one by one these fetters of so called religious injunctions, and turn them into civil restraints which are more amenable to change and adaptation. This is the weakest point of our social system, and I do not see how we can get rid of it, if we are to abjure all State help in such purely civil matters as fixing the age when a man or woman may be bound in the tie of marriage. The jurisprudence of every other nation, ancient or modern, has always regulated these limits of age, and we must do likewise, if we wish to secure progress in these matters. It is not in fact putting on new chains, but removing old ones, or rather substituting flexible for inflexible bonds, that we seek in advocating interference in the regulation of age limits.

It may be fairly contended that State action can lead to no great results. This is however not a drawback against, but a recommendation for change No sudden elevation of age is desirable or possible. We have a slow progress to make in this matter,if our progress is to be sure. It is only necessary to put the stamp of general approval upon the best of the existing usages and customs. Such an approval will strengthen public opinion, and will secure the growth of education, otherwise so heavily handicapped by the existing customs. We shall also promote true religion, and, above all, we shall really make no innovation, but return to the best traditions of our race, and rehabilitate the mostvenerated texts. For the present it has been ascertained that 10 to 12 for females and 16 to 18 for males is a common age limit, and is not opposed to the Shastras, and is sufficiently in advance of existing usage to justify its adoption as a general law, subject to exceptions in particular castes and localities.

I would not in the first instance go further for the present. I would allow time to develop the action of the other forces at work, before any further change is to be thought of. No practical incovenience will follow from the general enforcement of these moderate limits.

As regards the practical method of proceeding, I would humbly suggest that a commission should be appointed to enquire into local usages, to receive evidence, and to formulate recommendations. I would not make the age limits compulsory in the sense of annulling marriages contracted before the had been reached. I would only leave the parties conage cerned freedom to question their binding character when they come of age, unless they have in the meanwhile consummated the marriage. This freedom has been allowed by law in the Parsi Marriage Act. I would appoint non-official gentlemen of position, Municipal and Local Board Commissioners, Honorary Magistrates and Inamdars &c., as authorities with power to certify as to age, and would lay a small penalty for celebrating marriages without such certificates I would make over the fines to the heads of the castes for their caste purposes, or to Local Boards and Municipalities, whose members, elected by the people, may safely be honoured by the trust of the power of certifying to the age qualification. This arrangement would serve as a self-acting check.........................................Our people are naturally so law-abiding, that, few would run the risk of celebrating marriages without license. Some difficulty will at first be felt in ascertaining the ages, but this difficulty will not be great as the experience of similar regulations elsewhere is favourable, and it will gradually disappear when men become used to it. Simultaneously with this, the educational authorities may work in their own fields, and after a reasonable notice, confine their honours and distinctions to those, who in addition to their other qualifications, voluntarily submit to the qualification of single life during their college or school course. Such a restraint would be in keeping with the Brahmachari or student's tradition, and people will soon get used to it............