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His Highness the Nizam has not returned from the Districts as yet. No doubt he is pleased with everything that he sees, or rather is made to see there and entertains a high opinion of the administrative capacities of those who are busy pleasuring' him in all manner of ways. But he little knows—and none but those on the spot can say—what misery and woe underlie the pleasant aspect that everything is made to put on by the magic of power. Not to speak of the oppression that grinds the people from year's end to year's end, the nurseries brought upon them by the presence of Royalty are many and heart-rending. Fancy the only tank in a village being guarded by sepoys for the benefit of His Highness and his entourage and the villagers being compelled to go long distances to fetch water for their own use or die of thirst. Fancy busy husbandman being taken away by force out of homes to slave in the royal camp almost for nothing or their being dispossessed of their cattle or their scanty provision in the name of the Nizam. And you have an idea as to what a royal visit means to the hungry ryot. His highness the Nizam's, last excursion into the districts-about 2 years ago-resulted in the depopulation of 3 villages about Hanumkonda. And how many villages have suffered and are suffering now in a similar manner it is not possible to say just now. I do not wish to be misunderstood. My object in writing thus is not to raise a disloyal hue and cry against His Highness' going into any part of his wide Dominions, but to condemn the ways in which officials seek to secure his comforts.
The "Deccan Times" has recently had two very sensible articles—one on the City Robbery Case, now pending before a Bombay Magistrate, and the other on the subject of pensions to the Nizam's officials. The resolution issued by the Home Secretary for the appointment of a commission to inquire into the Robbery Case—a case which but for a chance might never have seen the light of day and which is not likely to be transferred to the Nizam's Government, seeing that the complainant has little
