salutary laws. But like Sir Pherozeshah, he too was destined to play the role of a mere critic of the administration.
In spite of the limitations imposed upon his usefulness, Mr. Tilak worked in the Council with his usual ardour. Conscious though he was that all his criticism would very little affect the actual working of the administration, he wanted to put the whole Bureaucratic machine under his intellectual microscope. He was not content, therefore, with copies of the Financial Statement and of the Budget but called for the Advocate-General's Budget Notes. But the officials did not consider it worth their while to grant his request. Apparently they thought that the Budget which formed "a printed document of close upon 200 pages" and the financial statement which fitted "a pamphlet of fair dimensions and touched on every head, whether of revenue or expenditure," ought to satisfy Mr. Tilak.
The originality of his genius showed itself in the Council. Not satisfied like other speakers with merely comparing the year's (1895-96) Budget with the Revised Estimates of 1894-95 and the Actuals of 1893-94, he proceeded to consider it in a true scientific spirit by examining "how far the revenue has increased during the last 25 years and what portion of it has been devoted to the material development of the Province." This led to the conclusion that "the revenue of the Presidency has increased by about 5½ crores of rupees during the last 25 years. Land, Forest, Abkari have all been made yield as much as possible even to the inconvenience of the people i and yet out of the revenues so
