On the occasion of laying the foundation stone of a Council Hall at Jamnagar by the Maharaja of Alwar, a ceremonious durbar was held at which sardars, officers and local gentry were present. In requesting the Maharaja of Alwar to lay the foundation stone of the Hall, Jamsaheb Ranjit Singhi said that he had according to the time-honoured culture of his Aryan ancestors instituted an advisory council composed of his subjects, whose advice and opinion he proposed to invite regularly on matters connected with social, industrial and economic progress of his subjects. In indicating the constitution of the advisory council His Highness said that they (Indian Princes) did not belong to a school that idolized democracy for democracy’s sake and left but a thin line between anarchy and all-men-rule. They were advocates of popular rule in the sense that weighty, stable and reasoned public opinion should be at the back of strong, beneficent paternal Government. It was not difficult to work out a constitution that aims at securing the representation and advice of such interests as were stable, sound and trustworthy intellectually, commercially and otherwise.
