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A fact from Richard Burn (Indologist) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 24 June 2014 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Richard Burn, editor of the 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India, wrote that it took years to decide on that work's form because the British Government in India worked so slowly?
Here is the fully quote for the humorous remark about the slowness of the British Govt in India:
"It is not my intention to weary you by detailing the numerous proposals and counter- proposals which followed the decision that a new revised gazetteer should be prepared. There is a story relating that a newcomer in the secretariat of the Government of India was appalled by the number of officials whom it was deemed necessary to consult regarding a certain file. In sending it on, he noted (whether ingenuously or with undue levity must not be enquired) that by some mistake the file had not yet been submitted for the opinion of the Bishop of Calcutta, though all other high officials had seen it. So thorough was the examination of the "Gazetteer" file that, although steps were taken to begin the collection of material as early as 1900, it was not till nearly three years later that the form in which the work should appear was finally decided."
Source: "The Imperial Gazetteer of India" by Richard Burn I.C.S. in Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 56, No. 2884, February 1908, pp. 364-373. Philafrenzy (talk) 11:12, 23 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]
