Mr. Grey, Service Message to Lieutenant Governor, No. 2 (14 May 1866), Papers and Correspondence Relative to Famine in Bengal and Orissa

This is a rather late query from the top British official in India, the Viceroy John Lawrence. The dizzying number of titles of administrators indicates the unwieldy nature of British bureaucracy. How could anyone know who was one’s direct superior and how could any decisions be made swiftly enough with this corporate structure? The memo, sounding as though it is behind hand in supplying redress, reads in part as follows.149