Tenure As Governor of Madras
Goschen was appointed Governor of Madras in 1924 and he arrived at Madras in May 1924 to take charge. Goschen was awarded the GCSI in March 1924.
The Madras Presidency Radio Club started a radio transmission service in Madras, the first in the city, in 1924, under Goschen's patronage. This service lasted from 1924 to 1927. Goschen was also involved in the early stages of the Loyola College, Chennai and presided over its first college day in 1928. The Children's Hospital at Mangalore was refurbished and renamed as Lady Goschen Hospital while the SPG College, Trichinopoly was renamed as Bishop Heber College and Goschen presided over its diamond jubilee celebrations in 1926.
In November 1926, the Pykara hydroelectric project across the Moyar river was conceived by Lord Goschen.
Goschen maintained friendly relations with the Raja of Panagal who was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency. However, in the 1926 elections to the Madras Legislative Assembly, the Justice Party, to which the Raja belonged, was reduced to a minority winning only 21 out of 98 seats in the assembly. The Raja stepped down as Chief Minister and handed over his resignation to the Governor. Goschen invited S. Srinivasa Iyengar, the leader of the Swarajya Party which had won a majority, to form the government, but he refused as the acceptance of public posts would defeat the very purpose of the Swarajists to disrupt the working of the dyarchy. Goschen, therefore, made an independent, P. Subbarayan, the Chief Minister, and nominated 34 members to the council to support him. As the government was set up by Goschen and all the members nominated by him, it functioned more or less like a puppet government.
Subbarayan's government was the subject of much controversy and survived a no-confidence motion on 23 August 1927. Its position became more precarious when the Simon Commission arrived in India in 1928. The Swarajya Party moved a resolution exhorting a boycott of the commission and the Justice Party supported them. The motion was passed 65 to 50 with both of Subbarayan's ministers in favor of a boycott. Subbarayan responded by resigning his post. Goschen, however, mediated a settlement with the Raja of Panagal and appointed a Justice Party nominee, Krishnan Nair to the Executive Council. The Justice Party, immediately, withdrew their support to the resolution and welcomed the commission. Just before his retirement from active politics in 1925, the Justice Party insisted upon a gift of land to their leader Theagaroya Chetty from the Madras government but Goschen stuanchly refused to make the grant.
Read more about this topic: George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen
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