หน้า:พระปกเกล้าฯ กับ รธน ไทย (vol 2).pdf/40

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Government is inevitable and desirable with the growth of education and widespread intelligence among the population. Whether or not the form of government should be the Anglo-Saxon type of parliamentary government is a question which needs not to be decided at this time. My own hope is that Siam will never become completely Westernized but will retain in her development her own individuality. Her institution, governmental and otherwise, should not be blindly copied from Western nations, but should be the result and out growth of her own genius and experience.

III. Financial affairs

In the 8th. question Your Majesty asks whether I have any opinion as to Siam’s financial policy. Since I am not a financial expert, I think I should leave such question for the advice of a man like Sir Edward Cook, who is far better equipped than I to advise on the financial policy of Siam. Nevertheless, therefore one or two matters concerning which I feel rather strongly, but upon which because they are quite unrelated to the other subjects of this Memorandum I shall speak very briefly.

Siam, in my opinion, should not be so largely dependent upon a single crop. In the case of unfavourable weather conditions and a consequent shortage or failure to the rice crop, it means that Siam suffers unduly, and is sometimes placed in a temporarily precarious financial situation. It does not seem wise to place on one’s eggs in a single basket. I therefore sometimes wonder whether Siam