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estates with practical efficiency in all details.
And it redounds to his credit that he is the only
nobleman whose estate is not encumbered with
debt. Equally remarkable is his proclivity ior
business. He is interested in companies and
is one of the directors in some important ones.
To have freed himself from the restraint of the
old " dignified " prejudices of his class so far as
to have become a practical man of business,
shows uncommon adaptability.
Sir Asman Jah
When NawabSir Salar Jung, Imad-us-Saltanat,
was made to retire in the early part of 1887, His
Highness the Nizam appointed Nawab Bashir-ud-
Dowlah, Sir Asman Jah, to succeed him as Prime
Minister. He was the head of the elder branch
of the Shams-ul-Umara family, and the Nizam's
brother-in-law. He was a man of prepossessing
appearance, tall and dignified in his bearing,
courteous like all the old nobility of Hyderabad,
and possessed of wealth which made him richer,
as people thought, than the richest sahukar
(banker) in Hyderabad. He had not the advant-
age of being highly educated, but the oriental
education he had received was sufficient to
enable him to perform the duties of his high
office satisfactorily with the help of able secre-
taries. It may be mentioned in his praise that
he refused to take the honorarium of the Prime
Minister, which was Rs. 10,000 a month. He was
a man of mild and amiable disposition, concilia-
tory in his ways and loyal to his master ; but some