INDIA. 



431 



1.476.271: of packets, 5.119.335. The receipts 



11.130,860 rupees, and the ex; 

 13.0-26.n4o rupees. 



Telegraphs. The telegraph lines in 1887 had 

 a total length of 30.034 miles, with 86,891 

 miles of wire. The number of messages was 

 2.534,685. The mileage and the business have 

 about doubled in ten years, and the receipts 

 also, which are not yet eijual to the expendi- 

 tures, although the disparity is less than in 

 1887, when the fisrures were 3,400,000 rupees 

 for receipts, and 4,700,000 rupees for expendi- 

 ture, whereas in 1887 they were respectively 

 6,900,000 and 7,100,000 rupees. 



Railroads. The number of miles of railroad 

 open to traffic on March 31, 1888, was 14,383, 

 of which 3,911 miles belonged to guaranteed 

 companies, 654 to assisted companies, 8,994 

 to the Government, and 824 to native states. 

 The mileage had increased from 13,390 miles 

 in 1887, 12,876 in 1885, 11,983 in 1885. and 

 - 1 in 1884. There were 2.487 miles under 

 construction in 1888, and 355 miles more had 

 been sanctioned. The length of the guaranteed 

 lines has decreased, the roads having been pur- 

 chased by the state. There are 50 separate 

 lines, of which 22 belong to the Government. 

 The guaranteed companies have the concession 

 of the profitable trunk lines, while the state 

 lines serve as feeders. The total passenger 

 traffic increased from 58,875,918 in 1882 to 

 95.411,779 in 1887; the freight traffic from 

 14.833.243 tons to 20,195.677; the receipts 

 from 153.000,000 rupees in 1882 to 184,600,- 

 000 rupees in 1888; and the cost of operation 

 in the same time from 76,600,000 to 91.000,- 

 000 rupees. The capital expended in railroad 

 construction up to the beginning of 1887 was 

 1.704.989.107 rupees. The Government had 

 expended 78,358,404 in building railroads and 

 35,048,368 in guaranteed interest on the sub- 

 sidized lines up to March 31, 1888. The in- 

 crease of capital in the guaranteed lines in five 

 years had been 4,396,262, and in that period 

 there had been a profit of 10,700, whereas 

 up to 1883 there was a loss of more than 

 17.000. The existing railroads form five 

 -. viz.. state lines worked by companies, 

 with a capital expenditure of 62.500.000; state 

 lines worked by the Government, with 50,- 

 000,000 of invested capital; the lines of guar- 

 anteed companies, which have invested 61,- 

 333,000 ; the lines of assisted companies, which 

 cost 3.750,000; and those owned by native 

 states, with a capital of more than 5,000.000. 

 The construction of military railroads in recent 

 years has added to the annual losses of the 

 treasury on account of railroads, the net deficit 

 in 1886-'87 being 9,827.927 rupees, the trans- 

 portation of grain having been much less than 

 in the preceding year. The cost of the Scinde- 

 Pishin and Bolan Pass strategic lines has been 

 over 80,000,000 rupees. 



The Army. The strength of the British gar- 

 rison in India for 1887-'88 was fixed in the 

 army estimates at 2,5">1 officers and 69.240 



men. Including the native army, but exclusive 

 of artificers and followers, the Indian forces at 

 the dose of 1886 numbered 5,192 officer 

 183,594 men. The Hindoo feudatory - 

 have armies numbering 275, 075 men and 3,372 

 guns, nnd the Mohamine<: 7 1.700 men 



and 865 guns. The British, after an investiga- 

 tion of the strength of the native am/ 

 1 SS 4. had in contemplation measures for the 

 compulsory disbandment of these forces. "When 

 the Russian war-scare came two years later, 

 the native princes, actuated partly by the old 

 dread of a barbarian invasion from the north, 

 and partly by the desire to prove that their 

 military establishments are a source of strength 

 instead of a menace to the empire, began to 

 offer pecuniary aid and military service to the 

 Government in case the frontier is attacked. 

 Such offers continue to be received. In the 

 beginning of 1888, with 60 lakhs that the 

 Nizam of Hyderabad had promised to contrib- 

 ute, and 10 lakhs proffered by the Maharajah 

 of Cashmere, the specific offers of money 

 amounted to over a crore of rupees, or a mill- 

 ion sterling. The princes offered troops in 

 addition, and others of the feudatory princes, 

 including the rulers of Bhawalpore, Patiala, 

 Tonk, Eampore, Alwar. and Mandi, offered 

 troops or money according to the necessities 

 of the empire, some of them placing the entire 

 resources of their states at the disposal of the 

 Government. 



Finances. The revenue for the year ending 

 March 31, 18S6, was 740,641,970 rupees, and 

 the expenditure 772,659.230 rupees, of which 

 598.397,530 rupees were expended in India 

 and 184,261,700 rupees in Great Britain. The 

 revised estimates for 1886-'87 make the reve- 

 nue 760,810,000 rupees and the expenditure 

 7<;".210.000 rupees. The budget estimates for 

 1887-'88 calculate the total receipts at 774.- 

 600,000 rupees, of which 229,380,000 rupees 

 represent the land revenue, 154,320,000 rupees 

 the road and railroad receipts, 88,930,000 

 rupees the revenue from the opium monopoly, 

 66.050.000 rupees the salt - tax, 42,250,000 

 rupees the excise duties, 37,160,000 rupees the 

 stamp duties. 29,570,000 rupees the provincial 

 rates, 20,250,000 rupees the receipts from the 

 postal and telegraphic services and the mint, 

 16,880,000 rupees the irrigation rates. 14,060,- 

 000 mpees assessed taxes. 12.330.000 rupees 

 customs duties, 11.310.000 rupees forest re- 

 ceipts, and 37,870,000 rupees interest, tribute, 

 registration duties, and other receipts. The 

 expenditure for 1887-'88 is estimated at 774- 

 430,000 rupees, of which 221,100,000 rupees 

 represent expenditures on roads and railroads, 

 191.970,000 rupees for military purposes. 131,- 

 800.000 rupees in the civil departments, 80,- 

 800,000 rupees the cost of collection, 44.120, 

 000 rupees interest on the debt, 24.410,000 

 rupees irrigation expenses, 22,620,000 rupees 

 expenses of the post-office, telegraphs, and 

 mint, and 9,030,000 rupees for other purposes. 

 The extraordinary expenditure on public 



