434 



INDIA. 



INDIA, BRITISH, a dependency of Great 

 Britain in Asia. By the act 21 and 22 Victoria, 

 cap. 106, called " An Act for the better Gov- 

 ernment of India," sanctioned August 2, 1858, 

 all the territories formerly under the Govern- 

 ment of the East India Company are vested in 

 the Queen. One of the English Secretaries of 

 State, called the Secretary of State for India, 

 is invested with all the powers heretofore ex- 

 ercised by the Company or by the Board of 

 Control. The Secretary is assisted by a Council 

 of State for India, consisting of fifteen mem- 

 bers, of whom seven are elected by the Court 

 of Directors from their own body, and eight 

 are nominated by the Crown. The Executive 

 authority in India is vested in a Governor- 

 General or Viceroy, appointed by the Crown, 

 and acting under the orders of the Secretary 

 of State for India. Governor-General in 1865, 

 Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, Bart., born 

 March 4, 1811, appointed Governor-General of 

 India, November 28, 1863. The salary of the 

 Governor-General of India is 30,000 a year, 

 exclusive of allowances which may be estimated 

 at 10,000. Under the Governor-General the 

 Government is executed by a Supreme Council, 

 sitting in Calcutta, consisting of five ordinary 

 and from six to ten extra-ordinary members. 

 The ministry is divided into the departments of 

 Foreign Affairs, Finances, Interior, Military Ad- 

 ministration, and Public "Works, and the minis- 

 ters form part of the Supreme Coancil. The min- 

 isters, the members of the Supreme Council, the 

 Executive Governors, and Lieutenant Govern- 

 ors of the various territories and provinces, are 

 appointed by the Governor-General. The total 

 revenue for the year 1863-'64 was 44,613,- 

 632; the expenditure, 44,534,685; surplus, 

 78,347. The revenue for the year 1864-'65, 

 as provisionally returned, was 46,284,106; 

 expenses, 46,628,249 ; revenue for 1865-'66, 

 is estimated in the "Budget," 46,488,760; 

 expenses, 47,186,930; deficit, 698,170. Tho 

 3ebt of India, according to a return issued by 

 the Secretary of State for India, in September, 

 1864, was 116,721,122; but this included 

 2,031,970 capital of railway companies re- 

 maining in the Home Treasury, and, on the 

 other hand, did not include the charge for the 

 dividend on the 6,000,000 capital stock of 

 the East India Company, whih is subject to 

 redemption by Parliament under the act of 

 1833. 



The area of the British dominions in India is 

 estimated at 933,722 square miles ; and the es- 

 timates of the population vary from 135,000,- 

 000 to 200,000,000. The English population 

 amount to only 125,945, of whom 84,083 

 are connected with the army. The actual 

 strength of the army was, on April 30, 1862, 

 78,174 Europeans, 125,913 natives: total, 204,- 

 087. The imports from India into the United 

 Kingdom were, in 1864, 52,287,869 ; the ex- 

 ports of home produce from the United King- 

 dom to India, 19,895,145. 



At the end of the year 1861, the Master of 



the Rolls, the Chief Justice of the Common 

 Pleas, Sir E. Kyan, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Justice 

 Willes, and Mr. J. M. Macleod were appointed 

 commissioners to prepare a body of substantive 

 law for India. The first instalment of the 

 labors of these commissioners, in the form of 

 the law of succession and inheritance applicable 

 to all Christians and others who wish to adopt 

 it, was passed. It is remarkable as being in 

 advance of English legislation, by abolishing the 

 distinction between movable and immovable 

 property, and allowing married women to re- 

 tain their own property. The machinery of the 

 Small Cause Courts, which have proved most 

 popular, and in some cases self-supporting, was 

 improved in such a way as promises to afford 

 Mtigants securities for justice without the de- 

 lay and expense of appealing. The act, so 

 much discussed the previous year, for .abolish- 

 ing the grand jury in the presidency towns, 

 and providing circuit courts and special juries 

 for the trial of European offenders in the inte- 

 rior, was passed. The peculiar position of the 

 150,000 Parsees in India was cared for, after 

 years of discussion, by creating matrimonial 

 courts in which a high court judge, aided by 

 Pareee delegates, will hear suits relating to 

 marriage and divorce. 



Finally, the legislation of the year was 

 marked by a most comprehensive measure for 

 the management and preservation of Govern- 

 ment Forests due to the labors of Drs. Cleg- 

 horn and Brandis. India now enjoys as en- 

 lightened and practically useful rules for the 

 preservation of her great nurseries of timber 

 and fuel, as any European power, while private 

 rights are not ruthlessly interfered with as in 

 some despotic countries. 



One of the most remarkable proofs of the 

 advancing civilization of India is the rapid in- 

 crease of railroads. It appears from the last 

 annual report (1865) of Mr. Juland Danvers, 

 the Government director of the Indian railway 

 companies, that the system of guaranteed rail- 

 ways comprised, in 1865, a length of 4,917 

 miles, of which 3,186 were open for traffic. 

 The net profits in the year ending the 30th of 

 June, 1863, on 2,151 miles of railway, amounted 

 to 690,834; and to 915,077 in the year end- 

 ing the 30th June, 1864, on 2,489 miles. The 

 number of passengers conveyed in the latter 

 year was 11,781,683, compared with 9,242,540 

 in the former. The total expenditure of capital 

 on the lines which were, in 1865, open, or in 

 course of construction, amounted on the 1st of 

 May, 1865, to 54,941,029. The expenditure 

 was estimated at 5,000,000 about 1,800,- 

 000 to be expended in England, and 3,350,000 

 in India. The total amount estimated to be 

 required for the undertakings would reach 

 77,500,000. The number of shareholders at 

 the end of the year 1864 was 29,303 in Eng- 

 land, and 777 in India, the latter number con- 

 sisting of 384 Europeans and 393 natives. There 

 were also 6,453 debenture holders. Up to the 

 end of 1864 the Government had advanced 



