INDIA, BRITISH. 



lar gradation, from those which give the hum- 



McM elementary in-tnietioti to the highest Col- 



. and tlu' ablest pupils of one grade are 

 al-le to pass through the other grades hy means 

 :olarshi|>s. I'nivcrsities on tlio model of 

 th.' l.i.inl"H I "nivcrsity have been established 

 in Calcutta, M:idr:is, and Bombay. Each prov- 

 ince has normal schools for the training of 



Tlu- total revenue of India, during the finan- 

 cial year ending March 81, 1878, reached the 

 sum of 50,219,489; and the expenditures 

 amounted to 48,458,817. The three most 

 important sources of the public revenue are 

 land (in 1872, 21,848,669); salt (6, 165, 630); 

 and opium (8,684,691). The heaviest items 

 among the expenditures are the army (11,979,- 

 827) ; interest on permanent and floating debt 

 (2,884,764). The interest paid on the Indian 

 debt during the year ending March 81, 1873, 

 amounted to 4,671,699, and the total debt 

 for loans contracted up to that date was 105,- 

 160,127. The regular estimates for 1873-'74 

 place the revenue at 49,476,000. The budget 

 estimates for 1874-75 calculate the revenue at 

 48,984,000, and the ordinary expenditure at 

 50,372,000, of which 2,580,000 are set apart 

 for the relief of the famine. The extraordinary 

 expenditures for public works are estimated at 

 4,568,000, and the total expenditure at 54,- 

 935,000. The surplus, excluding the extraor- 

 dinary and famine relief items, is estimated 

 at 1,192,000. The deficit, excluding the ex- 

 traordinary expenditure, is 1,388,000, and 

 including the extraordinary expenditure, 5,- 

 951,000. It is estimated that the net famine 

 expenditure in both years will be 6,500,000. 

 The loans to be raised in 1874-'75 amount to 

 8,500,000, of which 5,000,000 will be raised 

 by the Secretary of State for India in England ; 

 870,000 from Gwalior and Indore for rail- 

 ways; the remaining 2,640,000 in India or 

 England, as may be found convenient. There 

 are to be no new taxes imposed in the finan- 

 cial year of 1874-'75. 



According to the budget of 1874-'75, the 

 army in India consisted of 6,086 English offi- 

 cers, 60,227 British soldiers, 8,804 volunteers, 

 and 123,474 native soldiers; total, 193,591 

 men, with 18,238 horses and 894 guns. For 

 the performance of police duties and frontier 

 service there is a force of native police, amount- 

 ing to about 190,000 men, who are mainly offi- 

 cered by Europeans. 



On July 1, 1874, the aggregate length of 

 railroad lines opened for public traffic was 

 5,872 miles, 483 miles having been added since 

 the commencement of 1873. Among the new 

 railways opened in 1874 was one to Hyder- 

 abad, constructed at the expense of the Nizam. 

 The Government of India, in 1869, decided on 

 carrying out all the new railway extensions by 

 means of direct agency; that is, without the 

 intervention of guaranteed companies. In 

 June, 1874, a proposal was made by some pri- 

 vate individuals to construct a railway on a 



three-feet gauge from Rangoon to Tounghoo, 



in the Sittaii^' Valley, at their own cost, if the 

 Government would grant certain concession*. 

 The Government of India replied that they had 

 no intention of d -parting from their determina- 

 tion to e,.ii-tnict all further railways by Mate, 

 agency, and therefore could not entertain the 

 proposal. At the same time, they added that 

 the facts brought forward in favor of the pro- 

 posed line had established a good case for test- 

 ing its merits, and a survey would he ordered 

 in the course of the ensuing season, as soon as 

 officers could be spared for the purpose, for the 

 construction of a line on the metre-gauge. 



The electric telegraph connects all the im- 

 portant places in India. The aggregate length 

 of the telegraph-lines was 15,102 miles; total 

 receipts, 151,261; total expenditures, 129,- 

 662 ; the number of offices, 205. 



The present Viceroy and Governor-General 

 of India, Lord Thomas George Baring North- 

 brook, assumed his powers in May, 1872.* 



The whole commerce of India, exclusive of 

 treasure, during 1872-'73, was worth 104,- 

 485,696, of which the foreign trade represent- 

 ed 83,488,056, and the coastwise trade 20,- 

 997,640. There are no trustworthy statistics 

 of the internal trade. The aggregate value of 

 the merchandise exported from India, between 

 1835 and 1871, is estimated at 1,012,000,000, 

 and of the imports, 588,000,000. The ex- 

 ports from India to China, in 1872-'73, were 

 worth 12,074,847, of which opium took 10,- 

 529,673. 



The famine, which was anticipated at the 

 end of the year 1873, made itself felt at the 

 beginning of 1874. The Government was, 

 however, prepared, and soon made energetic 

 efforts to aid the sufferers. At a relief meet- 

 ing held in January, at Calcutta, the Viceroy 

 declared that the failure of the crops affected a 

 population exceeding that of Great Britain, 

 and, notwithstanding the rain, a population ex- 

 ceeding that of Ireland must suffer protracted 

 and severe distress. He warmly represented 

 the people's patience and the powerful claims 

 which their affliction gave on their rulers, and 

 urged that assistance should be obtained from 

 the public. He thanked England for its sym- 

 pathy. Sir George Campbell detailed the suf- 

 fering of the landless classes everywhere. The 

 promised relief has already done good; there 

 have been no panics like those in Orissa, and 

 the people trust to the Government. In some 

 districts the distress assumed larger dimen- 

 sions than had been anticipated. Thus, in 

 Tirhoot, the number of persons applying at the 

 relief-works rose from 20,000 to 100,000 with- 

 in ten days. The applicants were in an ema- 

 ciated condition, but preferred working to en- 

 tering the poor-houses. All belonged to the 

 laboring-classes. Three or four deaths from 

 starvation occurred. After the spring harvest 

 had been gathered in, a large accession of la- 



* For a biographical notice of Lord Northbrook, tee 

 ANNUAL CTCLOPJBDIA for 1878, article INDIA. 



