410 



INDIA, BEITISH. 



INDIANA. 



borers flocked to the Government public works. 

 The total number thus employed on every class 

 of relief enterprise increased from 750,000 to 

 1,185,448 during a fortnight. Among these 

 enterprises were the making of the railway 

 which is to intersect Northern Bengal and to 

 connect Darjeeling with the plains. They 

 likewise included the Son Canal, the great 

 embankments along the Gandak River, innu- 

 merable roads, and local irrigation -works, 

 especially tanks. The saltpetre-manufacture 

 was also used as a relief-work. Speaking 

 generally, the special characteristics of the 

 " relief-works " were these : They consisted 

 for the most part of public undertakings, such 

 as roads, tramways, a railway or a canal, 

 which are of permanent utility, and which were 

 either in progress at the commencement of 

 the famine or would have hereafter been 

 constructed in the ordinary course of things. 

 From this point of view, the relief system may 

 be described as a system of greatly-stimulated 

 public works concentrated upon a single year, 

 and executed at a high rate of wages. Their 

 " relief aspect " consisted in the fact that, while 

 it was endeavored to obtain a fair amount 

 of work from the able-bodied laborers, that 

 amount was not exacted from all. Care was 

 taken that the weakest and the youngest on 

 the works could earn a livelihood. In this sense 

 they were strictly relief-works. Government 

 undertook to find employment for the entire 

 laboring population of Bengal from within a 

 few miles of Calcutta to the Himalayas and 

 the Northwestern Provinces. In only one di- 

 vision of this great tract namely, the Patna 

 division the estimates formed by Sir Richard 

 Temple showed symptoms of being realized. 

 Sir Richard visited the division very care- 

 fully himself, and his forecast seems to have 

 been an accurate one. The, returns of char- 

 itable relief were equally encouraging. The 

 system pursued embraced every man, woman, 

 or child, who was unable, either from caste 

 prejudices, from physical debility, or from any 

 other cause, to earn a livelihood. The official 

 narrative gives the fullest details as to the 

 means employed for searching out every case 

 of distress, and of the machinery by which it 

 was relieved. The amount of food given to 

 each person was from 25 to 50 per cent, greater 

 than the amount deemed sufficient in the Oris- 

 sa famine, and in many cases exceeding the 

 quantity which the poorest class manages to 

 go through life upon. 



The aggregate number of the persons who at 

 any time during the famine months had re- 

 ceived relief from the Government is estimated 

 at about 3,000,000. In October the famine 

 was declared to be at an end. In September a 

 resolution was issued by the Viceroy in Coun- 

 cil announcing that a Duffla campaign on a 

 small scale has become absolutely unavoidable, 

 and that the commander-in-chief is to arrange 

 all the details for moving up troops early in 

 December to the scene of disturbance. The 



objects proposed to be accomplished are the 

 rescue of the captives carried off" from British 

 territory by the Dufflas, the infliction of a mod- 

 erate amount of correction on the offending 

 tribe, and such a display of armed force as will 

 suffice to deter them from a repetition of the 

 raids. Bloodshed and pillage are, as far as 

 practicable, to be scrupulously avoided, unless 

 the British demands are contumaciously refused. 

 The officer in command of the force will be in- 

 trusted with full discretionary power to adopt 

 any line of action that may insure the success 

 of the expedition. His Excellency particularly 

 desires it to be understood that, so long as the 

 main object of the campaign is capable of being 

 attained by milder measures, recourse to re- 

 taliatory acts should be abstained from. If the 

 tribe is disposed to pay on demand a certain 

 amount of fine which may suffice to recoup the 

 losses of the captives, as well as to surrender 

 the captives, this will, in his Excellency's opin- 

 ion, adequately meet the requirements of the 

 case. The expedition is to remain long enough 

 to convince the erring Dufflas that they are not 

 altogether beyond the reach of attack, while 

 the opportunity afforded by this temporary oc- 

 cupation will be availed of to make as com- 

 plete an exploration of the country as circum- 

 stances may permit. For this purpose a sur- 

 vey-party will be attached to the expedition. 

 If the troops move early in the cold season, 

 they will probably be able to return before the 

 weather begins to prove detrimental to their 

 health. The officer in command will be in- 

 vested with supreme authority in all matters 

 relating to the conduct of the expedition, and 

 the civil or political officers, together with those 

 of the survey-party, will be in all respects sub- 

 ordinate to him. Brigadier-General Stafford, 

 C. B., will command the expedition. 



The Government sternly warned the Guic- 

 owar of Baroda to reform the abuses pointed 

 out by the Commission of Inquiry. The warn- 

 ing concluded by stating that if great improve- 

 ment were not manifest by the end of 1875 the 

 Guicowar would be deposed in the interest of 

 his people, and for the peace and security of 

 the empire. The effect on other native states, 

 it was hoped, would be wholesome. In sev- 

 eral of them abuses are becoming intolerable. 



INDIANA. The assessed value of the tax- 

 able property in the' State of Indiana, in 1874, 

 was $954,857,475, an increase of more than 

 $300,000,000 since 1872, due in part, however, 

 to a higher standard of valuation. The assess- 

 ment of railroad property was raised from 

 $11,000,000, in 1872, to nearly $40,000,000. 

 There was in the State Treasury, on the. 1st of 

 March, 1873, $169,633.90; the receipts from 

 that date to October 1, 1873, the close of the 

 fiscal year, amounted to $438,191.14; the re- 

 ceipts for the fiscal year ending October 1, 

 1874, were $893,091.97. There was raised 

 by temporary loans, during the same period, 

 $200,000 at 8 per cent., payable March 12, 

 1875 ; $310,000 at 7 per cent., payable April 



