420 



INDIA. 



341. The total expenditure from the begin- 

 ning on the different kinds of public works 

 denominated productive is now very nearly 

 remunerative, the net receipts for the three 

 years past falling but 772,000 short of the 

 full interest on the capital invested. The 

 amount to be expended annually on such work 

 is limited to 2,500,000, which is admitted to 

 be inadequate to the wants of India, but which 

 the Secretary of State for India, Lord Harting- 

 ton, upholds, hoping that the wants will be 

 supplied through private enterprise. The East 

 Indian Eailway, which has lately been acquired 

 by the Government, is excluded from the re- 

 striction. The actual expenditures for 1881- 

 '82 from borrowed capital are 2,608,000 on 

 the state works and 800,000 on the East In- 

 dian Eailway, besides 2,159,000 in sanctioned 

 additions to guaranteed railways; while the 

 disbursements from the revenue for the net 

 losses on state and guaranteed railways were 

 417,000, and on the construction of works of 

 the same character, but which are not classed 

 as " productive," 300,000 on navigation and 

 irrigation, 750,000 on famine-relief works, 

 and 790,000 on frontier railways. The in- 

 terest charge on guaranteed and state rail- 

 ways, paid out of the revenue, has diminished 

 in ten years from 2,000,000 until the point 

 is reached where these works promise to be- 

 come a source of revenue. 

 ; A loan of three crores of rupees was sub- 

 scribed for in India at an average premium of 

 over five per cent, although the interest is only 

 four per cent per annum. A three and a half 

 per cent loan was also raised in London on 

 equally favorable terms in the early part of the 

 year. 



The decentralization policy which has been 

 adopted, since 1877 more especially, has had a 

 good effect on the financial administration of 

 some of the provinces, but has introduced an 

 element of confusion into the Imperial ac- 

 counts, as was seen in the Afghan war esti- 

 mates. Measures are being taken to have the 

 local finances better systematized. 



The census of India was taken in February. " 

 The total population is found to be 252,541,- 

 210, of whom, approximately, 123,211,327 are 

 males and 118,166,371 females. The increase 

 since the last decennial census is 12,788,565. 

 The returns for the individual provinces are as 

 follows: Bengal, 68,829,920; Assam, 4,815,- 

 157; Madras, 30,839,181; Bombay, 14,025,- 

 693 ; Sinde, 2,404,934 ; Northwest Provinces, 

 33,445,111; Oude, 11,407,625; Eajpootana, 

 10,881,166 : Punjab, 22,647,542 ; Central Prov- 

 inces, 11,505,149; Berar, 2,670,982; Burmah, 

 3,707,646; Mysore, 4,186.399; Coorg, 178,- 

 283; Ajmere, 453,075; Baroda, 2,154,469; 

 Travancore, 2,401,158; and Cochin, 600,278. 

 The provinces showing the greatest increase 

 are Burmah, 35 per cent ; the Central Prov- 

 inces, 25 per cent; Berar, 20 per cent; and 

 Assam, 19 per cent. The only provinces show- 

 ing a decrease are those depopulated by the 



famine Bombay, 2 percent; Mysore, 17 per 

 cent ; and Madras, 2 per cent. The corrected 

 returns of the population of Bombay show a 

 decrease of about 2 per cent since 1873, where- 

 as in ordinary times it increases in about that 

 proportion. Bengal increased 9 per cent in 

 the ten years, but Calcutta remained alnm.st 

 stationary, the population of the city and sub- 

 urbs being 683,329, whereas in 1876 it was 

 686,684. 



The results of the census were looked for- 

 ward to with interest for the light it would 

 cast upon the over-population theory of fam- 

 ines. The last famine affected a population of 

 58,000,000 souls and an area of 257,000 square 

 miles, and was unprecedented in severity, du- 

 ration, and extent. The mortality in the fam- 

 ine-stricken districts was sufficient to cause an 

 actual decrease in the population of all of them 

 since 1871. There have occurred thirty-six 

 years of scarcity and twenty famines, seven of 

 which were intense, in the last one hundred 

 years. The mortality from this cause is com- 

 puted at 10,000,000 within thirty years, this 

 being less, however, than the mortality from 

 cholera and fever. The main remedies pro- 

 posed against the devastations of famine are to 

 diversify the occupations of the people, and 

 to improve the methods of agriculture. The 

 bringing under cultivation of waste lands and 

 the construction of protective works are 

 deemed of secondary importance as far as re- 

 moving the causes are concerned ; although the 

 improvement of the ways of communication 

 embraced in the scheme of famine relief is ur- 

 gently needed, in order to enable the Govern- 

 ment to deal with recurring famines by for- 

 warding supplies to the distressed districts. 

 The whole population of India is employed in 

 agriculture. The stimulation of manufactures 

 by a protective tariff has been tried with en- 

 couraging results, but this plan comes into col- 

 lision at too many points with the interests of 

 British manufacturers to be carried out. Still, 

 though the whole protective system will prob- 

 ably be thrown overboard by the present Gov- 

 ernment, the era of manufacturing and mining 

 development seems to have commenced in In- 

 dia. The natural resources of India are great 

 and manifold, though the entire industry of 

 the country is now confined to a few agricult- 

 ural products, grown by the most unskillful 

 and exhaustive methods. The supply of labor 

 is superabundant. There is no accumulated 

 capital in India, but British capital is now at- 

 tracted to this promising field. 



Only about half of the area of India is culti- 

 vated, but on the cultivated area there subsists 

 twelve times as many people as would be nec- 

 essary to keep it in the highest state of culti- 

 vation. The system of farming is so rude that 

 an acre of cotton, for example, yields less than 

 one fifth the quantity obtained from an acre in 

 Egypt or the United States, and the quality is 

 so inferior that it brings only half the price. 

 The simplest improvements in the manner of 



