344 



INDIA. 



with from 6 to 12 additional members who are 

 appointed by him, whereas the ordinary mem- 

 bers, as well as the Governors of Bombay and 

 Madras, are appointed by the Crown. The 

 Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal and of the 

 Northwest Provinces and Oudh, and the Chief 

 Commissioners of Assam, the Central Provinces, 

 and Burmah, are appointed by the Viceroy, sub- 

 ject to confirmation by the Secretary of State. 

 The Governors of Bombay and Madras have 

 each an executive and legislative council, and 

 a separate civil service and a separate army. 

 The Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal and the 

 Northwest Provinces have legislative councils. 

 The chief commissioners have no legislative 

 powers. The provinces are divided into divisions, 

 administered by commissioners, and these into 

 districts under collector magistrates and deputy 

 commissioners. Each district magistrate has 

 under him usxially a joint magistrate, an assist- 

 ant magistrate, and deputy collectors or other 

 officers. Most of the magistrate collectors exer- 

 cise judicial as well as administrative functions. 

 The Governor-General is the Marquis of Lans- 

 downe, born Jan. 14, 1845, who succeeded the 

 Marquis of Dufferin and Ava on Dec. 11, 1888. 

 The Secretary of State for India in the begin- 

 ning of 1892 was Viscount Cross, formerly Sir 

 Richard Cross. On the change of government 

 in the summer he was succeeded by the Earl of 

 Kimberly. 



The Indian Councils bill passed by the British 

 Parliament in 1892 gives to the Indian races a 

 slight installment of the additional representa- 

 tion in the Government for which the leaders of 

 the Indian Congresses have clamored. The bill 

 was prepared for the session of 1889, but was not 

 introduced. In 1890 and in 1891 it was passed 

 by the House of Lords, but was not even brought 

 up for discussion in the Commons owing to 

 pressure of other business. The bill permits the 

 Governor-General, and the governors and lieu- 

 tenant-governors of the great divisions of India 

 to appoint additional nonofficial members of 

 their legislative councils from the native com- 

 munities. It also enlarges the functions of the 

 councils, gives them a right to examine and 

 criticise financial measures, and allows members 

 a limited right t of interpellation. The Legisla- 

 tive Council of the Governor-General, consisting 

 at present of 24 members, is to be increased by 

 not less than 10 and not more than 16 new- 

 members, not necessarily to be chosen from the 

 native communities, though a large proportion 

 of them are expected to be, as a certain number 

 in each of the councils are already. A propor- 

 tional augmentation of the four minor councils 

 was also authorized. Another bill that was dis- 

 cussed in the same session proposes to allow In- 

 dian officials, in case of need, to leave India 

 temporarily without vacating their offices. 



Area and Population. The revised returns 

 of the census taken Feb. 26, 1891, make the total 

 population of British India, including the feuda- 

 tory states, 287,223,431, without counting 870,- 

 000 who were enumerated by houses or tribes. 

 The population of the provinces under direct 

 British rule is 221,172,950, inhabiting an area of 

 962,070 square miles ; that of the feudatory 

 states, covering an area of 595,310 square miles, is 

 66,050,480. The annexed territories now enumer- 



ated for the first time are Upper Burmah, with 

 2,946,930 inhabitants ; North Lushai, with 43,- 

 630 ; and Cashmere, with 2,543,950. The incmisr 

 in the population of the whole of India, exclu- 

 sive of these added territories, averages nearly 1 1 

 per cent, since the census of 1881 ; in that of the 

 provinces directly administered, 9| per cent. ; 

 in that of the feudatory states, 15| per cent. 

 The density of population has risen from 227 to 

 249 to the square mile in British India proper, 

 and from 107 to 123 in the feudatory states. 

 The density for the whole of India, inclusive of 

 the new provinces and dependencies, is 184 per 

 square mile, 230 for the British provinces, and 

 111 for the feudatory states. The rate of in- 

 crease in the two sexes for the whole of British 

 India has been 9-63 per cent, for males and 

 9'80 per cent, for females; in the feudatory 

 states, 14-81 per cent, for males and 16-29 per 

 cent, for females. The apparent disproportion- 

 ate growth is explained by a more complete 

 enumeration of the female population, owing to 

 the disappearance of the distrust which impels 

 the Hindu peasant to conceal the number of his 

 female dependents from the census enumerator. 

 The rate of increase in the various British prov- 

 inces, taking the male returns only, was 23 - 67 

 per cent, in Lower Burmah, 19 per cent, in Sindh, 

 16 per cent, in Ajmir, 15| per cent, in Madras, 

 14 per cent, in Bombay, 11 '7 per cent, in Assam, 

 10-9 per cent, in Oudh, 10-3 per cent, in the Pun- 

 jab, 8'8 per cent, in the Central Provinces, 8-6 

 per cent, in Berar, 7*10 per cent, in Bengal, and 

 4-5 per cent, in the Northwest Provinces, while 

 Coorg has receded 4-5 per cent. Of the feuda- 

 tory states, those of the Central Provinces show 

 an increase of 25*5 per cent., Mysore 19 per 

 cent., the native states of Bengal 17-75 per cent., 

 Eajputana 17-5 per cent., Hyderabad 17'4 per 

 cent., the native states of Bombay 15-6 per cent., 

 those of Madras 11-5 per cent., the Punjab states 

 10 per cent., and Baroda 9*9 per cent. The press- 

 ure in territories where it is over 200 to the 

 square mile is 522 in Oudh, 471 in Bengal, 385 

 in the native states of Madras, 294 in Baroda, 

 252 in the Madras presidency, 207 in Bombay, 

 and 200 in Ajmir. In contrast to these, Upper 

 Burmah has 35, Cashmere 31. Lower Burmah 53, 

 and Sindh 60 inhabitants to the square mile. The 

 urban population of India is small in proportion 

 to most other countries. There are only 2,035 

 places that can properly be classed as towns, and 

 their inhabitants form but 9-5 per cent, of the 

 total population of India. The small territory 

 of Ajmir-Merwara has 22 per cent, of its popu- 

 lation living in towns, Baroda 20 per cent., the 

 presidency of Bombay 19-5 per cent., and the 

 Bombay native states' 14'6 per cent. In Assam, 

 the Central Provinces, and the native states of 

 Bengal there are no towns except small local 

 markets, the inhabitants of which constitute 1*86, 

 1-79. and 0'5 per cent, of their respective total 

 populations. The lieutenant -governorship of 

 Bengal has Calcutta and other populous cities, 

 and yet the ratio of the urban population is 

 only 4-8 per cent., lower than in any of the 

 other provinces. The increase of the urban 

 population, averaging 9-4 per cent, in ten years, 

 was 13-6 per cent, in towns of from 50,000 to 

 75,000 inhabitants, 11-58 per cent, in those of 

 from 20,000 to 35,000, 10'66 in places of from 



