

INDIA. 



299 



774,200, famine relief and insurance Rx 1,176,100, 

 railroad construction charged against revenue Rx 

 4,200, railroad revenue account Rx 23,614,500, irri- 

 gation Rx 3,222,100, buildings and roads Rx 5,842,- 

 100, the army Rx 24,051,300, and defense works 

 Rx 8,400. The budget estimate of revenue for the 

 year ending March 31, 1900, was Rx 101,961,500, 

 and expenditure Rx 98,953,600, which was reduced 

 to Rx 98,028,909 by receipts from provincial bal- 

 ices amounting to Rx 924,700. The provinces in 



.899 received grants amounting to Rx 1,129,300 

 in aid of their resources, which had been ex- 

 hausted by special expenditures occasioned by 

 famine, plague, and earthquake. The deficit of 

 Rx 5,359,211 in 1898 is attributable to these causes 

 and to the war on the northwest frontier. The 

 cessation of the war and the good harvests of 1897 

 came as a great relief to Indian finance, warrant- 

 ing the expectation of a considerable surplus in 

 1899 and 1900. The surplus realized in 1899, esti- 

 mated at 2,700,000, counting 15 rupees to the 

 pound sterling, was actually 2,640,000. For 1900 

 a surplus of 2,600,000 was looked for also before 

 the failure of the monsoons deranged all calcula- 

 tions. The expenditure incurred in connection 



'ith the famine, together with remissions of reve- 



tue, amounted to nearly 3,500,000 up to March 

 31, 1900, of which 730,000 was available for direct 

 famine relief out of the famine insurance fund, 

 leaving the net cost of the famine 2,631,000. The 

 revenue, however, was so much better than the 

 estimate that this loss was balanced by gains and 

 the year closed with a surplus of 2,800,000. 

 After the summer monsoon first broke in 1900 

 the Finance Minister, Clinton Dawkins, counted 

 on a deficit of only 826,000 for the financial year 

 1901 notwithstanding the loss of revenue inflicted 

 by drought. This estimate included an additional 

 allowance of 1,200,000 for famine relief and re- 

 mission of land revenues on account of the lateness 

 and the intermission of the monsoon on the west 



>ast. The Government had a balance of 9,- 

 1,000 unexpended of the loan authorized in 1897 

 and decided to raise a new loan of 3,000,000. A 

 rupee loan of Rx 3,000,000 at 3J per cent, was sub- 

 scribed in Bombay at the rate of 94. The cost to 

 the Government of the famine of 1900 up to July 

 was 6,189,000 for direct relief, 3,400,000 for re- 

 mission of land revenue, 2,346,000 loaned to 

 native states, and 1,100,000 for advances to in- 

 dividuals. The failure of the British public to 

 respond to the Viceroy's appeal for contributions 

 to supply seed and plow cattle and to succor the 

 sick, orphaned, aged, and those who shrank from 

 receiving the form of public relief offered drove 

 the Government to include these objects in its 

 scheme of relief. A motion made in the British 



[ouse of Commons for a grant in aid of 5,000,000 

 the Indian Government in its emergency was 



sjected by the ministry and voted down by a 



iteof 11 2 to 65. 



The debt of British India on March 31, 1898, 

 amounted to Rx 242,989,003, of which Rx 111,- 

 695,634 was permanent debt in India, Rx 117,- 

 274,080 permanent debt in England, and Rx 14,- 

 018,689 unfunded debt in India. 



Defense. The military forces in India in 1898 

 numbered 5,194 European and 3,209 native officers 

 and 206,525 noncommissioned officers and privates ; 

 total of all ranks, 214,928. The British army in 

 India had a strength of 3,616 officers and 70,672 

 men, or 74,288 of all ranks, composed of 914 officers 

 on the staff, 9 cavalry and 52 infantry generals and 

 29 general officers unemployed, 14 invalid and vet- 

 eran officers and men, 491 officers and 12,916 men 

 If the Royal Artillery, 261 cavalry officers and 

 ,409 men, 347 officers and 158 nlen of the Royal 



Engineers, and 1,508 infantry officers and 52,180 

 men. The native army consisted of 1,578 Euro- 

 pean and 3,209 native officers and 135,853 non- 

 commissioned officers and men, a total strength 

 of 140,640, made up of 33 native and 54 European 

 officers and 2,001 men in the artillery, 358 Euro- 

 pean and 619 native officers and 21,955 men in the 

 cavalry, 65 European and 488 native officers and 

 3,142 men in the sappers and miners, and 1,122 

 European and 2,048 native officers and 108,755 

 men in the infantry. The estimates for 1900 pro- 

 vided for a total strength of 219,369 of all ranks, 

 composed of 788 miscellaneous officers, 17,896 artil- 

 lery, 28,975 cavalry, 4,462 engineers, and 167,248 

 infantry. The British army was depleted in 1900 

 by drafts of troops for service in South Africa and 

 to replace garrisons that were sent to South Africa. 

 In July the British Government ordered three new 

 regiments of native infantry to be raised for the 

 garrisoning of colonial stations like Mauritius 

 and Singapore. A regiment of sepoys was sent to 

 Mauritius to take the place of the Central African 

 regiment that had come into conflict with the 

 Indian inhabitants of that colony. Sepoys of the 

 Bengal and Punjab commands were passed into 

 the reserve in order to train new recruits. 



The European and Eurasian volunteer bodies on 

 March 31, 1899, had 30,749 men enrolled, of whom 

 28,346 were counted as efficient, 1,802 being in 

 the Punjab, 12,230 in Bengal, 8,744 in Madras, 

 and 5,570 in Bombay. The imperial service troops, 

 consisting of picked corps from the armies of the 

 feudatory princes, trained under the inspection 

 of 18 British officers, numbered 17,987 men in 

 1899, consisting of 7,820 cavalry, 9,874 infantry, 

 and 293 artillery. The contingent of Kashmir was 

 3,168; of Patiala, 1,799; of Alwar, 1,572; of 

 Gwalior, 1,462; of Jodhpur, 1,190; of Bhartpur, 

 1,085; of Jaipur, 796; of Hyderabad, 786; of Ka- 

 purthala, 739 ; of Nabha, 736 ; of Bahawalpur, 573 ; 

 of Jind, 649. Indore, Mysore, Bhopal, Rampur, 

 and the Kathiawar states held small bodies of 

 cavalry, and Bikanir, Maler Kotla, Faridkot, and 

 Sirmur a company or battalion of infantry at the 

 call of the India Government. 



The naval force maintained by the Indian Gov- 

 ernment consists merely of two monitors, of 3,340 

 and 2,900 tons, armed with 4 14-ton guns, a dis- 

 patch boat, 2 torpedo gunboats, 7 small torpedo 

 boats, and a mining flotilla. Bombay, Karachi, 

 Rangoon, Madras, and the Hugli are defended by 

 forts. The guns are said to be obsolete or defec- 

 tive, and black powder only is provided. The 

 field artillery used black powder till 1899, and 

 many of the guns are old muzzle-loaders. The cav- 

 alry are still armed with the Martini carbine and 

 the Lee-Metford rifles furnished to the infantry 

 are not of the best type. The native troops have 

 till now been armed with the old Martinis dis- 

 carded by the British regiments. These are now 

 being passed on to the local militia organized for 

 the defense of the northwest passes as fast as the 

 native regulars can be rearmed with Lee-Metfords. 



Commerce and Production. The survey de- 

 partment furnished returns in 1898 respecting 

 542,860,615 acres in British India out of 732,792,- 

 973 acres in British and native territory covered 

 by the surveys. Of the net area for which returns 

 were made 138,118,424 acres were not available 

 for cultivation, 64,546,530 acres were covered with 

 forests, 106,539,103 acres were waste lands capable 

 of -being utilized, 37,159.326 acres were cultivated 

 lands left fallow, and 196.497,232 acres were under 

 crops. Of the area cropped 70.781,408 acres were un- 

 der rice, 19,946,164 acres under wheat. 92,017,559 

 acres under other food grains, 2,648,498 acres under 

 sugar cane, 12,564,664 acres under oil seeds, 8,916,- 



