INDIA. 



379 



was estimated at the beginning of the year. The 

 ordinary revenue has improved in twenty years 

 by Rx 13,800,000; the accounts for debt services, 

 irrigation, and railway earnings by Rx 3,720,000, 

 making the total improvement Rx 17,520,000, 

 which has been absorbed by the loss of opium 

 revenue, amounting to Rx 3,680,000; the loss by 

 exchange, amounting to Rx 4,730,000; the army 

 services, which cost Rx 5,470,000 more; the ad- 

 ministration of Upper Burmah, costing Rx 450,- 

 000; and the charges of provincial administration, 

 amounting to Rx 3,770,000. The drawings of the 

 Secretary of State on India for 1899 were 19,- 

 000,000/the largest ever made. In 1900 he ex- 

 pected to draw 17,000,000. During 1899 the 

 treasury received Rx 2,620,000 of gold in exchange 

 for silver and placed in the reserve kept for the 

 protection of the paper currency. The final esti- 

 mate of the cost of the famine to the revenue of 

 the Government, including both expenditure for 

 relief and loss of revenue, was Rx 16,649,399, of 

 which Rx 9,313,987 fell upon the year 1898. The 

 cost of the frontier military operations was Rx 

 3,887,000. 



The Army. The European army in India in 

 1899 had an established strength of 3,616 officers 

 and 70,672 noncommissioned officers and men, 

 comprising 9 cavalry and 52 infantry general offi- 

 cers, 29 general officers unemployed, 914 officers in 

 the staff corps, 5 officers and 9 men in the invalid 

 and veteran establishments, 491 officers and 12,- 

 916 men of the Royal Artillery, 261 officers and 

 5,409 men of the cavalry, 347 officers and 158 men 

 of the Royal Engineers, and 1,508 officers and 

 52,180 men of the infantry. The native army of 

 British India had an established strength of 1,578 

 European officers, 3,209 native officers, and 135,- 

 853 noncommissioned officers and men, compris- 

 ing 33 European and 54 native officers and 2,001 

 men in the artillery, 358 European and 619 na- 

 tive 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 in- 

 fantry. The total effective force was 219,369 offi- 

 cers and men, of whom 56,889 were in Bengal, 

 68,806 in the Punjab, 47,022 in Bombay, and 46,- 

 652 in Madras. The European and Eurasian vol- 

 unteers in India numbered 29,570 on March 31, 

 1898. The imperial service troops, maintained by 

 native princes and trained under the inspection 

 of British officers, numbered 16,618 in 1898, con- 

 sisting of 7,553 cavalry, 8,754 infantry, and 311 

 artillery. The coasts are defended by fortifica- 

 tions at Aden, Karachi, Bombay, the Hugli, and 

 Rangoon, mounting modern breech-loading guns, 

 built at a cost of Rx 4,500,000, and by the iron- 

 clads Magdala, of 3,340 tons, and Abyssinia, of 

 2,900 tons, each carrying 4 8-inch guns in turrets, 

 the Lawrence, of 1,154 tons, the torpedo gunboats 

 Assaye and Plassey, of 735 tons, and 7 90-ton 

 torpedo boats. A vast sum has been expended on 

 the defenses on the northwest frontier, including 

 the fortified camp at Quetta and the advanced 

 position covering it, strategic railroads and wagon 

 roads, protective works for bridges and tunnels 

 on the Sind and Pishin Railroad and various other 

 defenses for railroad bridges, the fortification of 

 the passages over the Indus at Attok and Sukkur, 

 an entrenched position at Rawal Pindi, a defen- 

 sible post at Multan, an arsenal at Ferozepore, 

 and other works. 



Commerce and Production. For the im- 

 provement of agriculture the Government has es- 

 tablished in each of the provinces a public depart- 

 ment which collects and publishes information 

 concerning crops, conducts experimental stations 



and model farms, imparts advice to private indi- 

 viduals who essay improved methods, introduces 

 new cultures, processes, and appliances, organizes 

 agricultural schools and colleges, and sends In- 

 dian students to the agricultural colleges of Eu- 

 rope. Experiments in the use of fertilizers, rota- 

 tion of crops, the raising and storing of fodder, 

 the cultivation of new products, the introduction 

 of superior breeds of cattle, and the grading up of 

 the native breeds of horses are beginning to bear 

 fruit. Out of a total area of 732,506,734 acres 

 shown by the survey department reports were 

 made in 1897 respecting 537,346,026 acres, of 

 which 153,895,056 acres were not available for 

 cultivation, 63,969.955 acres were covered by for- 

 est, 95,080,728 acres were waste lands suitable for 

 tillage, 46,943,358 acres were fallow land, and 

 177,456,929 acres were under crops. The area de- 

 voted to rice was 66,234,485; to wheat, 16,183,987; 

 to other grains, 78,237,544; to sugar cane, 2,651,- 

 721; to tea, 423,932; to cotton, 9,458,842; to oil 

 seeds, 10,531,864; to indigo, 1,583,808; to tobacco, 

 1,000,230; to jute, 2,215,105; to other fibers, 591,- 

 996; to various food crops, 6,017,127; to coffee, 

 147,158 acres. Double crops were grown on 22,- 

 904,618 acres, making the total area cropped 199,- 

 862,373 acres, of which 29,365,493 were irrigated 

 by canals, tanks, wells, etc., counting twice the 

 lands irrigated for both crops. The area served 

 by the major irrigation works was 10,172,493 

 acres, paying Rx 3,386,183 for irrigation dues; 

 the area served by minor works, 6,706,531 acres, 

 paying Rx 1,786,658. The irrigation works paid 

 6.4 per cent, on their capital cost, and enabled 

 crops to be grown of the estimated value of Rx 

 46,000,000. 



The forests demarcated and reserved by the 

 Government in 1897 had an extent of 19,258 

 square miles in the Central Provinces, 12,986 in 

 Bombay, 14,058 in Burmah, 5,876 in Bengal, 13,138 

 in Madras, 3,822 in the Northwest Provinces and 

 Oudh, 3,681 in Assam, 1,681 in the Punjab, and 

 4,179 in the Berars. 



The number of cotton mills in operation in 

 1897 was 154, with 37,303 looms and 3,975,719 

 spindles, employing the average number of 148,- 

 997 persons. The jute mills numbered 31, with 

 12,784 looms and 258,154 spindles, employing 91,- 

 389 persons. There were also 5 woolen mills, 

 with 548 looms and 19,856 spindles. The coal 

 mines number 145, producing 4,063,127 tons in 

 1897, and giving employment to 59,859 persons. 



The foreign trade of India has increased from 

 Rx 14,342,290 in 1835 to Rx 198,972,505 in 1898, 

 although, owing to famine and plague, exports, 

 which in 1896 reached Rx 111,295,697, having 

 doubled in twenty years, fell off 8.16 per cent, 

 in 1897 and 3.80 per cent, in 1898. The value of 

 imports in 1898 was Rx 94,191,077; of exports, 

 Rx 104,781,428. The merchandise imports were 

 Rx 73,660,460; imports of treasure, Rx 20,530,- 

 617; merchandise exports, Rx 97,632,781; exports 

 of treasure, Rx 7,148,647. The imports of treasure 

 consisted of Rx 7,281,222 of gold and Rx 13,249,395 

 of silver; exports of treasure, Rx 2,372,733 of gold 

 and Rx 4,775,914 of silver. Excluding Government 

 stores and treasure, the total value of imports was 

 Rx 89,896,406, consisting of Rx 69,420,120 of mer- 

 chandise and Rx 20,476,286 of treasure; exports, 

 Rx 104,671,442, consisting of Rx 97,537,273 of mer- 

 chandise and Rx 7,134,169 of treasure. Of the 

 merchandise exports Rx 93,786,101 were domestic 

 products and Rx 3,751,172 were Te-exports of for- 

 eign merchandise. The share of Bengal in the 

 trade, excluding Government stores, was Rx 31,- 

 301,745 of imports and Rx 46,312,032 of exports; 

 of Burmah, Rx 5,866,397 of imports and Rx 9,006,- 



