INDIA. 



337 



decrease. The Government operations in the pre- 

 cious metals were small compared with the ab- 

 normal transactions of 1901, but private imports 

 of silver increased. 



Navigation. The number of vessels in the 

 foreign trade entered at the ports of British India 

 during the year ending March 31, 1901, was 4,232, 

 of 4,225,242 tons, of which 2,000, of 3,333,480 tons, 

 were British; 622, of 92,236 tons, British Indian; 

 969, of 59,386 tons, native; and 641, of 740,140 

 tons, foreign. The total number cleared was 4,070, 

 of 4,044,188 tons, of which 1,935, of 3,197,027 tons, 

 were British; 587. of 88,981 tons, British Indian; 

 958, of 58,695 tons, native; and 590, of 699,485 

 tons, foreign. The number arriving by way of 

 the Suez Canal was 531, of 1,384,993 tons; and 

 cleared for ports beyond the canal, 808, of 2,010,- 

 787 tons. In the coasting-trade 99,033 vessels, of 

 10,404,105 tons, were entered and 91,004, of 10,- 

 421,286 tons, cleared with cargoes. There were 86 

 vessels, of 4,540 tons, built in India in 1901, and 

 the number first registered was 122, of 12,207 tons. 

 Of the vessels built at Indian ports 46 were built 

 in Bombay, 16 in Sind, and 16 in Madras. 



Eailroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 total length of railroads in operation in the be- 

 ginning of 1901 was 24,707 miles, of which 5,859 

 miles were owned and operated by the Govern- 

 ment, 12,335 miles were state lines operated by 

 companies, 1,305 miles were guaranteed lines, 2,267 

 miles were assisted lines, 1,502 miles were lines 

 owned by native states worked by companies, 208 

 miles were lines belonging to native states worked 

 by the Indian Government, 1,157 miles were lines 

 owned and operated by native states, and 74 miles 

 were foreign lines. The capital of the Govern- 

 ment railroads operated by the state was 891,- 

 151,975 rupees; of Government railroads leased to 

 companies, 1,395,506,127 rupees; of guaranteed 

 lines, 670,958,145 rupees; of assisted lines, 167,- 

 335,501 rupees; of lines belonging to native states, 

 160,904,092 rupees; of foreign lines, 17,627,520 ru- 

 pees; total, 3,303,483.360 rupees for existing lines, 

 besides which 8,913,365 rupees were subscribed for 

 new lines and 15,114,112 rupees represent the coal- 

 mines and unclassified expenditure, including sur- 

 veys, making a total capital expenditure of 3,327,- 

 510,837 rupees. The receipts of all the railroads 

 in 1900 amounted to 315,967,327 rupees; operating 

 expenses, 150,995,875 rupees, being 47.79 per cent, 

 of the gross earnings; net earnings, 154,124,192 

 rupees, being 4.99 per cent, on the capital ; number 

 of passengers carried, 174,824,483, paying 102,644,- 

 273 rupees; tons of freight, 43,615,289, paying 204,- 

 094,792 rupees. The guaranteed lines have been 

 taken over by the Government, except the Madras 

 Railroad, which cost 11,607,973, and the Bom- 

 bay, Baroda, and Central Indian Railroad, which 

 cost 10,397,910, and in 1906 and 1908 these will 

 be transferred. In 1870 the Government gave up 

 its claims for the repayment of interest advanced 

 under the guarantees and the companies their 

 right to more than half the surplus profits. Brit- 

 ish investors have over 200,000,000 in Indian 

 railroads. There were no profits for the Govern- 

 ment until it took the guaranteed lines. In 1900 

 the railroads of India for the first time brought a 

 profit to the state, a small surplus of 58,000, 

 which grew to 767,000 in 1901. There were 567 

 miles built in 1901, making the total mileage 25,- 

 373 miles, five times as great as it was in 1871. 

 The average net profits on all Indian railroads 

 was 5.26 per cent, in 1901. Many of the lines 

 were built for famine protection and for strategic 

 purposes, and some of these yielded a profit, while 

 some purely commercial lines earned as much as 

 9.50 per cent. The Bengal and Assam Railroad, 

 VOL. XLII. 22 A 



constructed principally to benefit the tea districts 

 in which much English capital is invested, was 

 extended with difficulty over the hills- into the 

 Brahmaputra valley as a strategic railroad for 

 the defense of the northeastern frontier, and the 

 original estimate of 4,180,000 and the time of 

 construction were doubled. The military lines 

 from Jamrud to Peshawar and from Dargai to 

 Nowshera were completed in 1901. The latter line 

 has developed considerable trade between the 

 frontier province and the recently hostile coun- 

 tries from which the occupying Indian garrisons 

 were withdrawn, though trade with Kabul con- 

 tinues to decline, owing to restrictions imposed by 

 the late Ameer. The line from Mandalay north- 

 ward, which was originally intended to penetrate 

 the Chinese province of Yunnan, will stop at 

 Lashio, 50 miles short of the Salween river, but is 

 expected to be of advantage in developing the 

 northern Shan states. A line from Pegu to 

 Moulmein has been surveyed and a line from 

 Quetta to Nushki will be built, with a prospect 

 of continuing it into the Persian province of 

 Seistan. The Bengal and Nagpur Railroad taps 

 the Jherriah coal-fields and affords a new outlet 

 to Calcutta and Bombay. While English coal was 

 abnormally dear the railroads had a large traffic 

 in Indian coal. The general traffic has grown 

 steadily since 1893. In 1901 there were 195,000,- 

 000 passengers carried, 10 per cent, more than in 

 1900. The increase was in third-class passengers, 

 who pay average fares of less than a farthing a 

 mile. The removal of plague restrictions and the 

 disappearance of famine enabled many more na- 

 tives to travel. The working expenses in 1901 

 were 46.81 per cent, of the gross earnings, having 

 been diminished from 48.74 per cent, in 1897. 



The post-office in 1900 forwarded 521,664,746 

 letters, newspapers, and other mail -matter; re- 

 ceipts, 19,624,722 rupees; expenses, 17,733,705 ru- 

 pees. 



The Government telegraph-lines on April 1, 

 1900, had a total length of 52,909 miles, with 170,- 

 766 miles of wire. The number of messages in the 

 financial year was 6,237,301; receipts, 12,489,684 

 rupees; expenses, 10,890,819 rupees. 



Financial and Economical Conditions. 

 Indians assert that there are two Indias English 

 India and the India of the natives. The native 

 and unofficial members of the Viceroy's Council, 

 whether they think that famine is due to the as- 

 sessment of land revenue or to other causes, plead 

 for a reduction of taxes, especially since the rupee 

 has been made dearer by the currency laws, and 

 consider that the cost of the army and defenses, 

 which are to a great extent intended for the pro- 

 tection of the British Empire against enemies of 

 Great Britain, ought to be shared by Great 

 Britain or the army reduced, especially the Brit- 

 ish troops in India. The Government denied that 

 the people of India were overtaxed, arguing that 

 when revenues were elastic the taxes could not 

 be excessive. That the people were exceedingly 

 poor was admitted, and that the cultivators were 

 running deeper in debt. Lord Curzon places the 

 average annual income at 20 rupees a head. The 

 average expenses of a farmer's family are 95 ru- 

 pees a year. It is estimated that 40,000,000 of the 

 people of India live their whole lives in a half- 

 starved condition and 50,000,000 more subsist 

 solely on the coarsest cereals and vegetables. The 

 estimated total indebtedness of the farming popu- 

 lation is 230,000,000, averaging 1 6s. a head. 

 The famine commissioners found that in Bombay 

 one-fourth of the cultivators had lost possession 

 of their land and were mere serfs of the money- 

 lenders, and that not one in five was free from 



