344 Estimate of Life in the Civil Service. [Ma¥ , 



power existing of tracing almost every nominee, the registers have 

 been made up for past years as completely and accurately as if the 

 nominees of the present year were to be followed prospectively through 

 their career of service to the time of their deaths or retirements. The 

 same principle may perhaps be adopted in framing regimental regis- 

 ters retrospectively for privates and non-commissioned officers, 

 because each individual can similarly be traced, and his age at the 

 time of enlistment or of ai-rival in India will be on the regimental 

 rolls ; but no materials will be any where forthcoming from which to 

 do the same for any class of natives, unless it be for the tenants of 

 the different jails during the period of their confinement for debt or 

 under criminal sentences. 



Having premised the above remarks on the general applicability of 

 the method of computation adopted for ascertainment of the risks of 

 life amongst Bengal Civil Servants, it remains to give the amended 

 table, framed from the registers prepared in the Secretary's office at 

 Calcutta for the Bengal Service from 1790 to 1836. The number of 

 individuals of the class whose names are registered, and who have 

 given to our table a first year of life, is now very nearly 1000*, and 

 the average of the first five years is consequently framed on a total 

 of 4525 lives. To the end of the 20th year the number of annual 

 lives now exceeds 300, and the five years' averages are upon number* 

 exceeding two thousand ; the yearly numbers diminish to 100 at the 

 end of the 30th year, only affording for the five years' average of that 

 period of life as many as 660 lives. For the succeeding five years 

 the average is reduced to actual casualties upon 299 lives, and after 

 that the numbers are too small to afford any data that can be relied 

 upon. 



To the corrected estimate now given of the risks of life in the 

 Bengal Civil Service, we have added a column for retirements, in or- 

 der that the curious in Europe may build ingenious speculations 

 thereupon. It is mortifying to observe that the total number of these 



* The registered nominations are 1003, but this includes the nominees of 1836 

 who have not yet given us a first year of life. The following test of the accura- 

 cy of our table may be satisfactory. 



Nominees from 1790 to 31st Dec. 1836, 1003 



Deaths of table, 335 



Deaths in year of nomination, not included in the table, 8 



Retirements as in table 177 520 



Remains on the Civil List 1st January, 1837, deducting the 



China Servants, , . 483 



