aged by private companies on whose capital the Indian government guaranteed a fixed rate of interest, generally 5 per cent. The government in return for this assistance, exercised a general control over the companies, and reserved the right of buying the undertakings at specified dates on stated terms. In 1870 Lord Mayo initiated the policy of railway construction by direct state agency, but in more recent times several lines have been constructed by "assisted companies." Several of these latter lines have been taken over by government. There are also native state railways constructed from capital borrowed by native states, but generally worked by a staff employed by the government of India or by the trunk railway companies to whose lines they serve as feeders.

The importance of railroads in India is largely increased, in a governmental sense, by reason of their forming strategical links between the various_military cantonments through which the vast Indian population is held in check by a comparatively small army of British soldiers. This, more than any other incentive, has hastened the development of railways in India.

The main lines are four in number, and are known as the Bombay-Calcutta, Madras-Calcutta, Calcutta-Simla and the Bombay-Madras lines. The first crosses the great northern plain, the last the great southern plain of India, and are both connected by means of branch lines with all the large cities of the empire. These great trunk lines have also been extended to the farthest limits of India, and even into adjoining territories, as where the line which crosses the Indus at Sukkur enters Afghanistan, the terminus being not more than 60 miles from Kandahar. There is also the Burman line, which passes up the valley of the Irawaddy in the direction of the Chinese frontier. These three main lines, with their several offshoots, may be roughly sketched as follows: In the north, a direct line from Bombay on the west coast to Calcutta on the east coast; a line to Benares from Bombay; a direct line from Calcutta to Peshawar, on the Afghanistan border, by way of Benares, Delhi and Lahore; a line from Lahore to Karachi, with the branch line between these two cities to Kandahar. In the south, the main line between Bombay and Madras through Hyderabad; the line from Bombay to Goa, and from Goa to Madras, with lines connecting with Calicut and with the line from Madras to Tuticorin in the south. Since 1916 a railway built across "Adam's Bridge" at a cost of $3,700,000 connects Ceylon with India. In Indo-China, the main line from Rangoon to the Chinese frontier, by way of Mandalay, and with an extension to Bhamo and another to Meaday. (It is proposed to extend the Bhamo line to Bishi and the main line to Yun-nan in China with offshoots to Tching-tou and Haipong).

The total mileage of railways in India on 31 March 1914 was: State lines, 25,832 miles; companies lines guaranteed under modern contracts, 32 miles; district board's lines, 155 miles; branch line companies receiving rebates from traffic interchanged with main lines, 1,388 miles; companies lines (a) subsidized by the government of India, 449 miles; (b) subsidized by local governments, 137 miles; (c) subsidized by

district boards, 302 miles; (d) and companies lines receiving land only from the government of India, 1,760 miles; unassisted companies lines, 74 miles; leased lines, 79 miles; native state lines, 4,363 miles; and foreign lines, 74 miles; total, 34,645 miles. The total capital outlay of these railways till the end of 1913 was slightly over $1,500,000,000; the total number of passengers carried in 1913 was 457,717,000; and the total weight of goods and live stock carried 82,613,000 tons. The chief highways are well metalled with a kind of limestone called kankar, but in Lower Bengal and similar districts, where there is no available stone, roughly-made bricks are used for road-metal. Many of the roads are planted with avenues of trees.

Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones.- The number of post-offices in India in 1914 was 68,077. The total number of letters and postcards and all pieces of mail was 1,080,908,000. The Indian telegraph system consisted in 1914 of 81,593 miles of line, 321,801 miles of wire and 283 miles of cable. The number of telegraph offices is about 7,000 and the annual number of messages over 16,000,000. There are telephone companies at important towns, such as Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi, Madras, Maulmain, Rangoon and Ahmadabad. India is now in direct telegraphic communication with the Straits Settlements and the Australian colonies, with Europe via Suez, via Teheran and via Turkey, with the East Coast of Africa and with China via Bhamo; and there are several wireless telegraphic stations under government control.

Canals and Irrigation.- In some parts of India, such as Sind, cultivation is impossible without irrigation, while in others, such as much of Lower Bengal, irrigation may be regarded as quite unnecessary; but in the greater part of all the provinces the rainfall is either insufficient for the proper cultivation of the soil, or so uncertain as to expose the agriculturists to the constant risk of scarcity and even of actual famine. Hitherto irrigation has had only a secondary place in the governmental development of India, the attention of the administration having run more to railways. The profit on the railways is, on an average, 5 cent, while the expenditure on irrigation works on which only $125,000,000 have been spent, the profit has averaged 8.22 per cent; on the Eastern Jumna canals the profits rise to 25 per cent. The annual irrigation expenditure under the present Indian budget comes to only $7,500,000 for major and minor works together.

per

Many of the irrigation works now administered by the Public Works Department are simply old native works restored, and in some cases extended or improved. Tank irrigation is common in some districts, especially in southern India, and the tanks are mostly of native origin. Many old tanks, however, have been repaired or improved by the British government, and new ones have been constructed in Madras (where there are now 60,000 tanks), the Bombay Deccan and Ajmir Merwara. In parts of Baluchistan, where the rainfall is scanty and capricious, water for irrigation purposes is drawn from underground springs by means of tunnels driven into the hillsides. The most common method of irrigation in India, however, is that by wells, which prevails over large areas

in all the provinces. Canal irrigation was practised to some extent by the native rulers, but all the important canals have been constructed since the British occupation. Irrigation canals are of two kinds, inundation and perennial. The latter are furnished with permanent headworks and weirs, and are capable of irrigating large areas throughout the year, independently of the local rainfall; while the latter, which are peculiar to Sind and the Punjab, are simply earthen channels supplied with water by the annual rise in May of the Indus and its affluents. Many of the perennial canals are, either in whole or in part, used for navigation, and there are, besides, a few canals used for navigation alone. In 1913-14 throughout India, 20,446,248 acres were irrigated by canals; 6,303,740 acres by tanks; 13,866,918 acres by wells and 6,219,113 acres by other sources. State irrigation works accounted for nearly 25,000,000 acres in 1913-14. Aside from interest charges, the net revenue from these works was about $21,125,000, while the estimated value of crops was $271,250,000.

Money, Weights and Measures. By an act passed in 1835 a uniform monetary system was established throughout India. with the Madras silver rupee of 180 grains, .916 fine, as the monetary unit. The rupee was subdivided into 16 annas, and each anna into 12 pies (or four pice). Silver was made the universal standard of value, and the silver rupee and halfrupee were declared to be legal tender to any amount. The other smaller coins were made legal tender up to the value of one rupee; 100,000 rupees are called a lakh or lac, and 100 lakhs a crore. Under this system large sums are punctuated differently from the usual European method. For instance, the Indian PostOffice Savings banks' statistics show that in 1913-14, 9,824 banks with 1,638,725 depositors had to their credit 231,675,467 rupees, or according to the Indian method 23,16,75 467 rupees, reading as 23 crores, 16 lakhs and 75,467 rupees.

The coins under this system are: Silver Rupee, half-rupee, quarter-rupee and one-eighth rupee; Bronze or Copper-Three pies (or a pice); six pies, one pie. There are also gold coins called mohurs, but they are not a legal tender, and there is no fixed ratio between them and the silver coins. The rupee was formerly valued at 48 cents, but it has fluctuated greatly, mainly downward. In January 1895 it was nearly as low as 24 cents; but since 1898 the sterling value of the rupee has been about 32 cents. In view of the steady depreciation of silver, and the consequent financial embarrassments and burdens to which the government of India was subjected in its dealings with goldstandard countries, an act was passed by the Governor-general's Legislative Council in 1893 providing for the closing of the Indian mints to the unrestricted coinage of silver for the public. Notifications were issued simultaneously providing (1) for the receipt of gold coin and gold bullion at the mints in exchange for rupees at a ratio of 1s. 4d. (or 32 cents) per rupee; (2) for the receipt of sovereigns and half-sovereigns of current weight at treasuries, in payment of government dues, at the rate of 15 rupees for a sovereign and 71⁄2 rupees for a half-sovereign; and (3) for the issue of currency notes in Calcutta and Bombay in exchange for gold coin or gold

bullion at the rate of one government rupee for 1s. 4d. By a notification of 11 Sept. 1897, sovereigns and half-sovereigns of current weight are also received at the reserve treasuries, at the rate of rupees, 15 for the sovereign.

An act (XXII of 1899) declared the sovereign legal tender, 15 rupees to the sovereign. It was, however, decided not to coin gold in India, a proposal to coin gold is now under consideration.

The Coinage Act of 1906 provided for the introduction of a subsidiary nickel one-anna piece and the substitution of a bronze currency for the existing copper coins. The coinage of copper was accordingly discontinued with effect from 1 Aug. 1906. The issue of the nickel one-anna piece was commenced with effect from 1 Aug. 1907.

Since 1900 rupees have been coined as required to meet public demands, the government purchasing the silver and paying for it mainly with the gold accumulated in the paper currency reserve. The entire profit accruing to government on the coinage up to 31 March 1907, and during the year 1912-13, and half such profit for the years 1907-08 and 1908-09 were placed to the credit of a separate fund termed the gold standard reserve, with the object of ensuring the stability of the currency policy of the government. Any profit arising from this source in future will be credited entire to the gold standard reserve, until such time as the gold and gold securities in the gold standard reserve shall attain to a total of 25,000,000 sterling. At 31 March 1914, the reserve amounted

to

about 25,5000,000 sterling, inclusive of 4,000,000 lacs of rupees held in India.

On 16 July 1861, an act was passed by the government of India providing for the issue of a paper currency_through a government department of Public Issue, by means of promissory notes. Circles of issue were established from time to time, as found necessary, and the notes were made legal tender within the circle for which they were issued, and rendered payable at the place of issue, and also at the capital city of the presidency. Subsequent legislation has relaxed the rigidity of the circle system. Notes of the values of 5, 10, 50 and 100 rupees are now legal tender throughout British India, and the limitation of currency to the circle of issue is confined to notes of higher denominations. There are now seven circles of issue with their headquarters at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Rangoon, Cawnpore, Lahore and Karachi.

By the Measures of Length Act of 1889 the British Imperial yard of 3 feet or 36 inches was made the standard of length for the whole of British India. The most important of the old native measures of length was the guz of Bengal, which was practically equal to a yard. An act was passed in 1871 to prepare the way for the adoption of a uniform system of weights and measures of capacity throughout British India. The unit and standard of weight established by the act is the ser, which is equal to a kilogram or two and one-fifth pounds. The unit of capacity was declared to be a measure containing one ser of water, at its maximum density, weighed in a vacuum, and is thus equal to a litre or one and three-quarters pint. Among native weights the most important are the tola (Bengal) of 180 grains, and the Imperial or

Indian maund of 40 seers, equal to 822/7 pounds.

Government. The government of the Indian Empire is regulated by an act passed in 1858, by which all the territories formerly possessed by the East India Company are transferred to the Crown, and all the powers of the said company exercised in name of the sovereign, all taxes being received and disposed of for the purposes of the government of India alone. His majesty's secretary of state for India is invested with the powers formerly exercised by the company or the board of control, and he must countersign all orders and warrants under his majesty's sign-manual. He is assisted by a council of from 10 to 15 members, two of whom are natives of India. The secretary for India fills up vacancies in the council. The members receive a salary of $6,000 a year payable out of the revenues of India, and they hold their office for 10 years. All orders sent to India must be signed by the secretary, and all dispatches from the Indian government must be addressed to him. The executive authority in India is vested in the governor-general or viceroy appointed by the Crown, and acting under the direction of the Secretary of State for India. He has a salary of 250,000 rupees, or about $83,500. The governor-general in council has power to make laws for all persons, whether British or native, within the dominions subject to the British Crown, and for all British subjects residing in allied native states. His council consists of six ordinary members, of whom one is a native of India, and one extraordinary member, namely, the commander-in-chief. There are 10 departments Home. foreign, finance, army, public works, revenue and agriculture, commerce and industry, legislative, education and railways. The council is expanded into a legislative council composed of 38 official and 32 non-official members, the members have the right of supplementary interpellation. Bengal, Madras and Bombay are ruled by governors with legislative councils. The united provinces, Punjab, Burma, Bihar and Orissa are ruled by lieutenant-governors with councils. Chief commissioners rule over Assam and North-West frontier province and Coorg.

Finance. The gross revenue estimated for 1915-16 was $401,734,500, and the gross expenditure charged against revenue $415,586,000. The total public debt of India on 31 March 1915. was $1,535,575,115, of which $650,251,330 represented the debt in India, and the rest the debt in England. The largest item in the revenue is that derived from land, which amounted in the year 1915-16 to $110,248,000. (See paragraph on Land Tenure and Revenue.) The revenue from forests was $10,579,000, and the total amount of tribute received from native states was $3,066,500. The revenue from opium on exports amounted to £4,645,000 in 1908-09 and to £8,990,000 (estimated) in 1915-16. The opium revenue is raised partly by a monopoly in Bengal, and partly by the levy of a duty on all opium exported from native states. The cultiva-' tion of the opium poppy is absolutely prohibited in British territory, except in certain parts of Bengal and the united provinces of Agra and Oudh, but a few thousand acres in the Punjab. grow it for local consumption. The opium revenue is being reduced as the export to China is now entirely stopped. The revenue from salt

is $16,910,500. The salt revenue is raised by a duty on all salt imported into, or manufactured in India, the duty being now one and onehalf rupees (50 cents) per maund, except in Burma, where it is one rupee (32 cents) per maund. The native sources of salt supply are the coast, especially the Rann of Cutch (Baragra salt) and Maurypur (Sind), the salt lakes and pits (especially Sambhar Lake) of Rajputana, and the salt mines (especially the Mayo mine) of the Punjab. Bengal and most of Burma import their salt by sea, much of it coming from England. Several native chiefs have entrusted the management of their salt sources to the British authorities in return for certain payments. The excise accounts for $43,951,500 of the revenue from taxation. The only excisable articles are intoxicating liquors (including toddy, palm-wines and rice-beer), and certain drugs (opium, ganja, bhang, charas), and the aim of the government in taxing these has been as much to reduce consumption as to raise revenue. The government treats the right to manufacture and the right to sell spirits as state monopolies, which are granted to individuals on special terms. Throughout Bombay and the Punjab, the most populous tracts of Madras, the united provinces, Oudh and Burma, and in some parts of Bengal and the central provinces, the central distillery system in some form prevails, and a still-head duty is levied on all spirits manufactured at the recognized distilleries. Except in Madras and some other parts, these central distilleries are government establishments at which private persons distil spirits. In other districts the spirit revenue is raised by farming out the spirit monopoly to the highest bidder, or by licensing the establishment of private stills, the latter method being called the out-still system. The Indian government is replacing the farming and out-still systems as far as possible by the central distillery system. The customs revenue amounted in 1914-15 to $29,715,000. Import duties were abolished in India in 1882, but in 1894 they were reimposed, and now all goods, with the exception of railway material and industrial machinery, food grains, coal, jute, wool and other raw materials, gold and unset precious stones, and some other commodities, are subject to import duty. The amount of the duty is generally 5 per cent, but petroleum is charged at the rate of one anna per gallon, and iron and steel are subjected to a duty of only one per cent. Since 1896 all cotton yarns imported into or manufactured in India have been duty-free, while all woven cotton goods imported from abroad, or manufactured at power-mills in India, pay and ad valorem duty of 32 per cent. There is an export duty on rice and rice-flour of three annas per maund of unhusked rice. A countervailing duty on bounty-fed sugar came into force in March 1899. Revenue from stamps, was $25,535,500. Other important heads of revenue are: Post office, telegraphs and mint (est. 1915-16) net $17,896,000; civil departments, $7,670,000; railways, $75,146,500; irrigation, $23,976,500; other civil public works, $1,280,500. The chief elements in the expenditure are: Railways, $69,250,000; army and marine services, $106,101,500; civil salaries, etc., $95;650,500; charges of collection, $39,683,000; miscellaneous civil charges (furlough and superannuation allowances, pensions paid in Eng

land, etc.), $39,683,000; irrigation, $25,542,000; famine relief and insurance, $4,860,000; post office, telegraphs and mint, $18,254,000; interest on public debt, etc., $16,532,000. Expenses for buildings and roads are not included.

Army and Navy. The army in India is under a commander-in-chief, who is under the control of the Indian government; and is divided into a Northern army and a Southern army. The Indian army was composed before the Great War of 75,897 British troops and 161,085 native troops. The native troops are officered by Englishmen. Wherever European troops are stationed there is always a larger native force, and in many of the smaller and less important posts there is a native force only. Much money has been spent in recent years on defensive works and military establishments, strategic roads, etc. India has also a certain number of vessels for coast defense.

Ethnology. India is inhabited by numerous peoples belonging to several distinct groups or families. Previous to the Mohammedan ascendency the dominant race were the Hindus, who, however, were not the aboriginal inhabitants nor even the first invaders. From the northwest of India, through Kashmir and down the valley of the Indus, and from Tibet through the passes of the Himalayas, the inhabitants of northern Asia from a very early period migrated southward to the milder and more fertile plains of India. Two great successions of these invasions are recognized as having taken place before the period of authentic history. The first immigrants, of dubious ethnological connections, but commonly known as the Tamil races, appear to have overspread the entire peninsula. Following them the Sanskrit-speaking peoples, called the Hindus, of Aryan speech, dispossessed the Tamil races, and superseded their language in the whole of India north of the Nerbudda. The Hindus subsequently descended into the peninsula and penetrated as far as Cape Comorin; but though their influence on the languages of southern India was considerable in the way of introducing new terms, the grammar and construction of the Tamil languages maintained their place in the districts south of the Nerbudda. The native tribes were not exterminated by these invasions, but are still to be found under various names, as Bhils, Catties, Coolies, Gonds, etc., inhabiting the fastnesses of the mountain-ranges in Bengal, the Vindhya and Satpura Mountains, the Gháts, etc. The hill tribes and other aborigines in all India are estimated at 70,000,000.

Population. The first census of all India was taken in 1871-72, but it was not till that of 1891 was taken that a really reliable and comprehensive statistical account of the people of India was available. In 1871-72 the total population of India was returned at 240,931,521, in 1881 at 253,793,514, in 1891 at 287,223,431, in 1901 at 294,266,701 and in 1911, 315,156,396, of which 244,267,542 were under immediate British authority. The total number of Europeans was only 135,995.

France still possesses in India Pondicherry, Karikal, and Yanaon, on the east coast of Madras; Mahé, on the west coast of Madras, and Chandarnagore on the Hugli, north of Calcutta. To Portugal belong Goa, Damão, and the small island of Diu, on the coast of Bombay. These French and Portuguese pos

sessions have a total area of 1,754 square miles and a popuation of 852,752.

Education.-A system of education for India was inaugurated in 1854 in conformity with the instructions of the home government, and the despatch of Sir Charles Wood (afterward Lord Halifax) of 19 July 1854 is the basis_on which the educational system still rests. The fundamental principle of the despatch was that the native languages should be made the medium of communicating European knowledge. Examining universities with affiliated colleges were to be founded, and English and vernacular elementary schools were to be established. The despatch enumerated five government colleges in Bengal; the Sanskrit College and Mohammedan Madrasa at Calcutta; five colleges in the United Provinces; the Elphinstone Institution, Puna College and Grant Medical College in Bombay; the High School at Madras and several missionary schools, as proper to be at once affiliated to the universities. In 1857 the three universities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were formally incorporated by law as examining bodies based on the model of the University of London as then constituted. A somewhat different university, with teaching powers, was established in 1882 at Lahore in the Punjab, and in 1887 a fifth university was founded at Allahabad for the northwest provinces. The Education Commission of 1882-83 extended the system of Wood's despatch by placing education on a more popular basis and giving greater recognition to indigenous schools and the first proposals for extending education to Indian women were made by this commission. Educational institutions in India are officially divided into two classes: (1) Public schools, in which the course of study conforms to the standards prescribed by the department of public instruction or by the university, and which either undergo inspection by the department, or else regularly present pupils at the public examinations held by the department or by the university. These institutions may be under either public or private management, and among them are many schools receiving grants-in-aid. (2) Private schools, comprising all which do not fulfil the above conditions. The three main grades of institutions through which the system of education operates are: (1) Primary schools, which aim at the teaching of reading, writing and such elementary knowledge as will enable a peasant to look after his own interests; (2) secondary schools, either English or vernacular; and (3) colleges, the students in which, having passed the matriculation examination of a university, are reading for the further examinations required for a degree. There are also many other colleges teaching special branches of knowledge, such as medicine, law, and engineering, and special colleges for sons of native chiefs and noblemen. In Burma primary education is still very largely in the hands of Buddhist monks. Outside of a few exceptional districts, female education is exceedingly backward in India, but slow progress is being made. There are schools of art in Madras, Calcutta and Bombay, and many of the chief towns have good museums. Many normal schools have been established for the special training of teachers.

The total number of colleges in India in 1913 was 174, of which only 11 were for females.