ADMINISTRATION

by the act of parliament which transferred the government of india from the company to the crown, the administration in england is exercised by the sovereign through a secretary of state, who inherits all the powers formerly belonging to the court of directors and the board of control, and who, as a member of the cabinet, is responsible to parliament. in administrative details he is assisted by the council of india, an advisory body, with special control over finance. this council consists of not more than fifteen and not fewer than ten members, appointed by the secretary of state for a term of seven years, of whom at least nine must have served or resided in india for ten years. a hindu and a mahommedan were for the first time appointed to the council in 1907. the supreme government. at the head of the government in india is the governor-general, styled also viceroy, as representative of the sovereign. he is appointed by the crown, and his tenure of office is five years. the supreme authority, civil and military, including control over all the local governments, is vested in the governor-general in council, commonly known as "the government of india," which has its seat at calcutta during the cold season from november to april, and migrates to simla in the punjab hills for the rest of the year. the executive council of the governor-general is composed of six ordinary members, likewise appointed by the crown for a term of five years, of whom three must have served for ten years in india and one must be a barrister, together with the commander-in-chief as an extraordinary member. a hindu barrister was first appointed a member of council in 1909. the several departments of administration--foreign, home, finance, legislative, army, revenue and agriculture (with public works), commerce and industry, education (added in 1910)--are distributed among the council after the fashion of a european cabinet, the foreign portfolio being reserved by the viceroy; but all orders and resolutions are issued in the name of the governor-general in council and must be signed by a secretary. the legislative council. for legislative purposes the executive council is enlarged into a legislative council by the addition of other members, _ex officio_, nominated and elected. in accordance with regulations made under the indian councils act 1909, these additional members number 61, making 68 in all with the viceroy, so arranged as to give an official majority of three. the only _ex-officio_ additional member is the lieutenant-governor of the province in which the legislative council may happen to meet; nominated members number 35, of whom not more than 28 may be officials; while 25 are elected, directly or indirectly, with special representation for mahommedans and landholders. apart from legislation, the members of the council enjoy the right to interpellate the government on all matters of public interest, including the putting of supplementary questions; the right to move and discuss general resolutions, which, if carried, have effect only as recommendations; and the right to discuss and criticize in detail the budget, or annual financial statement. the local or provincial governments are fifteen in all, with varying degrees of responsibility. first stand the two presidencies of madras (officially fort st george) and bombay, each of which is administered by a governor and council appointed by the crown. the governor is usually sent from england; the members of council may number four, of whom two must have served in india for ten years. next follow the five lieutenant-governorships of bengal, the united provinces of agra and oudh, the punjab, burma, and eastern bengal and assam, for each of which a council may be appointed, beginning with bengal. last come the chief commissionerships, of which the central provinces (with berar) rank scarcely below the lieutenant-governorships, while the rest--the north-west frontier province, british baluchistan, ajmer-merwara, coorg and the andamans--are minor charges, generally associated with political supervision over native states or frontier tribes. the two presidencies and also the five lieutenant-governorships each possesses a legislative council, modelled on that of the governor-general, but so that in every case there shall be a majority of non-official members, varying from 13 to 3. districts. within the separate provinces the administrative unit is the district, of which there are 249 in india. in every province except madras there are divisions, consisting of three or more districts under a commissioner. the title of the district officer varies according to whether the province is "regulation" or "non-regulation." this is an old distinction, which now tends to become obsolete; but broadly speaking a larger measure of discretion is allowed in the non-regulation provinces, and the district officer may be a military officer, while in the regulation provinces he must be a member of the indian civil service. in a regulation province the district officer is styled a collector, while in a non-regulation province he is called a deputy-commissioner. the chief non-regulation provinces are the punjab, central provinces and burma; but non-regulation districts are also to be found in bengal, eastern bengal and assam, the united provinces and sind. the districts are partitioned out into lesser tracts, which are strictly units of administration, though subordinate ones. the system of partitioning, and also the nomenclature, vary in the different provinces; but generally it may be said that the subdivision or _tahsil_ is the ultimate unit of administration. the double name indicates the twofold principle of separation: the subdivision is properly the charge of an assistant magistrate or executive officer, the _tahsil_ is the charge of a deputy-collector or fiscal officer; and these two offices may or may not be in the same hands. broadly speaking, the subdivision is characteristic of bengal, where revenue duties are in the background, and the _tahsil_ of madras, where the land settlement requires attention year by year. there is no administrative unit below the subdivision or _tahsil_. the _thana_, or police division, only exists for police purposes. the _pargana_, or fiscal division, under native rule, has now but an historical interest. the village still remains as the agricultural unit, and preserves its independence for revenue purposes in most parts of the country. the township is peculiar to burma. the judicial service. bengal (including eastern bengal and assam), madras, bombay and the old north-western provinces each has a high court, established by charter under an act of parliament, with judges appointed by the crown. of the other provinces the punjab and lower burma have chief courts, and oudh, the central provinces, upper burma, sind and the north-west frontier province have judicial commissioners, all established by local legislation. from the high courts, chief courts and judicial commissioners an appeal lies to the judicial committee of the privy council in england. below these courts come district and sessions judges, who perform the ordinary judicial work of the country, civil and criminal. their jurisdictions coincide for the most part with the magisterial and fiscal boundaries. but, except in madras, where the districts are large, a single civil and sessions judge sometimes exercises jurisdiction over more than one district. in the non-regulation territory judicial and executive functions are to a large extent combined in the same hands. the law administered in the indian courts is described in the article indian law. indian services. the chief of the indian services is technically known as the indian civil service. it is limited to about a thousand members, who are chosen by open competition in england between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-four. nearly all the higher appointments, administrative and judicial, are appropriated by statute to this service, with the exception of a few held by military officers on civil duty in the non-regulation provinces. other services mainly or entirely recruited in england are the education department, police, engineering, public works, telegraph and forest services. in addition to the british officials employed in these services, there is a host of natives of india holding superior or subordinate appointments in the government service. according to a calculation made in 1904, out of 1370 appointments with a salary of £800 a year and upwards, 1263 were held by europeans, 15 by eurasians and 92 by natives of india. but below that line natives of india greatly preponderate; of 26,908 appointments ranging between £800 and £60 a year, only 5205 were held by europeans, 5420 by eurasians and 16,283 by natives. these figures show that less than 6500 englishmen are employed to rule over the 300 millions of india. on the other hand, natives manage the greater part of the administration of the revenue and land affairs and magisterial work. the subordinate courts throughout india are almost entirely manned by native judges, who sit also on the bench in each of the high courts. similarly in the other services. there are four engineering colleges in india, which furnish to natives access to the higher grades of the public works department; and the provincial education services are recruited solely in india. the army. though the total strength of the army in india has undergone little change, important reforms of organization have been effected in recent years which have greatly improved its efficiency. in 1895, after long discussion, the old presidency system was abolished and the whole army was placed under one commander-in-chief, though it was not till 1904 that the native regiments of cavalry and infantry were re-numbered consecutively, and the hyderabad contingent and a few local battalions were incorporated with the rest of the army. about the same time (1903) the designation of british officers serving with native troops was changed from "indian staff corps" to "indian army." the entire force, british and native, is now subdivided into a northern and a southern army, with burma as an independent command attached to the latter. each of these armies is organized in divisions, nine in number, based on the principles that the troops in peace should be trained in units of command similar to those in which they would take the field, and that much larger powers should be entrusted to the divisional commanders. at the same time large sums of money have been expended on strategic works along the north-west frontier, supply and transport has been reorganized, rifle, gun and ammunition factories have been established, and a staff college at quetta. in 1907-1908 the actual strength of the army in india numbered 227,714 officers and men, of whom 73,947 were british troops; and the total military expenditure amounted to £17,625,000, of which £2,996,000 was for non-effective charges. in addition, the reserve of the native army numbered 34,846 men, the volunteers 34,962, the frontier militia (including the khyber rifles) about 6000, the levies (chiefly in baluchistan) about 6000, and the military police (chiefly in burma) about 22,000. these figures do not include the imperial service troops, consisting of cavalry, infantry and transport corps, about 18,000 in all, which are paid and officered by the native states furnishing them, though supervised by british inspectors. the military forces otherwise maintained by the several native states are estimated to number about 100,000 men, of varying degrees of efficiency. police. the police, it is admitted, still form an unsatisfactory part of the administration, though important reforms have recently been introduced. the present system, which is modelled somewhat on that of the irish constabulary, dates from shortly after the mutiny, and is regulated for the greater part of the country by an act passed in 1861. it provides a regular force in each district, under a superintendent who is almost always a european, subordinate for general purposes to the district magistrate. for the preservation of order this force is by no means inefficient, but it fails as a detective agency and also in the prosecution of crime, being distrusted by the people generally. as the result of a commission appointed in 1902, a considerable addition has been made to the expenditure on police, which is being devoted to increasing the pay of all the lower grades and to augmenting the number of investigating officers. in 1901 the total strength of the civil police force was about 145,000 men, maintained at a total cost of about £2,200,000. in addition, the village watchmen or _chaukidars_, a primitive institution paid from local sources but to some extent incorporated in the general system, aggregated about 700,000; while a special force of military police, numbering about 20,000 under officers seconded from the army, is maintained along the frontier, more especially in burma. gaols. the administration of gaols in india can be described more favourably. as a rule, there is one gaol in each district, under the management of the civil surgeon. discipline is well maintained, though separate confinement is practically unknown; and various industries (especially carpet-weaving) are profitably pursued wherever possible. so much attention has been directed to diet and sanitation that the death-rate compares well with that of the general working population: in 1907 it was as low as 18 per 1000. convicts with more than six years to serve are transported to the andaman islands, where the penal settlement is organized on an elaborate system, permitting ultimately self-support on a ticket of leave and even marriage. in 1907 the daily average gaol population in india was 87,306, while the convicts in the andamans numbered 14,235. municipalities. local self-government, municipal and rural, in the form in which it now prevails in india, is essentially a product of british rule. village communities and trade gilds in towns existed previously, but these were only rudimentary forms of self-government. the beginnings of municipal government occurred in the presidency towns. apart from these the act of 1850 respecting improvements in towns initiated consultative committees. in 1870 lord mayo delegated to local committees the control over these improvement funds. but the system at present in force is based upon legislation by lord ripon in 1882, providing for the establishment of municipal committees and local boards, whose members should be chosen by election with a preponderance of non-official members. the large towns of calcutta, bombay and madras have municipalities of this character, and there are large numbers of municipal committees and local boards all over the country. there are also port trusts in the great maritime cities of calcutta, bombay, madras, karachi and rangoon. land settlement. as the land furnishes the main source of indian revenue, so the assessment of the land tax is the main work of indian administration. no technical term is more familiar to anglo-indians, and none more strange to the english public, than that of land settlement. no subject has given rise to more voluminous controversy. it will be enough in this place to explain the general principles upon which the system is based, and to indicate the chief differences of application in the several provinces. that the state should appropriate to itself a direct share in the produce of the soil is a fundamental maxim of indian finance that has been recognized throughout the east from time immemorial. the germs of rival systems can be traced in the old military and other service tenures of assam, and in the poll tax of burma, &c. the exclusive development of the land system is due to two conditions,--a comparatively high state of agriculture and an organized plan of administration,--both of which are supplied by the primitive village community. during the lapse of untold generations, despite domestic anarchy and foreign conquest, the hindu village has in many parts preserved its simple customs, written in the imperishable tablets of traditions. the land was not held by private owners but by occupiers under the petty corporation; the revenue was not due from individuals, but from the community represented by its head-man. the aggregate harvest of the village fields was thrown into a common fund, and before the general distribution the head-man was bound to set aside the share of the state. no other system of taxation could be theoretically more just, or in practice less obnoxious to the people. such is an outline of the land system as it may be found at the present day throughout large portions of india both under british and native rule; and such we may fancy it to have been universally before the mahommedan conquest. the mussulmans brought with them the avarice of conquerors, and a stringent system of revenue collection. under the mogul empire, as organized by akbar the great, the share of the state was fixed at one-third of the gross produce of the soil; and a regular army of tax-collectors was permitted to intervene between the cultivator and the supreme government. the entire vocabulary of the present land system is borrowed from the mogul administration. the zamindar himself is a creation of the mahommedans, unknown to the early hindu system. he was originally a mere tax-collector, or farmer of the land revenue, who agreed to furnish a lump sum from the tract of country assigned to him. if the hindu village system may be praised for its justice, the mogul farming system had at least the merit of efficiency. shah jahan and aurangzeb extracted a larger land revenue than the british do. when the government was first undertaken by the east india company, no attempt was made to understand the social system upon which the land revenue was based. the zamindar was conspicuous and useful; the village community and the cultivating ryot did not force themselves into notice. the zamindar seemed a solvent person, capable of keeping a contract; and his official position as tax-collector was confused with the proprietary rights of an english landlord. the superior stability of the village system was overlooked, and in the old provinces of bengal and madras the village organization has gradually been suffered to fall into decay. the consistent aim of the british authorities has been to establish private property in the soil, so far as is consistent with the punctual payment of the revenue. the annual government demand, like the succession duty in england, is universally the first liability on the land; when that is satisfied, the registered landholder has powers of sale or mortgage scarcely more restricted than those of a tenant in fee-simple. at the same time the possible hardships, as regards the cultivator, of this absolute right of property vested in the owner have been anticipated by the recognition of occupancy rights or fixity of tenure, under certain conditions. legal rights are everywhere taking the place of unwritten customs. land, which was before merely a source of livelihood to the cultivator and of revenue to the state, has now become the subject of commercial speculation. the fixing of the revenue demand has conferred upon the owner a credit which he never before possessed, by allowing him a certain share of the unearned increment. this credit he may use improvidently, but none the less has the land system of india been raised from a lower to a higher stage of civilization. the means by which the land revenue is assessed is known as settlement, and the assessor is styled a settlement officer. in bengal the assessment has been accomplished once and for all, but throughout the greater part of the rest of india the process is continually going on. the details vary in the different provinces; but, broadly speaking, a settlement may be described as the ascertainment of the agricultural capacity of the land. prior to the settlement is the work of survey, which first determines the area of every village and frequently of every field also. then comes the settlement officer, whose duty it is to estimate the character of the soil, the kind of crop, the opportunities for irrigation, the means of communication and their probable development in the future, and all other circumstances which tend to affect the value of the produce. with these facts before him, he proceeds to assess the government demand upon the land according to certain general principles, which may vary in the several provinces. the final result is a settlement report, which records, as in a domesday book, the entire mass of agricultural statistics concerning the district. lower bengal and a few adjoining districts of the united provinces and of madras have a permanent settlement, i.e. the land revenue has been fixed in perpetuity. when the company obtained the _diwani_ or financial administration of bengal in 1765, the theory of a settlement, as described above, was unknown. the existing mahommedan system was adopted in its entirety. engagements, sometimes yearly, sometimes for a term of years, were entered into with the zamindars to pay a lump sum for the area over which they exercised control. if the offer of the zamindar was not deemed satisfactory, another contractor was substituted in his place. but no steps were taken, and perhaps no steps were possible, to ascertain in detail the amount which the country could afford to pay. for more than twenty years these temporary engagements continued, and received the sanction of warren hastings, the first titular governor-general of india. hastings' great rival, francis, was among those who urged the superior advantages of a permanent assessment. at last, in 1789, a more accurate investigation into the agricultural resources of bengal was commenced, and the settlement based upon this investigation was declared perpetual by lord cornwallis in 1793. the zamindars of that time were raised to the status of landlords, with rights of transfer and inheritance, subject always to the payment in perpetuity of a rent-charge. in default of due payment, their lands were liable to be sold to the highest bidder. the aggregate assessment was fixed at _sikka_ rs. 26,800,989, equivalent to co.'s rs. 28,587,722, or say 23⁄4 millions sterling. while the claim of government against the zamindars was thus fixed for ever, it was intended that the rights of the zamindars over their own tenants should be equally restricted. but no detailed record of tenant-right was inserted in the settlement papers, and, as a matter of fact, the cultivators lost rather than gained in security of tenure. the same english prejudice which made a landlord of the zamindar could recognize nothing but a tenant-at-will in the ryot. by two stringent regulations of 1799 and 1812 the tenant was practically put at the mercy of a rack-renting landlord. if he failed to pay his rent, however excessive, his property was rendered liable to distraint and his person to imprisonment. at the same time the operation of the revenue sale law had introduced a new race of zamindars, who were bound to their tenants by no traditions of hereditary sympathy, but whose sole object was to make a profit out of their newly purchased property. the rack-rented peasantry found no protection in the law courts until 1859, when an act was passed which restricted the landlord's powers of enhancement in certain specified cases. later the bengal tenancy act of 1885, since amended by an act of 1898, created various classes of privileged tenants, including one class known as "settled ryots," in which the qualifying condition is holding land, not necessarily the same land, for twelve years continuously in one village. outside the privileged classes of tenants the act gives valuable protection to tenants-at-will. the progress in the acquisition of occupancy rights by tenants may be judged from the fact that, whereas in 1877 it was stated of the champaran district that the cultivator had hardly acquired any permanent interest in the soil, the settlement officer in 1900 reported that 87% of the occupied area was in the possession of tenants with occupancy rights or holding at fixed rates. it is believed that the ryots will eventually be able to secure, and to hold against all comers, the strong legal position which the bengal tenancy act has given them. the permanent settlement was confined to the three provinces of bengal, behar and orissa, according to their boundaries at that time. orissa proper, which was conquered from the mahrattas in 1803, is subject to a temporary settlement, which expired in 1897 and a re-settlement was made in 1900. the enhancement in the revenue amounted to 52% of the previous demand; but in estates in which the increase was specially large it was decided to introduce the new rates gradually. the ryotwari system. the prevailing system throughout the madras presidency is the ryotwari, which takes the cultivator or peasant proprietor as its rent-paying unit, somewhat as the bengal system takes the zamindar. this system cannot be called indigenous to the country, any more than the zamindari of bengal. if any system deserves that name, it is that of village assessment, which still lingers in the memories of the people in the south. when the british declared themselves heir to the nawab of the carnatic at the opening of the 19th century, they had no adequate experience of revenue management. the authorities in england favoured the zamindari system already at work in bengal, which appeared at least calculated to secure punctual payment. the madras government was accordingly instructed to enter into permanent engagements with zamindars, and, where no zamindars could be found, to create substitutes out of enterprising contractors. the attempt resulted in failure in every case, except where the zamindars happened to be the representatives of ancient lines of powerful chiefs. several of such chiefs exist in the extreme south and in the north of the presidency. their estates have been guaranteed to them on payment of a _peshkash_ or permanent tribute, and are saved by the custom of primogeniture from the usual fate of subdivision. throughout the rest of madras there are no zamindars either in name or fact. the influence of sir thomas munro afterwards led to the adoption of the ryotwari system, which will always be associated with his name. according to this system, an assessment is made with the cultivating proprietor upon the land taken up for cultivation year by year. neither zamindar nor village officer intervenes between the cultivator and the state, which takes directly upon its own shoulders all a landlord's responsibility. the early ryotwari settlements in madras were based upon insufficient experience. they were preceded by no survey, but adopted the crude estimates of native officials. since 1858 a department of revenue survey has been organized, and the old assessments have been everywhere revised. nothing can be more complete in theory and more difficult of exposition than a madras ryotwari settlement. first, the entire area of the district, whether cultivated or uncultivated, and of each field within the district is accurately measured. the next step is to calculate the estimated produce of each field, having regard to every kind of both natural and artificial advantage. lastly, a rate is fixed upon every field, which may be regarded as roughly equal to one-third of the gross and one-half of the net produce. the elaborate nature of these inquiries and calculations may be inferred from the fact that as many as thirty-five different rates are sometimes struck for a single district, ranging from 6d. to £1, 4s. per acre. the rates thus ascertained are fixed for a term of thirty years; but during that period the aggregate rent-roll of a district is liable to be affected by several considerations. new land may be taken up for cultivation, or old land may be abandoned; and occasional remissions are permitted under no less than eighteen specified heads. such matters are discussed and decided by the collector at the _jamabandi_ or court held every year for definitely ascertaining the amount of revenue to be paid by each ryot for the current season. this annual inquiry has sometimes been mistaken by careless passers-by for an annual reassessment of each ryot's holding. it is not, however, a change in the rates for the land which he already holds, but an inquiry into and record of the changes in his former holding or of any new land which he may wish to take up. in the early days of british rule no system whatever prevailed throughout the bombay presidency; and even at the present time there are tracts where something of the old confusion survives. the modern "survey tenure," as it is called, dates from 1838, when it was first introduced into one of the _talukas_ of poona district, and it has since been gradually extended over the greater part of the presidency. as its name implies, the settlement is preceded by survey. each field is measured, and an assessment placed upon it according to the quality of the soil without any attempt to fix the actual average produce. this assessment holds good, without any possibility of modification, for a term of thirty years. the famine commission of 1901 suggested the following measures with a view to improving the position of the bombay ryot: (1) a tenancy law to protect expropriated ryots, (2) a bankruptcy law, (3) the limitation of the right of transfer, in the interests of ryots who are still in possession of their land. the other provinces. in the other provinces variations of the zamindari and ryotwari systems are found. in the united provinces and the punjab the ascertainment of the actual rents paid is the necessary preliminary to the land revenue demand. in the central provinces, where the landlords (_malguzars_) derive their title from the revenue settlements made under british rule, the rents are actually fixed by the settlement officer for varying periods. in addition nearly every province has its own laws regulating the subject of tenancy; the tenancy laws of the united provinces and of the central provinces were revised and amended during the decade 1891-1901. the principles of the land revenue settlement and administration were reviewed by the government of india in a resolution presented to parliament in 1902, in which its policy is summarised as follows:-- land tenures and settlements. "in the review of their land revenue policy which has now been brought to a close, the government of india claim to have established the following propositions, which, for convenience' sake, it may be desirable to summarize before concluding this resolution:-- (1) that a permanent settlement, whether in bengal or elsewhere, is no protection against the incidence and consequences of famine. (2) that in areas where the state receives its land revenue from landlords, progressive moderation is the key-note of the policy of government, and that the standard of 50% of the assets is one which is almost uniformly observed in practice, and is more often departed from on the side of deficiency than of excess. (3) that in the same areas the state has not objected, and does not hesitate, to interfere by legislation to protect the interests of the tenants against oppression at the hands of the landlord. (4) that in areas where the state takes the land revenue from the cultivators, the proposal to fix the assessment at one-fifth of the gross produce would result in the imposition of a greatly increased burden upon the people. (5) that the policy of long term settlements is gradually being extended, the exceptions being justified by conditions of local development. (6) that a simplification and cheapening of the proceedings connected with new settlements and an avoidance of the harassing invasion of an army of subordinate officials, are a part of the deliberate policy of government. (7) that the principle of exempting or allowing for improvements is one of general acceptance, but may be capable of further extension. (8) that assessments have ceased to be made upon prospective assets. (9) that local taxation as a whole, though susceptible of some redistribution, is neither immoderate nor burdensome. (10) that over-assessment is not, as alleged, a general or widespread source of poverty and indebtedness in india, and that it cannot fairly be regarded as a contributory cause of famine. the government of india have further laid down liberal principles for future guidance and will be prepared, where the necessity is established, to make further advance in respect of:-- (11) the progressive and graduated imposition of large enhancements. (12) greater elasticity in the revenue collection, facilitating its adjustment to the variations of the seasons, and the circumstances of the people. (13) a more general resort to reduction of assessments in cases of local deterioration, where such reduction cannot be claimed under the terms of settlement." in 1900-1901 the total land revenue realized from territory under british administration in india amounted to £17,325,000, the rate per cultivated acre varying from 3s. 1d. in madras to 10d. in the central provinces. the general conclusion of the famine commission of 1901 was that "except in bombay, where it is full, the incidence of land revenue is low to moderate in ordinary years, and it should in no way _per se_ be the cause of indebtedness." salt administration. prior to the successive reductions of the salt duty in 1903, 1905 and 1907, next to land, salt contributed the largest share to the indian revenue; and, where salt is locally manufactured, its supervision becomes an important part of administrative duty. up to within quite recent times the tax levied upon salt varied extremely in different parts of the country, and a strong preventive staff was required to be stationed along a continuous barrier hedge, which almost cut the peninsula into two fiscal sections. the reform of sir j. strachey in 1878, by which the higher rates were reduced and the lower rates raised, with a view to their ultimate equalization over the whole country, effectually abolished this old engine of oppression. communication is now free; and it has been found that prices are absolutely lowered by thus bringing the consumer nearer to his market, even though the rate of taxation be increased. broadly speaking the salt consumed in india is derived from four sources: (1) importation by sea, chiefly from england and the red sea and aden; (2) solar evaporation in shallow tanks along the seaboard; (3) the salt lakes in rajputana; (4) quarrying in the salt hills of the northern punjab. the salt lakes in rajputana have been leased by the government of india from the rulers of the native states in which they lie, and the huge salt deposits of the salt range mines are worked under government control, as also are the brine works on the runn of cutch. at the kohat mines, and in the salt evaporation works on the sea-coast, with the exception of a few of the madras factories, the government does not come between the manufacturer and the merchant, except in so far as is necessary in order to levy the duty from the salt as it issues from the factory. the salt administration is in the hands of (1) the northern india salt department, which is directly under the government of india, and controls the salt resources of rajputana and the punjab, and (2) the salt revenue authorities of madras and bombay. the consumption of salt per head in india varies from 7 lb. in rajputana to 16.02 lb. in madras. the salt duty, which stood in 1888 at rs. 21⁄2 per maund, was reduced in 1903 to rs. 2, in 1905 to rs. 11⁄2 and in 1907 to r. 1 per maund, the rate being uniform all over india. in 1907-1908 the gross yield of the salt duty was £3,339,000, of which more than one-fourth was derived from imported salt. opium. the heading _opium_ in the finance accounts represents the duty on the export of the drug. the duty on local consumption, which is included under excise, yielded £981,000 in 1907-1908. the opium revenue proper is derived from two sources: (1) a monopoly of production in the valley of the ganges, and (2) a transit duty levied on opium grown in the native states of western india, known as malwa opium. throughout british territory the growth of the poppy is almost universally prohibited, except in a certain tract of bengal and the united provinces, where it is grown with the help of advances from government and under strict supervision. the opium, known as "provision opium," is manufactured in government factories at patna and ghazipur, and sold by auction at calcutta for export to china. the net opium revenue represents the difference between the sum realized at these sales and the cost of production. malwa opium is exported from bombay, the duty having previously been levied on its passage into british territory. in 1907-1908 the net opium revenue from both sources amounted to £3,576,000. the chinese government having issued an edict that the growth and consumption of opium in china should be entirely suppressed within ten years, the government of india accordingly agreed in 1908 that the export of opium from india should be reduced year by year, so that the opium revenue would henceforth rapidly decline and might be expected to cease altogether. in 1908 an international commission that met at shanghai passed resolutions inviting all the states there represented to take measures for the gradual suppression of the manufacture, sale and distribution of opium, except for medicinal purposes. _excise._--excise, like salt, is not only a department of revenue collection, but also to a great extent a branch of the executive. in other words, excise duties in india are not a mere tax upon the consumer, levied for convenience through the manufacturer and retail dealer, but a species of government monopoly. the only excisable articles are intoxicants and drugs; and the avowed object of the state is to check consumption not less than to raise revenue. the limit of taxation and restriction is the point at which too great encouragement is given to smuggling. details vary in the different provinces, but the general plan of administration is the same. the right to manufacture and the right to retail are both monopolies of government permitted to private individuals only upon terms. distillation of country spirits is allowed according to two systems--either to the highest bidder under strict supervision, or only upon certain spots set apart for the purpose. the latter is known as the _sadr_ or central distillery system. the right of sale is also usually farmed out to the highest bidder, subject to regulations fixing the minimum quantity of liquor that may be sold at one time. the brewing of beer from rice and other grains, which is universal among the hill tribes and other aboriginal races, is practically untaxed and unrestrained. the european breweries at several hill stations pay the same tax as imported beer. apart from spirits, excise duties are levied upon the sale of a number of intoxicating or stimulant drugs, of which the most important are opium, bhang, ganja and charas. opium is issued for local consumption in india from the government manufactories at ghazipur and patna in the behar and benares agencies, and sold through private retailers at a monopoly price. bhang, ganja and charas are three different narcotic drugs prepared from the hemp plant (_cannabis sativa_, var. _indica_). scientifically speaking, bhang consists of the dried leaves and small stalks, with a few fruits; ganja of the flowering and fruiting heads of the female plant; while charas is the resin itself, collected in various ways as it naturally exudes. the plant grows wild in many parts of india; but the cultivation of it for ganja is practically confined to a limited area in the rajshahi district of eastern bengal, and charas is mainly imported from central asia. the use of bhang in moderation is comparatively harmless; ganja and charas when taken in excess are undoubtedly injurious, leading to crime and sometimes to insanity. in accordance with the recommendations of the hemp drugs commission, the government of india passed an act in 1896 providing that, in regard to ganja and charas, cultivation of the plants should be restricted as much as possible, and that a direct quantitative duty should be levied on the drugs on issue from the warehouse in the province of consumption; while as regards bhang, cultivation of the hemp for its production should be prohibited or taxed, and collection of the drug from wild plants permitted only under licence, a moderate quantitative duty being levied in addition to vend fees. no duty whatever is now levied upon tobacco in any part of india. the plant is universally grown by the cultivators for their own smoking, and, like everything else, was subject to taxation under native rule; but the impossibility of accurate excise supervision has caused the british government to abandon the impost. in 1907-1908 the total gross revenue from excise amounted to £6,214,000, of which more than two-thirds was derived from spirits and toddy. since 1894 a uniform customs duty of 5% _ad valorem_ has been levied generally on imported goods, certain classes being placed on the free list, of which the most important are food-grains, machinery, railway material, coal, and cotton twist and yarn (exempted in 1896). most classes of iron and steel are admitted at the lower rate of 1%. cotton goods are taxed at 31⁄2%, whether imported or woven in indian mills. special duties are imposed on liquors, arms and ammunition and petroleum, while imported salt pays the same duty as salt manufactured locally. from 1899 to 1904 a countervailing duty was imposed on bounty-fed beet sugar. there is also a customs duty at the rate of about 3d. per 82 lb. on exported rice. in 1907-1908 the total customs revenue amounted to £4,910,000, of which £664,000 was derived from the export duty on rice and £223,730 from the excise on cotton manufactures. since 1886 an assessed tax has been levied on all sources of income except that derived from land. the rate is a little more than 21⁄2% on all incomes exceeding £133 a year, and a little more than 2% on incomes exceeding £66, the minimum income liable to assessment having been raised in 1903 from £33. the total number of persons assessed is only about 260,000. in 1907-1908 the gross receipts from income tax amounted to £1,504,000. other sources of revenue are stamps, levied on judicial proceedings and commercial documents; registration of mortgages and other instruments; and provincial rates, chiefly in bengal and the united provinces for public works or rural police. the rates levied at a certain percentage of the land revenue for local purposes are now excluded from the finance accounts. in 1907-1908 the gross receipts amounted to: from stamps, £4,259,000, of which more than two-thirds was derived from the sale of court fee stamps; from registration, £415,000; and from provincial rates, £526,000. _commerce and industries._ india may almost be said to be a country of a single industry, that industry being agriculture. according to the census of 1901 two-thirds of the total population were employed in occupations connected with the land, while not one-tenth of that proportion were supported by any other single industry. the prosperity of agriculture therefore is of overwhelming importance to the people of india, and all other industries are only subsidiary to this main occupation. this excessive dependence upon a single industry, which is in its turn dependent upon the accident of the seasons, upon a favourable or unfavourable monsoon, has been held to be one of the main causes of the frequent famines which ravage india. _agriculture._--the cultivation of the soil is the occupation of the indian people in a sense which is difficult to realize in england, and which cannot be adequately expressed by figures. as the land tax forms the mainstay of the imperial revenue, so the ryot or cultivator constitutes the unit of the social system. the organized village community contains many other members besides the cultivators; but they all exist for his benefit, and all alike are directly maintained from the produce of the village fields. even in considerable towns, the traders and handicraftsmen almost always possess plots of land of their own, on which they raise sufficient grain to supply their families with food. the operations of rural life are familiar to every class. they are enveloped in a cloud of religious sanctions, and serve to mark out by their recurring periods the annual round of common life. but though agriculture thus forms the staple industry of the country, its practice is pursued in different provinces with infinite variety of detail. everywhere the same perpetual assiduity is found, but the inherited experience of generations has taught the cultivators to adapt their simple methods to differing circumstances. for irrigation, native patience and ingenuity have devised means which compare not unfavourably with the colossal projects of government. manure is copiously applied to the more valuable crops whenever manure is available, its use being limited by poverty and not by ignorance. the rotation of crops is not adopted as a principle of cultivation; but in practice it is well known that a succession of exhausting crops cannot be taken in consecutive seasons from the same field, and the advantage of fallows is widely recognized. the periodicity of the seasons usually allows two, and sometimes three, harvests in the year, but not necessarily, nor indeed usually, from the same fields. for inexhaustible fertility, and for retentiveness of moisture in a dry year, no soil in the world can surpass the "black cotton-soil" of the deccan. in the broad river basins the inundations deposit annually a fresh top-dressing of silt, thus superseding the necessity of manures. _wheat._--within recent years wheat has become one of the most important crops in india, more especially for export. the canal colonies of the punjab have turned northern india into one of the great grain-fields of the british empire; and in 1904 india took the first place in supplying wheat to the united kingdom, sending nearly 251⁄2 million cwts. out of a total of 973⁄4 millions. in 1905, however, it fell back again into the third place, being passed by russia and argentina. wheat is grown chiefly in the punjab, the united provinces, and the central provinces. in 1905-1906 there were 23 million acres under wheat in the whole of india, of which 81⁄2 million were in the punjab alone. _rice._--the name of rice has from time immemorial been so closely associated with indian agriculture that it is difficult to realize how comparatively small an area is planted with this crop. with the exception of the deltas of the great rivers and the long strip of land fringing the western coast, rice may be called an occasional crop throughout the remainder of the peninsula. but where it is grown it is grown to the exclusion of all other crops. the rice crop is most important in burma, bengal and madras, and there is an average of 20 million acres under rice in the other provinces of british india. in bengal the area varies from 36 to 40 million acres according to the season. in burma, where the large waste area is being gradually brought under cultivation, there has been an almost uninterrupted increase in the area of the rice crop, and the rice export is one of the main industries of the province. in ordinary years most of this rice goes either to europe or to the farther east; but in famine seasons a large part is diverted to peninsular india, and burma is the most important of the outside sources from which the deficient crops are supplemented. in 1905-1906 the export of rice from india was valued at 121⁄2 millions sterling. _millets._--taking india as a whole, the staple food grain is neither rice nor wheat, but millets, which are probably the most prolific grain in the world, and the best adapted to the vicissitudes of a tropical climate. excluding the special rice-growing tracts, different kinds of millet are grown more extensively than any other crop from madras in the south at least as far as rajputana in the north. the _sorghum_ or great millet, generally known as _jowar_ or _cholum_, is the staple grain crop of southern india. the spiked millet, known as _bajra_ or _cumbu_, which yields a poorer food, is grown on dry sandy soil in the deccan and the punjab. a third sort of millet, _ragi_ or _marua_, is cultivated chiefly in madras and bengal. there are also other kinds, which are included as a rule under the general head of "other food grains." millet crops are grown for the most part on unirrigated land. in the bombay deccan districts they cover generally upwards of 60% of the grain area, or an even larger proportion in years of drought. in gujarat about half the grain area is under millets or maize in ordinary years. the grain is consumed almost entirely in india, though a small amount is exported. _pulses._--among pulses gram covers in ordinary years more than 10 millions of acres, chiefly in the united provinces, the punjab and bengal. gram is largely eaten by the poorer classes, but it is also used as horse-food. other pulses, lentils, &c., are extensively grown, but the area under these crops is liable to great contraction in years of drought, as it consists for the most part of unirrigated lands. _oil-seeds._--oil-seeds also form an important crop in all parts of the country, being perhaps more universally grown than any other, as oil is necessary, according to native custom, for application to the person, for food, and for burning in lamps. in recent years the cultivation of oil-seeds has received an extraordinary stimulus owing to the demand for export to europe, especially to france; but as they can be grown after rice, &c., as a second crop, this increase has hardly at all tended to diminish the production of food grains. the four chief varieties grown are mustard or rape seed, linseed, _til_ or gingelly (sesamum), and castor-oil. bengal and the united provinces are at present the chief sources of supply for the foreign demand, but gingelly is largely exported from madras, and, to a smaller extent, from burma. these seeds are for the most part pressed in india either in bullock presses or in oil-mills. the refuse or cake is of great value to agriculturists, as it forms a food for cattle, and in the case of sesamum it is eaten by the people. but a very large quantity of the seeds is exported. the total value of oils and oil-seeds exported in 1905-1906 was over 71⁄2 millions sterling. _vegetables._--vegetables are everywhere cultivated in garden plots for household use, and also on a larger scale in the neighbourhood of great towns. among favourite native vegetables, the following may be mentioned:--the egg-plant, called _brinjal_ or _baigan_ (_solanum melongena_), potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, radishes, onions, garlic, turnips, yams, and a great variety of cucurbitaceous plants, including _cucumis sativus_, _cucurbita maxima_, _lagenaria vulgaris_, _trichosanthes dioica_, and _benincasa cerifera_. of these, potatoes, cabbages, and turnips are of comparatively recent introduction. almost all english vegetables can be raised by a careful gardener. potatoes thrive best on the higher elevations, such as the khasi hills, the nilgiris, the mysore uplands, the shan states, and the slopes of the himalayas; but they are also grown even in lowland districts. _fruits._--among cultivated fruits are the following:--mango (_mangifera indica_), plantain (_musa paradisiaca_), pine-apple (_ananassa sativa_), pomegranate (_punica granatum_), guava (_psidium pomiferum_ and _p. pyriferum_), tamarind (_tamarindus indica_), jack (_artocarpus integrifolia_), custard-apple (_anona squamosa_), papaw (_carica papaya_), shaddock (_citrus decumana_), and several varieties of fig, melon, orange, lime and citron. according to the verdict of europeans, no native fruits can compare with those of england. but the mangoes of bombay, of multan, and of malda in bengal, and the oranges of nagpur and the khasi hills, enjoy a high reputation; while the guavas of madras are made into an excellent preserve. _spices._--among spices, for the preparation of curry and other hot dishes, turmeric and chillies hold the first place, being very generally cultivated. next in importance come ginger, coriander, aniseed, black cummin, and fenugreek. pepper proper is confined to the malabar coast, from kanara to travancore. cardamoms are a valuable crop in the same locality, and also in the nepalese himalayas. _pan_ or betel-leaf is grown by a special caste in most parts of the country. its cultivation requires constant care, but is highly remunerative. the betel-nut or areca palm is chiefly grown in certain favoured localities, such as the deltaic districts of bengal and the highlands of southern india. _palms._--besides betel-nut (_areca catechu_), the palms of india include the coco-nut (_cocos nucifera_), the bastard date (_phoenix sylvestris_), the palmyra (_borassus flabellifer_), and the true date (_phoenix dactylifera_). the coco-nut, which loves a sandy soil and a moist climate, is found in greatest perfection along the strip of coast-line that fringes the west of the peninsula, where it ranks next to rice as the staple product. the bastard date, grown chiefly in the country round calcutta and in the north-east of the madras presidency, supplies both the jaggery sugar of commerce and intoxicating liquors for local consumption. spirit is also distilled from the palmyra, especially in the neighbourhood of bombay and in the south-east of madras. the true date is almost confined to sind. _sugar._--sugar is manufactured both from the sugar-cane and from the bastard date-palm, but the total production is inadequate to the local demand. the best cane is grown in the united provinces, on irrigated land. it is an expensive crop, requiring much attention, and not yielding a return within the year; but the profits are proportionately large. the normal area under sugar-cane in india is generally about 3 million acres, chiefly in the united provinces, bengal, and the punjab. a large share of the produce is consumed in the form of _gur_ or unrefined sugar, and the market for this preparation is independent of foreign competition. the total import of sugar in 1905-1906 was valued at £5,182,000, chiefly from java and mauritius. _indigo._--owing to the manufacture of synthetic indigo by german chemists the export trade in indigo, which was formerly the most important business carried on by european capital in india, has been almost entirely ruined. in the early years of the 19th century there were colonies of english planters in many districts of bengal, and it was calculated that the planters of north behar alone had a turnover of a million sterling. the industry suffered depression owing to the indigo riots of 1860 and the emancipation of the peasantry by the land act of 1859; but in the closing decade of the century it received a much more disastrous blow from the invention of the german chemists. in 1895-1896 the area under indigo was 1,570,000 acres, and the value of the exports £3,569,700, while in 1905-1906 the area had sunk to 383,000 acres, and the value of the exports to £390,879. the only hope of rescuing the industry from total disappearance lies in the fact that the natural indigo gives a faster dye than the manufactured product, while an effort has also been made to introduce the java-natal seed into india, which gives a much heavier yield, and so may be better able to compete in price with synthetic indigo. _tea._--the cultivation of tea in india began within the memory of men still living, and now has replaced indigo as the chief article for european capital, more particularly in assam. unlike coffee-planting the enterprise owes its origin to the initiation of government, and has never attracted the attention of the natives. early travellers reported that the tea-plant was indigenous to the southern valleys of the himalayas; but they were mistaken in the identity of the shrub, which was the _osyris nepalensis_. the real tea (_thea viridis_), a plant akin to the camellia, grows wild in assam, being commonly found throughout the hilly tract between the valleys of the brahmaputra and the barak. there it sometimes attains the dimensions of a large tree; and from that, as well as from other indications, it has been plausibly inferred that assam is the original home of the plant, which was thence introduced at a prehistoric date into china. the real progress of tea-planting in assam dates from about 1851, and was greatly assisted by the promulgation of the waste-land rules of 1854. by 1859 there were already fifty-one gardens in existence, owned by private individuals; and the enterprise had extended from its original headquarters in lakhimpur and sibsagar as far down the brahmaputra as kamrup. in 1856 the tea-plant was discovered wild in the district of cachar in the barak valley, and european capital was at once directed to that quarter. at about the same time tea-planting was introduced into the neighbourhood of the sanatorium of darjeeling, among the sikkim himalayas. the success of these undertakings engendered a wild spirit of speculation in tea companies both in india and at home, which reached its climax in 1865. the industry recovered but slowly from the effects of this disastrous crisis, and did not again reach a stable position until 1869. since that date it has rapidly but steadily progressed, and has been ever opening new fields of enterprise. at the head of the bay of bengal in chittagong district, side by side with coffee on the nilgiri hills, on the forest-clad slopes of kumaon and kangra, amid the low-lying jungle of the bhutan dwars, and even in arakan, the energetic pioneers of tea-planting have established their industry. different degrees of success may have rewarded them, but in no case have they abandoned the struggle. the area under tea, of which nine-tenths lies in the new province of eastern bengal and assam, expanded by 85% during the sixteen years from 1885 to 1901, while the production increased by 167%. this great rise in the supply, unaccompanied by an equal expansion of the market for indian tea, involved the industry in great difficulties, to meet which it became necessary to restrict the area under tea as far as possible, and to reduce the quantity of leaf taken from the plant, thus at the same time improving the quality of the tea. the area under tea in 1885 was 283,925 acres and the yield 71,525,977 lb., while in 1905 the area had increased to 527,290 acres and the yield to 222,360,132 lb., while the export alone was 214,223,728 lb. as much as 92% of the export goes to the united kingdom, where china tea has been gradually ousted by tea from india and ceylon. the other chief countries that afford a market for indian tea are canada, russia, australia, turkey in asia, persia, and the united states. india's consumption of tea is computed to average 81⁄4 million pounds, of which 51⁄2 millions are indian and the remainder chinese. there should therefore be considerable room for expansion in the home market. in 1905 there were 134 tea-planting companies registered in india, about 80% of the capital being held by shareholders in london. _coffee._--the cultivation of coffee is confined to southern india, though attempts have been made to introduce the plant both into lower burma and into the eastern bengal district of chittagong. the coffee tract may be roughly defined as a section of the landward slope of the western ghats, extending from kanara in the north to travancore in the extreme south. that tract includes almost the whole of coorg, the districts of kadur and hassan in mysore, the nilgiri hills, and the wynaad. the cultivation has also extended to the shevaroy hills in salem district and to the palni hills in madura. unlike tea, coffee was not introduced into india by european enterprise; and even to the present day its cultivation is largely followed by the natives. the malabar coast has always enjoyed a direct commerce with arabia, and at an early date gave many converts to islam. one of these converts, baba budan by name, is said to have gone on a pilgrimage to mecca and to have brought back with him the coffee berry, which he planted on the hill range in mysore still called after him. according to local tradition this happened more than two centuries ago. the shrubs thus sown lived on, but the cultivation did not spread until the beginning of the 19th century. the state of mysore and the baba budan range also witnessed the first opening of a coffee-garden by an english planter about 1840. the success of this experiment led to the extension of coffee cultivation into the neighbouring tract of manjarabad, also in mysore, and into the wynaad subdivision of the madras district of malabar. from 1840 to 1860 the enterprise made slow progress; but since the latter date it has spread with great rapidity along the whole line of the western ghats, clearing away the primeval forest, and opening a new era of prosperity to the labouring classes. the export of coffee in 1905 was 360,000 cwt., being the highest for sixteen years. the over-supply of cheap brazilian coffee in the consuming markets caused a heavy fall in prices at the beginning of the decade, the average price in london in 1901 being 47s. per cwt. compared with 101s. in 1894. the united kingdom and france are the chief consumers. an agreement with france at the beginning of the decade secured to indian produce imported into that country the benefits of the minimum tariff, thus protecting the coffee industry from taxation in french ports on a scale which would have seriously hampered the trade. there is practically no local market for coffee in india. _cinchona._--the cultivation of cinchona was introduced into india in the year 1860 under the auspices of government, owing to the efforts of sir clements markham, and a stock of plants was prepared and distributed to planters in the nilgiris and in coorg. at the same time governmental plantations were established in the nilgiri hills and at darjeeling, and these have been continued up to the present time. a considerable amount of the bark from private plantations is bought by the government and treated at the government factories. the sulphate of quinine and the cinchona febrifuge thus produced are issued for the most part to medical officers in the various provinces, to gaols, and to the authorities of native states; but a large and increasing amount is disposed of in the form of 5-grain packets, costing a farthing each, through the medium of the post-offices. this system brings the drug easily within the reach of the people. _cattle._--throughout the whole of india, except in sind and the western districts of the punjab, horned cattle are the only beasts used for ploughing. the well-known humped species of cattle predominates everywhere, being divided into many varieties. owing partly to unfavourable conditions of climate and soil, partly to the insufficiency of grazing ground, and partly to the want of selection in breeding, the general condition of the cattle is miserably poor. as cultivation advances, the area of waste land available for grazing steadily diminishes, and the prospects of the poor beasts are becoming worse rather than better. their only hope lies in the introduction of fodder crops as a regular stage in the agricultural course. there are, however, some fine breeds in existence. in mysore the _amrit mahal_, a breed said to have been introduced by hyder ali for military purposes, is still kept up by the state. in the madras districts of nellore and kurnool the indigenous breed has been greatly improved under the stimulus of cattle shows and prizes founded by british officials. in the central provinces there is a peculiar breed of trotting bullocks which is in great demand for wheeled carriages. the large and handsome oxen of gujarat in bombay and of hariana in the punjab are excellently adapted for drawing heavy loads in a sandy soil. the fodder famines that accompanied the great famines of 1897 and 1900 proved little short of disastrous to the cattle in the affected provinces. in gujarat and the arid plains of the south-east punjab the renowned herds almost disappeared. in the affected districts of the punjab the loss of cattle averaged from 17 to 45% of the whole. in rajputana more than half of its thirteen or fourteen millions of stock is said to have perished in 1900 alone. in one state the loss amounted to 90%, and in four others to 70%. in gujarat half of its 11⁄2 million cattle perished in spite of the utmost efforts to obtain fodder. the worst cattle are to be found always in the deltaic tracts, but there their place is to a large extent taken by buffaloes. these last are more hardy than ordinary cattle; their character is maintained by crossing the cows with wild bulls, and their milk yields the best _ghi_ or clarified butter. along the valley of the indus, and in the sandy desert which stretches into rajputana, camels supersede cattle for agricultural operations. the breed of horses has generally deteriorated since the demand for military purposes has declined with the establishment of british supremacy. in bengal proper, and also in madras, it may be broadly said that horses are not bred. but horses are still required for the indian army, the native cavalry, and the police; and in order to maintain the supply of remounts a civil veterinary department was founded in 1892, transferred in 1903 to the army remount department. horse-breeding is carried on chiefly in the punjab, the united provinces, and baluchistan, and government keep a number of stallions in the various provinces. formerly norfolk trotters held the first place in point of number, but their place has been taken in recent years by english thoroughbreds, arabs, and especially australians. for the supply of ordnance, baggage, and transport mules a large number of donkey stallions have been imported by the government annually from various european and other sources. but the supply of suitable animals is not good, and their cost is large; so the breeding of donkey stallions has been undertaken at the hissar farm in the punjab. _forests._--the forests of india, both as a source of natural wealth and as a department of the administration, are beginning to receive their proper share of attention. up to the middle of the 19th century the destruction of forests by timber-cutters, by charcoal-burners, and above all by shifting cultivation, was allowed to go on everywhere unchecked. the extension of cultivation was considered as the chief care of government, and no regard was paid to the improvident waste going on on all sides. but as the pressure of population on the soil became more dense, and the construction of railways increased the demand for fuel, the question of forest conservation forced itself into notice. it was recognized that the inheritance of future generations was being recklessly sacrificed to satisfy the immoderate desire for profit. and at the same time the importance of forests as affecting the general meteorology of a country was being learned from bitter experience in europe. on many grounds, therefore, it became necessary to preserve what remained of the forests in india, and to repair the mischief of previous neglect even at considerable expense. in 1844 and 1847 the subject was actively taken up by the governments of bombay and madras. in 1864 dr brandis was appointed inspector-general of forests to the government of india, and in the following year an act of the legislature was passed (no. vii. of 1865). the regular training of candidates for the forest department in the schools of france and germany dates from 1867. in the interval that has since elapsed, sound principles of forest administration have been gradually extended. indiscriminate timber-cutting has been prohibited, the burning of the jungle by the hill tribes has been confined within bounds, large areas have been surveyed and demarcated, plantations have been laid out, and, generally, forest conservation has become a reality. systematic conservancy of the indian forests received a great impetus from the passing of the forest law in 1878, which gave to the government powers of dealing with private rights in the forests of which the chief proprietary right is vested in the state. the famine commission of 1878 urged the importance of forest conservancy as a safeguard to agriculture, pointing out that a supply of wood for fuel was necessary if cattle manure was to be used to any extent for the fields, and also that forest growth served to retain the moisture in the subsoil. they also advised the protection and extension of communal rights of pasture, and the planting of the higher slopes with forest, with a view to the possible increase of the water-supply. these recommendations embody the principle upon which the management of the state forests is based. in 1894 the government divided forests into four classes: forests the preservation of which is essential on climatic or physical grounds, forests which supply valuable timber for commercial purposes, minor forests, and pasture lands. in the first class the special purpose of the forests, such as the protection of the plains from devastation by torrents, must come before any smaller interests. the second class includes tracts of teak, _sal_ or _deodar_ timber and the like, where private or village rights of user are few. in these forests every reasonable facility is afforded to the people concerned for the full and easy satisfaction of their needs, which are generally for small timber for building or fuel, fodder and grazing for their cattle, and edible products for themselves; and considerations of forest income are subordinated to those purposes. restrictions necessary for the proper conservancy of the forests are, however, imposed, and the system of shifting cultivation, which denudes a large area of forest growth in order to place a small area under crops, is held to cost more to the community than it is worth, and is only permitted, under due regulation, where forest tribes depend on it for their sustenance. in the third place, there are minor forests, which produce inferior or smaller timber. these are managed mainly in the interests of the surrounding population, and supply grazing or fuel to them at moderate rates, higher charges being levied on consumers who are not inhabitants of the locality. the fourth class includes pastures and grazing grounds. in these even more than in the third class the interests of the local community stand first. the state forests, which are under the control of the forest department, amounted in 1901-1902 to about 217,500 sq. m., or more than one-fifth of the total area of british india, varying from 61% in burma to 4% in the united provinces. _timbers._--a large part of the reserved forests, where the control of the forest department is most complete, consists of valuable timber, in which the first place is held by teak, found at its best in burma, especially in the upper division, and on the south-west coast of india, in kanara and malabar. it is also the most prevalent and valuable product of the forests at the foot of the ghats in bombay, and along the satpura and vindhya ranges, as far as the middle of the central provinces. here it meets the _sal_, which however is more especially found in the sub-himalayan tracts of the united provinces and eastern bengal and assam. in the himalayas themselves the _deodar_ and other conifers form the bulk of the timber, while in the lower ranges, such as the khasi hills in assam, and those of burma, various pines are prominent. in the north-east of assam and in the north of upper burma the _ficus elastica_, a species of india-rubber tree, is found. the sandal-wood flourishes all along the southern portion of the ghats, especially about mysore and coorg; and in the same regions, as well as in upper india, the blackwood occurs. a valuable tree, known as the padouk, is at present restricted almost entirely to the andaman islands, with a scattering in lower burma. there are many other timber trees that are in general demand in different parts of india, but the above are the best known outside that country. there is also the universal bamboo, and in the north-western tracts the equally useful rattan. the annual timber yield of the indian forests is about fifty millions of cubic feet, excluding what is used for local purposes. about half of this quantity comes from the forests of burma, where large amounts of teak and other woods are annually extracted, chiefly through the agency of private firms. it is, however, only the more valuable of the woods, such as teak, sandal-wood, ebony and the like, which find a market abroad. the total value of the export trade in forest produce averages between 11⁄2 and 2 millions annually. _manufactures._ manufacturing industries are being slowly developed in india, though their growth has not yet materially affected the pressure on the land. next to agriculture, weaving is the most important industry in the country, the cotton-mills of bombay and the jute mills of bengal having increased greatly of recent years. on the other hand, the old indigenous industries of india decayed greatly during the latter part of the 19th century. the colonies of hand-workers in silk, cotton, carpets, brass and silver ware, wood and ivory, and other skilled craftsmen, which formerly existed in various parts of india, have fallen off both in the extent of their output and in the artistic excellence of their work. an attempt has been made to remedy the evil by means of schools of art, but with little result. _cotton._--cotton is the staple article of clothing in eastern countries, and indian cotton and other piece goods used to find a ready market in europe before the english cotton manufacturer had arisen. when european adventurers found the way to india, cotton and silk always formed part of the rich cargoes that they brought home, and the early settlers were always careful to fix their abode amid a weaving population, at surat, calicut, masulipatam or hugli. but now the larger part of the cotton goods used in india is manufactured in mills in that country or in england, and the handloom weavers' output is confined to the coarsest kinds of cloth, or to certain special kinds of goods, such as the turbans and "saris" of bombay, or the muslins of arni, cuddapah, and madura in madras, and of dacca in bengal. the extent to which village industries still survive is shown by the fact that according to the census of 1901 there were 5,800,000 hand-loom weavers in india against only 350,000 workers in cotton mills. the present importance of the cotton crop dates only from the crisis in lancashire caused by the american war. prior to 1860 the exports of raw cotton from india used to average less than 3 millions sterling a year, mostly to china; but after that date they rose by leaps, until in 1866 they reached the enormous total of 37 millions. then came the crash, caused by the restoration of peace in the united states, and the exports fell, until they now average little more than 8 millions a year. the fact is that indian cotton has a short staple, and cannot compete with the best american cotton for spinning the finer qualities of yarn. but while the cotton famine was at its height, the cultivators were intelligent enough to make the most of their opportunity. the area under cotton increased enormously, and the growers managed to retain in their own hands a fair share of the profit. the principal cotton-growing tracts are the plains of gujarat and kathiawar, whence indian cotton has received in the liverpool market the historic name of "surat"; the highlands of the deccan, and the valleys of the central provinces and berar. the total area under cotton in 1905-1906 was 201⁄2 million acres, and the export was 7,396,000 cwt. it was estimated in 1905 that the world's output of cotton was 19,000,000 bales, of which 133⁄4 millions were produced in the united states, 3 millions in india, and nearly 11⁄4 millions in egypt, japan and china being india's best customers for the raw article. at the same time the total number of spindles employed in working up the world's raw cotton was 116 millions, of which 48 millions were in the united kingdom, 24 millions in the united states, and a little over 5 millions in india. there were 203 cotton mills in india, employing a daily average of 196,369 persons. the bombay presidency possessed 70% of the mills and much the same percentage of spindles and looms. the industry dates from 1851, when the first mill was started. but though india has special advantages in home-grown cotton and cheap labour, the labour is so inefficient as to make competition with europe difficult. it is calculated that an indian power-loom weaver working 72 hours a week can turn out 70 lb. of cloth, while a european working 54 hours can turn out 468 lb., and that one lancashire weaver can do the work of six indian power-loom weavers and nine hand-loom weavers. while these figures hold good, india cannot be a serious competitor with europe in the cotton industry. _jute._--next to cotton, jute is the most important and prosperous of indian manufactures. with the advance of commerce it is more and more required for its best-known use, as sacking for produce. australia and argentina need it for wool and wheat, chili and brazil for nitrates and coffee, asiatic countries for rice, and the world as a whole for its increased output of produce. the supply has not kept pace with the demand, and the consequence was a steady appreciation in price from 1901 onwards. the cultivation of jute is confined, to a comparatively restricted area, more than three-fourths of the total acreage being in eastern bengal and assam, while nearly the whole of the remaining fourth is in bengal. in 1907, however, experiments were made towards growing it in other parts of india. in behar it has begun to replace indigo, and some success was achieved in orissa, assam and madras; but jute is a very exhausting crop, and requires to be planted in lands fertilized with silt or else with manure. about half the total crop is exported, and the remainder used in the jute mills centred round calcutta, which supply cloth and bags for the grain export trade. the number of jute mills in 1904 was 38, employing 124,000 hands, and since then the number has tended constantly upwards. the export of jute in 1905-1906 was 14,480,000 cwt. with a value of £12,350,000. _silk._--the silk industry in india has experienced many vicissitudes. under the east india company large quantities of mulberry silk were produced chiefly in bengal, and exported to europe; and malda, murshidabad, and other places in that province have long been famous for their silk manufactures. other kinds of silk are native to certain parts of india, such as those produced by the "castor oil" and the _muga_ silkworms of assam; but the chief of the wild silks is the tussore silk, which is found in the jungles nearly throughout india. large quantities of comparatively coarse silk are made from silk so produced. in assam silk is still the national dress, and forms the common costume of the women, but the men are relinquishing it as an article of daily wear in favour of cotton. amongst the burmese, however, silk still holds its own. owing to disease among the silk-worms the industry has declined of recent years; and in 1886 an inquiry was held, which resulted in putting the silk-rearing industry of bengal on a better basis. the most hopeful ground, however, for the industry is kashmir, where sir thomas wardle reported that the silk was of as high a quality as from any part of the world. the most important seat of the silk-weaving industry is bengal, but there are few parts of india where some silk fabrics are not woven. the silk weavers of india possess the very highest skill in their craft, and with competent and energetic management and increased capital the industry could be revived and extended. _other manufactures._--the demand of the indian population for woollen fabrics is very small in comparison with that for cotton, and although the manufacture of blankets is carried on in many parts of india, the chief part of the indigenous woollen industry was originally concerned with shawls. kashmir shawls were at one time famous, but the industry is practically extinct. the chief seat of the woollen industry now is the punjab, where a considerable number of weavers, thrown out of work by the decline of the shawl industry, have taken to carpet-making. the chief centre of this industry is amritsar. the output of the woollen mills is chiefly used for the army and the police. in addition to these and the cotton and jute mills there are indigo factories, rice mills, timber mills, coffee works, oil mills, iron and brass foundries, tile factories, printing presses, lac factories, silk mills, and paper mills. there is a large trade in wood-carving, the material being generally indian ebony in northern india, sandal-wood in southern india, and teak in burma and elsewhere. from an artistic point of view the metal manufactures are one of the most important products of india. _brass and copper work._--the village brazier, like the village smith, manufactures the necessary vessels for domestic use. chief among these vessels is the _lota_, or globular bowl, universally used in ceremonial ablutions. the form of the _lota_, and even the style of ornamentation, has been handed down unaltered from the earliest times. benares enjoys the first reputation for work in brass and copper. in the south, madura and tanjore have a similar fame; and in the west, ahmedabad, poona and nasik. at bombay itself large quantities of imported copper are wrought up by native braziers. the temple bells of india are well known for the depth and purity of their note. in many localities the braziers have a special repute either for a peculiar alloy or for a particular process of ornamentation. silver is sometimes mixed with the brass, and in rarer cases gold. the brass or rather bell-metal ware of murshidabad, known as _khagrai_, has more than a local reputation, owing to the large admixture of silver in it. pottery. pottery is made in almost every village, from the small vessels required in cooking to the large jars used for storing grain and occasionally as floats to ferry persons across a swollen stream. but, though the industry is universal, it has hardly anywhere risen to the dignity of a fine art. sind is the only province of india where the potter's craft is pursued with any regard to artistic considerations; and there the industry is said to have been introduced by the mahommedans. sind pottery is of two kinds, encaustic tiles and vessels for domestic use. in both cases the colours are the same,--turquoise blue, copper green, dark purple or golden brown, under an exquisitely transparent glaze. the usual ornament is a conventional flower pattern, pricked in from paper and dusted along the pricking. the tiles, which are evidently of the same origin as those of persia and turkey, are chiefly to be found in the ruined mosques and tombs of the old mussulman dynasties; but the industry still survives at the little towns of saidpur and bubri. artistic pottery is made at hyderabad, karachi, tatta and hala, and also at multan and lahore in the punjab. the madura pottery deserves mention from the elegance of its form and the richness of its colour. the united provinces have, among other specialties, an elegant black ware with designs in white metal worked into its surface. _mineral resources._ putting aside salt, which has been already treated, the chief mining resources of india at the present day are the coal mines, the gold mines, the petroleum oil-fields, the ruby mines, manganese deposits, mica mines in bengal, and the tin ores and jade of burma. other minerals which exist but have not yet been developed in paying quantities are copper ore, alum, gypsum and plumbago. _coal._--coal has been known to exist in india since 1774. the first mine at raniganj dates from 1820, and has been regularly worked up to the present time. coal of varying quality exists under a very extensive area in india, being found in almost every province and native state with the exception of bombay and mysore. in respect, however, of both the number and size of its mines bengal comes easily first, with seven-eighths of the total output, the largest mines being those of raniganj, jherria, and giridih, while the singareni mine in hyderabad comes next. many of the bengal mines, however, are very small. there are some important mines in assam and the central provinces. the importance of the indian coal production lies in the hope that it holds out for the development of indian industries, especially in connexion with the nascent iron and steel industry. coal and iron are found in conjunction in the central provinces, and the tata company has recently been formed to work them on a large scale. the railways already use indian coal almost exclusively, and indian coal is being taken yearly in greater quantities by ships trading to eastern ports. the total output in 1905-1906 was 8,417,739 tons; while there were 47 companies engaged in coal-mining, of which 46 were in bengal. _gold._--the production of gold in india is practically confined to the kolar gold fields in mysore. an uncertain but unimportant amount is annually procured by sand-washing in various tracts of northern india and burma; and there have been many attempts, including the great boom of 1880, to work mines in the wynaad district of the madras presidency. there are also mines in the hyderabad state from which a small amount of gold is produced. but the output of gold in mysore represents 99% of the annual indian yield. modern mining at kolar dates from 1881, but there are extensive old workings showing that much gold had been extracted under native rule. the mines are worked under leases from the mysore government, which secure to the state a royalty of 5% of the gold produced. up to the end of 1903 the total output of the kolar mines reached the value of £19,000,000. _iron._--in purity of ore, and in antiquity of working, the iron deposits of india probably rank first in the world. they are to be found in every part of the country, from the northern mountains of assam and kumaun to the extreme south of the madras presidency. wherever there are hills, iron is found and worked to a greater or less extent. the indigenous methods of smelting the ore, which are everywhere the same, and have been handed down unchanged through countless generations, yield a metal of the finest quality in a form well suited to native wants. but they require an extravagant supply of charcoal; and even with the cheapness of native labour the product cannot compete in price with imported iron from england. european enterprise, attracted by the richness of the ore and the low rate of wages, has repeatedly tried to establish iron-works on a large scale; but hitherto every one of these attempts has ended in failure with the exception of the iron-works at barrakur in bengal, first started in 1865, which after many years of struggle seem to have turned the corner of success. the principal sources of iron-stone at present are the madras ores, chiefly at salem, the chanda ores in the central provinces, and the ores obtained at and near raniganj in bengal. _petroleum._--the great oilfields of the indian empire are in burma, which supplies 98% of the total output. of the remainder nearly all comes from assam. in both provinces the growth of the yield has been very great, the total output in 1901 being six times as large as in 1892; but even so it has failed to keep pace with the demand. a regular service of steamers carries oil in bulk from rangoon to calcutta, and now burmese oil competes with the russian product, which had already driven the dearer american oil from the market (see burma). _other ores._--manganese ore is found in very large quantities on a tract on the madras coast about midway between calcutta and madras. most of the ore goes to great britain. there are also valuable deposits of manganese in the central provinces and, it is believed, in burma. the export of manganese, which had been only about ten years in existence in 1905-1906, amounted then to 316,694 tons, with a value of £250,000. mica has long been obtained in bengal, chiefly in the hazaribagh district, and there is a ruby-coloured variety which is held in great estimation. in madras also a mica industry has recently grown up. tin is found in the tavoy and mergui districts of lower burma, and has for many years been worked in an unprogressive manner chiefly by chinese labour. in 1900 tin of good quality was found in the southern shan states. copper ore is found in many tracts throughout india, plumbago in madras, and corundum in southern india. _precious stones._--despite its legendary wealth, which is really due to the accumulations of ages, india cannot be said to be naturally rich in precious stones. under the mahommedan rule diamonds were a distinct source of state revenue; and akbar is said to have received a royalty of £80,000 a year from the mines of panna. but at the present day the search for them, if carried on anywhere in british territory, is an insignificant occupation. the name of golconda has passed into literature; but that city, once the mussulman capital of the deccan, was rather the home of diamond-cutters than the source of supply. it is believed that the far-famed diamonds of golconda actually came from the sandstone formation which extends across the south-east borders of the nizam's dominions into the madras districts of ganjam and godavari. a few poor stones are still found in that region. sambalpur, on the upper channel of the mahanadi river in the central provinces, is another spot once famous for diamonds. so late as 1818 a stone is said to have been found there weighing 84 grains and valued at £500. the river-valleys of chota nagpur are also known to have yielded a tribute of diamonds to their mahommedan conquerors. at the present day the only place where the search for diamonds is pursued as a regular industry is the native state of panna in bundelkhand. the stones are found by digging down through several strata of gravelly soil and washing the earth. even there, however, the pursuit is understood to be unremunerative, and has failed to attract european capital. at the present day the only important industries are the rubies and jade of burma. the former are worked by the ruby mines company or by licensed native miners under the company. the value of the rubies found has increased rapidly, and the company, which was for some time worked unprofitably under the lease granted in 1896, has now, with the aid of favourable treatment from the government, become more prosperous. pearls are found off the southern coast of madras and also in the mergui archipelago. _trade._ the trade of india with foreign countries is conducted partly by sea and partly across the land frontiers; but the frontier trade, though capable of much extension, is only a small fraction of the whole. the sea-borne trade is carried on chiefly through the four great ports of calcutta, bombay, karachi, and rangoon, of which calcutta serves the fertile valley of the ganges and brahmaputra, bombay serves the cotton-trade of western india, karachi exports the wheat crop of the punjab, and rangoon the rice crop of burma. madras, which has been supplied with an artificial harbour, serves southern india, and chittagong is rising into prominence as the point of departure for the tea and jute of eastern bengal and assam. the land trade is carried on with persia, afghanistan, nepal, tibet and western china. the new caravan route to persia from quetta by way of the nushki railway offers facilities to traders, of which increasing advantage has been taken, but the trade is still small. afghanistan under abdur rahman imposed prohibitive imposts upon trade, and the present amir followed his father's policy, but his visit to india in 1907 may result in improved relations. the trade with the tribes lying north of the malakand pass has improved considerably since the frontier war of 1897-98, but they are a poor community. nepal takes the largest share of the frontier trade. the trade with tibet has slightly improved since the treaty of lhasa of 1904, but it still amounts to only £90,000 annually. the trade with western china is about half a million annually, and shows signs of development. exports. a review of indian trade by the director-general of the statistical department in india is annually presented to parliament, and therefore it is only necessary here to mention the main channels that it has taken of recent years. the chief exports are raw cotton, cotton goods and yarn, rice, wheat, oil-seeds, raw jute and jute-manufactures, hides and skins, tea, opium and lac. in 1905-1906 there was great activity in both the cotton and jute industries. in bombay new cotton mills were erected, and old ones extended, high-speed machinery was widely introduced, and 12,000 new looms were set up. similarly the jute trade far surpassed all records. the crop was a record one, but the demand far exceeded the supply, the cultivators reaped profits of eight millions more than the previous year, and 2000 new looms were set up in calcutta. the tea outlook was good, and the coffee industry was recovering from the effects of plant disease and brazilian competition. but both the indigo and opium trades are declining industries, which mean a serious loss to the indian exchequer. indigo fell to about one-tenth of its value in the previous decade; and an agreement was come to with china in 1907, by which the area under opium is to be gradually reduced. the total exports for 1905-1906 were valued at £112,000,000. imports. the chief articles of import are cotton goods, cotton yarn, metals, sugar, mineral oils, machinery and mill-work, woollen manufactures, provisions, hardware and cutlery, silk, liquors, apparel, railway material and chemicals. cotton manufactures and yarns are imported almost exclusively from the united kingdom, and amount to about 40% of the total trade. metals, including hardware and cutlery, railway material, &c., supply about a fifth. the only other important article of import is sugar, which came to about 5 millions in 1905-1906. the balance of trade is always against india, because she is a debtor country, and has to pay interest on borrowed capital, and the "home charges" for the upkeep of the civil and military services and of the secretary of state's establishment in london. the total imports for 1905-1906 were valued at 821⁄2 millions sterling, including 14 millions of gold and silver, which are continually hoarded by the people of india. trading classes. broadly speaking, the greater part of the internal trade remains in the hands of the natives. europeans control the shipping business and have a share in the collection of some of the more valuable staples of exports, such as cotton, jute, oil-seeds and wheat. but the work of distribution and the adaptation of the supply to the demand of the consumer naturally fall to those who are best acquainted with native wants. the vaisya, or trading caste of manu, has no longer any separate existence; but its place is occupied by several well-marked classes. on the western coast the parsees, by the boldness and extent of their operations, tread close upon the heels of the most prosperous english houses. in the interior of the bombay presidency, business is mainly divided between two classes, the bunniahs of gujarat and the marwaris from rajputana. each of these profess a peculiar form of religion, the former being vishnuvites of the vallabhachari sect, the latter jains. in the deccan their place is taken by lingayats from the south, who again follow their own form of hinduism, which is an heretical species of siva worship. throughout mysore, and in the north of madras, lingayats are still found, but along the eastern sea-board the predominating classes of traders are those named chetties and komatis. in bengal many of the upper castes of sudras have devoted themselves to general trade; but there again the jain marwaris from rajputana occupy the front rank. their headquarters are in murshidabad district, and their agents are to be found throughout the valley of the brahmaputra, as far up as the unexplored frontier of china. local trade. local trade is conducted either at the permanent bazaars of great towns, at weekly markets held in certain villages, at annual gatherings primarily held for religious purposes, or by means of travelling brokers and agents. the cultivator himself, who is the chief producer and also the chief customer, knows little of the great towns, and expects the dealer to come to his own door. each village has at least one resident trader, who usually combines in his own person the functions of money-lender, grain dealer and cloth seller. the simple system of rural economy is entirely based upon the dealings of this man, whom it is the fashion sometimes to decry as a usurer, but who is really the one thrifty person among an improvident population. abolish the money-lender, and the general body of cultivators would have nothing to depend upon but the harvest of a single year. the money-lender deals chiefly in grain and in specie. in those districts where the staples of export are largely grown, the cultivators commonly sell their crops to travelling brokers, who re-sell to larger dealers, and so on until the commodities reach the hands of the agents of the great shipping houses. the wholesale trade thus rests ultimately with a comparatively small number of persons, who have agencies, or rather corresponding firms, at the great central marts. buying and selling in their aspects most characteristic of india are to be seen, not at these great towns, nor even at the weekly markets, but at the fairs which are held periodically at certain spots in most districts. religion is always the original pretext of these gatherings or _melas_, at some of which nothing is done beyond bathing in the river, or performing various superstitious ceremonies. but in the majority of cases religion has become a mere excuse for secular business. crowds of petty traders attend, bringing all those miscellaneous articles that can be packed into a pedlar's wallet; and the neighbouring villagers look forward to the occasion to satisfy alike their curiosity and their household wants. finance. the control of the revenues of india is vested by act of parliament in the secretary of state for india in council. subject to his control the government of india enjoys a certain discretionary power, but no new expenditure may be incurred without his sanction. there is a special member for finance in the governor-general's council, and all important matters are brought before the council. the central government keeps in its own hands certain revenues, such as salt, the post-office, telegraphs, railways, army and indian marine, in addition to the districts of coorg, ajmere and the north-west frontier province. the other provinces raise and administer their own revenues, subject to the central control; they are allowed a certain proportion of the revenue to meet their own administrative charges, and so have an interest in economical expenditure. the apportionment of the revenues is settled afresh every five years. in 1893 the indian mints were closed to the free coinage of silver, and in 1899 the british sovereign was made legal tender at the rate of 1s. 4d. per rupee; so that since that year the finances of india have been practically upon a gold basis. the principal heads of revenue are land, opium, salt, stamps, excise, customs, assessed taxes, forests, registration and tributes from native states; and the chief heads of expenditure are charges of collection, interest, post-office, telegraph and mint, civil departments, famine relief and insurance, railways, irrigation, other public works and army. the point most frequently criticized in the finances of india is the "home charges" which amount on an average to about 181⁄2 millions a year. of this total about 91⁄2 millions are for interest on railways and other public works, 5 millions for pensions and furlough pay for civil and military officers, 21⁄2 millions for stores and 11⁄2 millions miscellaneous. these charges constitute the home expenditure on revenue account, but there are also other remittances from india on capital account which bring up the total disbursements in england to an annual average of about 211⁄4 millions. _public works._ public works in india fall under three categories--railways, irrigation, and roads and buildings. the railways are managed in various ways, the other two classes of works are carried out through the agency of separate departments in madras and bombay, and of officers of the government of india public works department, either under local or central control, in other provinces. railways. railways in india serve different purposes--the ordinary purpose of trade and passenger communication, and also the special purposes pf the safeguarding the internal and external peace of the country, and of protecting special districts against famine by facilitating the movement of grain. for this reason the interest on capital expended on all the lines cannot be judged by a purely commercial standard. they are administered in three separate ways--as guaranteed, state or assisted lines. in the early days of railway enterprise the agency of private companies guaranteed by the state was exclusively employed, and nearly all the great trunk lines were made under this system, but the leases of the last three of these lines, the great indian peninsula, the bombay baroda and central india, and the madras companies, fell in respectively in 1900, 1905 and 1907. in 1870 a new policy of railway development by the direct agency of the state was inaugurated; and in 1880 the system of encouraging private enterprise by state assistance was again resorted to. both agencies are now employed side by side. the administration of railways was formerly under a secretary in the public works department; but since 1905 it has been placed in charge of a railway board, consisting of a president and two members, which is connected with, though not subordinate to, the department of commerce and industry. in 1908 the total length of railways open in india was 30,578, m., which carried 330 million passengers and 64 million tons of goods, and yielded a net profit exceeding 4%. irrigation. facilities for irrigation (q.v.) vary widely, and irrigation works differ both in extent and in character. the main distinction arises from the fact that the rivers of northern india are fed by the himalayan snows, and, therefore, afford a supply of water which surpasses in constancy and volume any of the rivers of the south. in bombay and madras almost all the irrigation systems, except in the deltas of the chief rivers, are dependent on reservoirs or "tanks," which collect the rainfall of the adjacent hills. in sind and the punjab there are many canals which act merely as distributaries of the overflow of the great rivers at the time of inundation; but where the utility of the canals has been increased by permanent head-works the supply of water is perennial and practically inexhaustible, thus contrasting favourably with the less certain protection given by tanks. the irrigation commission of 1901 advised an expenditure of 30 millions sterling, spread over a term of twenty years, and irrigating 61⁄2 million acres in addition to the 47 millions already irrigated at that time; but it was estimated that that programme would practically exhaust the irrigable land in india, and that some of the later works would be merely protective against the danger of famine, and would not be financially productive. buildings and roads. in addition to the provision and maintenance of roads and the construction of public buildings, the department of public works also provides all works of a public nature, such as water-supply, sanitation, embankments, lighthouses, ferries and bridges, which require technical skill. road-making is an ordinary form of relief work in times of famine. in the famine of 1896-1897, for instance, 579 m. of new roads were made in the central provinces alone, and 819 m. were repaired. one of the finest roads in the world is the grand trunk road which stretches across india from calcutta to peshawar, and which is metalled most of the way with _kankar_, a hard limestone outgrowth. the great buildings of ancient india are described under the names of the different cities which contain them. post office. the post-office of india is under the control of a director-general, in subordination to the department of commerce and industry; and this officer has under him a postmaster-general or deputy postmaster-general in each province. in 1906 the district post, originally provided for local convenience and maintained by a local cess, was amalgamated with the imperial post. the mileage over which mails are carried by railway has been constantly increasing with the development of the railway system, but a far larger number are still carried by runners and boats. the total number of letters, &c., carried by the post exceeds 800 millions, and the service yields a small profit to the state. in connexion with the post-office there are inland money order and savings-bank businesses; and in addition the value-payable system, by which the post-office undertakes to recover from the addressee the value of an article sent by post and to remit the amount to the sender, has found great popularity. excluding the indo european telegraph wire, the whole telegraph system of india forms an imperial charge, administered through a director-general. the total length of line is about 69,000 m., and the net profits of the service approximately pay for new expenditure on capital account. telegraphs. telegraphic communication with europe is maintained by the cable of the eastern telegraph company via aden, and by the indo-european system, of which the eastern portion from teheran and fao to karachi belongs to the government of india. the administration of the indo-european department is in london under the direct control of the secretary of state. the system comprises two sections. the first, called the persian gulf section, runs from karachi to bushire, from jask to muscat, and from bushire to fao, where a connexion is made with the ottoman government line. it includes also the makran coast lines, running from jask to guadur, and thence to karachi. the second section, known as the persian section, consists of land lines running from bushire to teheran. these land lines, as well as the makran coast lines, are worked under a treaty with the persian government. a connexion for extending the system through persia was signed in 1901, the route to be followed being from kashan near teheran to the baluchistan frontier via yezd and kerman. bibliography.--_imperial gazetteer of india_ (new edition, 1907-1909); _census of india_ (1901); _statistical atlas of india_ (1895); g. a. grierson, _linguistic survey of india_ (1903); sir thomas holdich, _india_ ("regions of the world" series) (1902); sir john strachey, _india_ (1903); w. crooke, _natives of northern india_ (1907); w. s. lilly, _india and its problems_ (1902); sidney low, _a vision of india_ (1906); r. d. oldham, _geology of india_ (1893); w. t. blanford, _geology of india_ (1880), and _fauna of british india_ (1888); r. lydekker, _great and small game of india_ (1900); sir j. d. hooker, _flora of british india_ (1875); j. s. gamble, _manual of indian timbers_ (1902); _indian land revenue policy_ (calcutta, 1902); b. h. baden-powell, _the indian village community_ (1896); abdullah yusuf ali, _life and labour of the people of india_ (1907); theodore morison, _industrial organization of an indian province_ (1906); professor wyndham dunstan, _coal resources of india_ (society of arts, 1902); sir george watt, _dictionary of economic products of india_ (1908); sir george birdwood, _industrial arts of india_ (1880); r. h. mahon, _iron and steel in india_ (1899); _lord curzon in india_ (1906); _india office list_; _the statesman's year-book_; and the government of india's annual reports. (w. w. h.; j. s. co.)