furnish statistics; but the experiments have involved considerable outlay and have led to little practical result generally. Recently agricultural exhibitions have been organized with some success in various parts of India, and the competition created for the prizes appears to be producing a beneficial effect. It is very interesting to note in the last report of the "Material Progress of India," that in British Burmah the ploughs in use numbered 383,976. Steam machinery is little used and probably not needed, because not only is manual labour abundant and cheap, but the regularity of the seasons relieves the farmer from the anxiety and haste which attend the harvesting of crops in our more uncertain climate.

In agricultural operations in India irrigation forms one of the most necessary and costly items of expenditure, and in every province the peasants patiently draw from wells and streams the life-sustaining water which under the powerful rays of the tropical sun produces rapid vegetation.

The sad effects of drought have more than once lately been painfully illustrated. The native rulers have an adage that "to attempt to relieve a famine is to water the branches when the roots are dead;" thanks however to roads, railways and steamers, it has been proved that relief can be given. Still, such calamities as the Orissa and Bengal famines and that subsequently prevailing in Madras and Bombay are terrible to contemplate, and to prevent rather than to cure them, the rigorous prosecution of irrigation works should always be kept prominently in view with improved means of communication.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Roads-Railways-Telegraphs.

Communications.-Under this head a volume might be written. The communications, external and internal, comprise lines of ships and steamers, telegraphs, railways, roads, canals, &c., &c., representing many millions of money and employing thousands of persons. Like the Romans of old, the British may now fairly be said to make road-making the first of their duties, and throughout the provinces of India this necessary work is diligently prosecuted. In the neighbourhood of large towns the responsibility of providing good roads devolves upon the municipalities, &c., in the provinces the means are provided by the presidency funds apportioned to such local works. For information concerning the postal and telegraphic services and railways the reader interested in such matters should peruse the Government reports, which furnish precise and valuable details, and alone can properly explain the gigantic character of the work which is embraced under these three heads. The postage of a letter from and to any place in India is half an anna, equal to three farthings,

and except England no country in the world possesses a more efficient postal service.

Telegraphs. In telegraphy India is little if anything behind Europe. From Europe to India there exist the deep sea cable through the Red Sea, and two distinct land communications through Turkey, Russia and Persia; these are connected with a sub-marine cable by the Persian Gulf to Kurrachee. It also possesses telegraphic communication with China and Australia, and an efficient internal service is maintained with the principal military and commercial centres. Had these complete services been in existence in 1857, on the outbreak of the mutiny, many valuable lives might have been spared, and it is apparent that our tenure of India is greatly strengthened by the facilities now existing. The wide extent of territory spanned by the wires necessarily renders the services costly to organise and maintain, and not only is the material liable to damage by storms, floods and robbery, but the distance from observation gives facilities for dishonest tampering. A curious instance of this occurred some time ago; some telegraph clerks, at the instigation of a wealthy native, dealing largely in opium, proceeded to a solitary spot, where they cut the wires, read off all the messages, and transmitted them to Bombay with such alterations as enabled their employer to reap the unfair advantage which he sought.

Railways. In railway communication a good commencement has been made, but much remains still to be done in this respect. At present there are five or six great trunk lines intersecting the country: the East India Railway extending from Calcutta for 1,000 miles

along the valley of the Ganges and Jumna to Delhi, to meet the Indus Valley line from Kurrachee, and thus to form the great steam arch connecting the Bay of Benga! with the Arabian Sea, and which at Allahabad throws out a branch to Jubbulpore to meet the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, placing Calcutta and Bombay in immediate connection; the Bombay and Baroda Railway running from Bombay almost in a direct northerly line to Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad, and tapping the cotton districts; the Scinde, Punjaub and Delhi Railway commencing from Kurrachee and proceeding viâ Lahore to Delhi, which with its proposed branches to the Bolan and Kyber, will be the great political line of India, by providing the means of transport of troops and material for the defence of the frontier, and enable us to meet Russia in the markets of Central Asia on more than equal terms, and which at the same time will open up the great grain-producing districts of the Punjaub; the Oude and Rohilkund; the Southern of India; the Madras and minor lines;-altogether in 1877 there were 8,142 miles open, of which 1,729 miles are of the metre 3ft. 3 in. gauge, the remainder being on the normal gauge

of 5ft. 6in.

That there should be two gauges in India is much to be regretted, as a branch might speedily become a trunk line. The principal portions of these lines have been constructed and are being worked by Companies and Boards of Directors under Government supervision. A few have been made by Government officers, and the question of the future regarding Indian railways is, whether they should pass wholly into the possession of the

State and be worked from one central point, or whether the several Companies should maintain their distinctive commercial character and be managed as at present. Those in favour of the former system, with some show of reason, maintain that as the Government guaranteed interest is what the shareholders chiefly look to for the return on their capital, there can be no objection to the lines being entirely under the control of the State. But, on the other hand, it is clear that our English railways could never have arrived at their present efficient and profitable condition, nor could they meet the evervarying wants of the public were it not for the character of the management and its freedom from the hard and fast regulations of the public services. The capital of the railway companies of the United Kingdom in 1876 reached the sum of 658 millions, and the yield of the gross revenue from this immense investment was 62 millions, the net revenue being 29 millions. These figures will give some idea of the cost of providing railways for our great Indian dependency, and it is not too much to say that no single department of Government can possibly do justice to these gigantic works, and that the best that can be done is to continue and perhaps strengthen the present system of supervision.

Further, the progress of this necessary and national work ought not to be left to the mere question of a surplus or deficiency in the Budget. In India we possess a magnificent estate needing capital for its development, and we have a tolerably sure guarantee that money advanced will be honestly expended; but instead of advancing money for railways, canals, roads, &c., in