Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/204

Rh 186 MADRAS from this source amounted to 4,170,052. Besides these lands in the hands of the Government, there are also proprietary or zamln- ddri estates in all parts of the country. These estates are either the remains of ancient principalities, which the holder cannot sell or encumber beyond his own life interest, or they are creations of British rule and subject to the usual Hindu custom of partition. The total area of the zaminddri estates is about 21 million acres, or one-fourth of the whole presidency. The pcshkash or tribute pay able to Government in perpetuity amounts to about 500,000 a year. Indms, revenue-free or quit-rent grants of lands made for religious endowments or for services rendered to the state, occupy an aggregate area of a little over 1,500,000 acres. Manufactures. Madras possesses few staple manufactures. The preparation of the coffee berry for export constitutes the one great business carried on by means of European capital and under Euro pean supervision. Indigo is manufactured in considerable quan tities, but of inferior quality. The more important of the large manufactories are three cotton mills in Madras, a weaving estab lishment maintained by the Basel mission in South Kanara, sugar works in Ganjdm and South Arcot, and a jute factory at Yizaga- patam. Up to the close of the last century cotton goods consti tuted the main article of export. Masulipatam, where the first English factory on the Coromandel coast was established in 1620, enjoyed a special reputation for its chintzes, which were valued for the freshness and permanency of their dyes. There is still a small demand for these articles in Burmah, the Straits, and the Persian Gulf ; but Manchester goods have nearly beaten the Indian exporter out of the field. Native looms, however, still hold their own in the local market, in face of strenuous opposition. After weaving, working in metals appears to be the most widespread native in dustry. Among local specialities which have attracted Eluropean curiosity may be mentioned the jewellery of Trichinopoli, orna ments of ivory and horn worked at Vizagapatam, and sandal-wood carving at Kanara. The manufacture and sale of salt is a Govern ment monopoly, carried on under close supervision. The process employed is solar evaporation, and the entire eastern coast-line from Orissa to Cape Comorin affords natural facilities for the in dustry. The preparation of arrack and toddy spirit is also a Government monopoly. On the Nilgiri hills and at Bellary country beer is manufactured by European firms subject to an excise duty of 6d. per gallon. Railways. Two guaranteed railway companies, the Madras and the South Indian, have their lines almost entirely within the presidency. The Madras Eailway, which connects at Raichur with the Great Indian Peninsular system, runs south-east to Madras, and then west across the peninsula to Beypur, with branches to Bellary and Bangalore. The total length open in 1881 was 858 miles ; the capital expended, 10,441,699 ; the net profits 177,433, giving a dividend of 17 per cent, on the capital expended. The South Indian Railway (narrow guage) runs north from Tuticorin to Madras. In 1881 the total length was 658 miles ; the capital expended, 4,291,311 ; and the net profits yielded a dividend of 2 - 9 per cent. Commerce and Trade. The continuous seaboard of the Madras presidency, without any natural harbours of the first rank, has tended to create a widely diffused trade. Madras city conducts nearly one-half of the total sea-borne commerce; next comes Malabar, containing the western railway terminus near Calicut ; then Goda- vari, with its cluster of ports along the fringe of the delta ; Tinnevelli, with the new harbour at Tuticorin, which has opened large dealings with Ceylon ; Tanjore, South Kanara, Ganjam, and Vizagapatam in the order given. The total foreign trade in 1880-81 was as follows. The imports amounted to 6,518,783, of which cotton piece goods and twist made up 2,908,379, grain 158,144, and apparel 147,691. The exports amounted to 9,271,345, the chief items being coffee, 1,393,0&0 ; raw cotton, 939,127 ; hides and skins, 1,261,182 ; rice, 996,314 ; seeds, 708,390; indigo, 693,103; spices, 379,282; oils, 372,119; sugar, 301,670. The total number of vessels engaged in foreign trade that cleared and entered Madras ports in 1880-81 was 6247, with a tonnage of 1,177,337 ; the coasting trade was conducted by 11,316 vessels, with 3,748,474 tons, for ports outside Madras presidency, and 24,057 vessels, with 3,092,286 tons, for ports within tlie pre sidency. The importance of this active coasting trade may be gathered from the fact that in 1876-77 (the first year of the late famine) the imports of grain suddenly rose to 652, 850 tons, by far the greater part consisting of rice from Bengal. Administration. The supreme executive authority is vested in the governor, with a council of three members, of whom one is the commander-in-chief ; the others belong to the covenanted civil service. For legislative purposes this council is increased by the presence of the advocate-general and from four to eight other mem bers nominated by the governor, of whom not less than one-half must be non -officials. The local administration is organized with the district or zild as its unit. Of these districts there are twenty- one in all, including the Nilgiris and Madras city, both of which occupy an exceptional position. Each of the remaining districts is under the jurisdiction of a collector-magistrate and a sessions judge. Beneath the collector-magistrate come deputy collectors, sub-col lectors, and assistants. Each district is subdivided into taluks, numbering one hundred and fifty-six in all, under the charge of a taJisilddr. Each taluk comprises from fifty to one hundred villages, which constitute the ultimate units for fiscal and administrative purposes. The hereditary village officials, to be found in almost every Hindu village, are employed to perform minor public offices, revenue and judicial, and are inadequately remunerated either by fees in grain and other cesses levied from the villagers, or by a reduction in their land assessment. The heads of villages and village accountants (karnam] collect and account for all revenue, rates, and taxes within their respective villages or townships. Local and municipal administration, including roads and com munications, schools and primary education, public health and local endowments, together with special taxation levied for any of these purposes, is provided for by special legislation passed in 1871. Entire districts or, where these are of unmanageable size, parts of districts have been constituted local fund circles, each under the management of a board of commissioners, of which the collector is ex ojjicio president, and the district engineer, medical officer, and one or more civil officers are official members. With them are associ ated at least an equal number of native non-official gentlemen, appointed by Government. To these boards is entrusted the entire management of the local interests above named, subject to the sub mission of an annual budget for the sanction of Government, and of a report of the board s transactions at the close of each year. The twenty-one districts of the presidency comprise thirty-five such local fund circles. The sources of income at the disposal of these boards are a grant from provincial funds, a special land rate not exceeding one anna in the rupee of the Government assessment, tolls, school fees, local endowments, and other minor special funds. Municipal administration of the larger towns is provided for by boards of town commissioners, constituted similarly to the local boards as regards official and non-official members, except that, with the consent of Government, the latter may be elected by the rate payers. Besides the above-named local interests, the commissioners manage the local sanitation and hospitals of the towns, registration of births and deaths, lighting, and police. About fifty towns, in cluding Madras city, with an aggregate population of 1,500,000, are provided with municipal administration, and the number is steadily increasing. The funds at the disposal of the commissioners consist of rates on houses and lands, a tax on professions and trades, a wheel and animal tax, tolls and ferries, school and market fees, &c. Under the administration of these local and municipal boards great impulse has been given to the development of roads, educa tion, and hospitals and dispensaries. Revenue and Expenditure. Down to 1871 every branch of revenue and expenditure throughout India was managed in all details by the Government of India. Under the decentralization scheme of that year the financial administration of the jail, police, and educational services, together with certain branches of the medical, sanitary, and other minor services, were transferred to the Government of Madras, and a grant of a single fixed sum from the imperial funds was assigned for their maintenance. The local fund boards, described above, were constituted in the same year, and the municipal administration improved. The provincial expenditure is almost entirely met by a grant from imperial funds ; and the local receipts benefit in a similar way by a subsidy from the imperial budget. The following figures show the revenue and expenditure under each head of finance for the year 1880-81, exclusive of the charges under the heads of army, interest, and imperial public works. (1) Imperial : total revenue, 8,526,451, of which about one- half, 4,284,335, is derived from the land revenue, and 1,433,974 from salt; expenditure, 3,478,655. (2) Provincial: total revenue, 955,162, of which 781,990 forms the allotment from the im perial funds; expenditure, 971,011, the main items being police, 376,356; law and justice, 105,962; public works, 142,187; education, 90,875. (3) Unfettered local funds : receipts, 24,768 ; charges, 19,628. (4) Fettered local funds: income, 748,315; expenditure, 729,746. (5) Municipal : total revenue, 137,364 ; expenditure, 129,525. The gross revenue of the presidency was 9,030,152, and the expenditure 6,893,960. Army. The Madras army garrisons, besides the whole of Madras proper, the adjoining state of Mysore, the Nizam s Dominions, the Central Provinces, and British Burmah; a regiment is also usually stationed at Dorunda in the Chutia Nagpur division of Bengal, and another at Cuttack in Orissa. The entire force consists of 1 regiment of European cavalry, 19 batteries of European artillery, and 8 regiments of European infantry, with 1 company of native sappers and miners, 4 regiments of native cavalry, and 40 regiments of native infantry. In 1880-81 the European force numbered 10,229, and the native army 30,958 of all ranks. The military expenditure charged against Madras in 1880-81 was 2,722,105. The principal cantonments are Kampti, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Bellary, and Rangoon. St Thomas s Mount near Madras city is an important station for artillery. The two military sanatariums