Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/703

 TRADE AND COMMERCE.

667

tons. The following table shows the number and tonnage of all vessels, including native craft, which entered and cleared in each of the ten fiscal years — ending April 30 till 1866, and March 31 subsequently — from 1800 to 1869 : —

Years ended

April 30 and

March 31

Entered

Cleared

Vessels

Tons

Vessels

Tons

1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869

21,190 22,931 22,034 21,387 25,748 26,823 24,870 16,862 16,734 15,391

2,374,969 2,547,018 2,932,057 2,788,958 3,509,979 3,913,310 3,695,364 3,142,517 4,423,605 3,813,480

20,458 21.701 21,960 20,114 24,126 26,070 23,531 15,457 16,966 14,802

2,523,983 2,554,956 2,955,294 2,823,247 3,344,273 4,007,607 3,926,020 3,225,244 4,648,921 2,990,499

The number and tonnage of vessels under the British flag which entered and cleared at ports in India during each of the ten fiscal years from 1860 to 1869 was as follows : —

Years ended

April 30 and

March 31

Entered

Cleared

Vessels

Tons

Vessels

Tons

1860

3,059

1,412,797

3,365

1,505,204

1861

3,169

1,430,496

3,441

1,435,627

1862

3,608

1,628,032

4,092

1,663,946

1863

3,743

1,654,844

3,755

1,737,636

1864

4,790

2,249,300

4,756

2,159,622

1865

5,385

2,690,687

5,526

2,726,834

1866

5,180

2,568,397

5.401

2,780,443

1867

4.353

1,517,760

4,634

1,523,763

1868

5.159

1,862,814

5,329

1,962,519

1869

3,435

1,581,906

4,378

1,740,296

The internal commerce of India has been vastly developed of late years by the construction of several great lines of railways, made under the guarantee of the Government. In the year 1845 two private associations, termed the East Indian and the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Companies, were formed for the purpose of constructing lines of railroad in India; but the projectors found it impossible to raise the necessary funds for their proposed schemes without the assistance of the State. It was, therefore, determined by the East India Government to guarantee to the railway companies, for a term of 99 years, a rate of interest of 5 percent, upon the capital