Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/489

 DEFENCE

145

inchuling an advanced position covering the place ; on strategic roads ; and on defences for various bridges, tunnels, &c,, on the Sind-Pishin Railway. The Indus crossings at Attokand Sukkur have been defended ; an entrenched position has been formed at Rawal Pindi and a defensible post at Multan ; an arsenal has been established at Ferozepore ; and a variety of minor works, such as defences for railway bridges, have been carried out. The health of the Indian troops has been so im})roved by better barracks, by quartering a larger proportion of the European soldiers at hill stations, and by attention to sanitary conditions that the death-rate, which before the Mutiny was 6 9 per cent, for Europeans, and 2 for natives, has been reduced to 1 '6 and 1 '0 per cent, respectively. The number of volunteers in India on April 1, 1898, was as follows : —

— Enrolled. Efficient. Punjab. . . Bengal. . . Madras. , . Bombay. . . 2,412 14,006 8,522 4,630 2,308 13,425 8,086 4,414 28,233 Total. . 29,570

According to the estimates for 1898-99 the strength of the entire British army in India for the year (excluding the veteran and invalid establishment) is as follows : —

— Artillery Cavalry i Engineers Infantry Miscell. Officers Total Bengal Punjab Bombay Madras Total. 4,862 8,365 6,120 11,893 3,980 5,458 2,934 3,259 1,577 69 1,092 1,724 41,765 50,504 36,360 38,619 320 220 132 116 56,889 68,806 47,022 46,652 17,896 1 28,975 4,462 167,248 788 219,369

Returns published in 1884 showed that the various feudatory and dependent States of India had armies numbering 349,835 men, and 4,237 guns. A large proportion of these forces were little better than a badly-equipped, undisciplined rabble ; but in 1888, after the native chiefs had loyally offered large sums of money towards the cost of imperial defence, the Indian Government elabor- ated a scheme for the training and equipment of picked contingents of troops in certain States, with a view to enabling the chiefs to bear a direct share in the defence of the Empire. ^Measures are now in progress which will enable the chiefs to furnish contingents of troops lit to take their place in line with the regiments of the Indian