Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/490

146 army. The special contingents, known as Imperial Service Troops, now number about 16,618 men, organised and under instruction. Eighteen British Inspecting Officers have been ap- pointed. The following table shows the States and contingents with which they have to deal:—

At Sirmur and Maler Kotla the contingent consists of sappers ; at Bikaner, of camel corps ; at Jaipur, of transport corps ; at Gwalior there is a transport corps of 820 in addition to the cavalry.

The following war-vessels belong to the Indian marine: — coast-defence turret ironclads : Magdala, station ship (3,340 tons), four 8-in. 14-ton guns; and Abyssinia (2,900 tons), with the same chief armament; also the despatch-vessel Lawrence (1,154 tons), and the sister first-class torpedo gun-boats Assaye and Plassey (735 tons), besides seven 90-ton torpedo boats built in 1889, a submarine mining flotilla consisting of eight vessels, and a number of troop-vessels, surveying-ships, inland steamers, &c.

The chief industry of India has always been agriculture, but it was not until about the year 1870 that the Indian Government directed systematic attention to fostering and improving Indian agriculture. Since that time there has been established in every province of India a public department, which collects and distributes early information concerning the crops, controls or advises upon model and experimental farms, introduces new agricultural appliances, tries new staples, and is organizing schools for teaching the chemistry and science of agriculture. By these departments Indian students of good education have been sent to Europe to