Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/412



400 NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. 55 Játs, 601 Káyasths, 412 of miscellaneous caste, 3 Bauris, and 30 Afgháns. Of the men, 19 are Christians; Muhanımadans, 6924; mans, 4155; Rajputs, 3501; Gúrkhas, 203; Sikhs, 753; Punjabis, 291; Játs, 265 ; Káyasths, 867 ; of miscellaneous castes, 3582 ; Baurís, 33; and Afgháns, 98. In addition to the regular provincial police, there is a force of 92,099 village watchmen or chaukidárs, maintained at a total cost of £298,596. Jails.—The daily average of the prison population in the jails of the united Provinces was 23,362 in 1883-84. The jails are divided into 7 central prisons (at Meerut, Bareli, Agra, Fatehgarh, Allahábád, Benares, and Lucknow), 45 District jails, and 30 lock-ups. Total number of juvenile offenders 668, for whom no reformatory as yet exists; total convicts despatched to the Andamans, 214; total jail expenditure of united Provinces, £91,754 in 1883, the net cost to the State of each convict being about £3, 78. gd. Total profit to Government from jail labour, £15,616. Death-rate per 1000 of the jail population, 1973. The number of cognisable crimes reported in 1883-84 was 144,611, of which 6138 were serious offences against the person, and 48,981 serious offences against property. The number of murders in 1883 was 412; of dakaití or gang-robbery, 94 (of which 3-4 were in Oudh); robberies, 150 (mostly on private vehicles and on footpassengers); poisoning, 21; and cattle-stealing, 55,000. In Meerut, Agra, and Rohilkhand, cattle-lifting is said to be a distinct pursuit of certain criminal classes. As regards criminal procedure, the number of persons brought to trial in 1883 in the North-Western Provinces was 100,287, and in Oudh 29,582. As regards civil procedure, the number of original suits instituted during 1883 in the North-Western Provinces was 87,759, and in Oudh 37,242, exclusive of 31,623 rent suits. Municipalities. — There were in 1883-84, 109 towns in the NorthWestern Provinces and Oudh municipally organized; total population of the municipalities, 3,087,719. Income (1884), £267,377, derived from the following sources — taxation (mostly octroi), £206,503; rents of houses, gardens, etc., £31,767; fines, £1954; miscellaneous, £16,350; grants-in-aid, £10,268 ; and smaller items. Octroi is the sole tax in 60 municipalities, the impost being levied on grain, sugar, ghi, oil-seeds, tobacco, drugs, cloth, and metals. Direct taxes are the house-tax, £2700; a tax on trades and professions, £11,606; and a property tax, £4771. The average incidence of municipal taxation per head of the municipal population is is. 4d. for the united Provinces. University Education. There are thirteen colleges or sections of colleges which give what is technically called University education.