Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/521



OUDII. 509 The High Court, presided over by the Judicial Commissioner, forms the ultimate court of appeal. The number of suits instituted in the ordinary civil, small-cause, and rent courts of the Province was 85,179 in 1883; of this total over 30,000 were in connection with rent. Each Deputy Commissioner has at his disposal a small staff of European and native assistants, who aggregated 173 for the whole Province in 1886. The average population under the control of each Deputy Conmissioner is little less than a million. In 1883, the total police force numbered 7685 officers and men, being i policeinan to every 3.15 square miles of area, and to every 1482 persons of the population. The total cost was £78,992, of which £15,043 was defrayed from other sources than provincial revenue. The expenditure on buildings, communications, etc., by the Public Works Department was £79,963. In 1877-78, the total number of schools of all kinds was 1423, attended by 67,571 pupils, being i school to every 17 square miles, and 5*7 pupils to every thousand of the population. In 1883-84, the number of schools was 1455; pupils, 60,432. The Muhammadans, who form only 124 per cent. of the population, supply 22 per cent of the scholars. Lucknow possesses an important college, founded by the táluklárs in memory of Lord Canning, whose name it bears, with a separate establishment for the sons of túlukdárs. Almost equally efficacious in disseminating useful information is the private press of Munshi Newal Kishor at Lucknow, which prints a cheap and abundant literature for use throughout all India. An English newspaper, the Express, is published bi-weekly at Lucknoir; and there were 14 vernacular periodicals published throughout the Province in 1884. Municipalities have been established at the following 29 large towns :—Lucknow, Faizabád (Fyzábad), Tánda, Bahraich, Shahábád, Sandila, Khairabad, Balrảnipur, Rai Bareli, Gonda, Partibgarh, Sítápur, Biswán, Dhaurehra, Unao, Muhamdi, Nawabganj (Bara Banki), Nawabganj (Gonda), Hardoi, Nánpárá, Ctraula, Lakhimpur, Bhinga, Sultanpur, Newalganj-with-Maharajganj, Bílgrám, Sándi, Mallánwán, and Pahảni. In 1884, these 29 towns had a total municipal population of 626,938, and a total municipal income of £50,871, of which £37,691 was derived from taxation; the average incidence of taxation was is. 2 d. per head. Roughly speaking, the chieftains (tálukdárs) have retained threefifths of the Province, while two-fifths have passed into the hands of a class intermediate between the cultivators and the chiefs. The village communities consist of large coparcenary societies, each containing a number of separate proprietors, who either hold their lands in common, dividing the net proceeds after payment of revenue and other charges, or else have divided the soil, and each separately collect