Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/257

 BELLAR Y. Nagaradona, as well as several

and breached 253 of the land was rendered

villages,

destroyed the roads and canals,

Much

largest tanks in the District.

sterile

valuable

by the deposits of sand, and the loss

property and cattle was enormous.

most severely affected

247

in the

in

Bellary formed one of the Districts It

was the

in the

shape of

great famine of 1876-77.

centre of an extensive system of organized

both

relief,

public works and gratuitous distributions of food.

Commerce atid Trade cotton takes the

first

.

— Among the agricultural products of the place.

In the raw state

it

District,

largely exported

is

both to Madras and Bombay, where it is pronounced equal to the best Western growth; and the manufacture of cotton goods cloth, rope,

—

—

and carpets occupies large numbers of the people. Oil-seeds, sugar-cane, hemp, and indigo, all represent important mercantile interests. In woollen goods, the chief articles of export are the blarikets of the Kudlighi taluk, for which there is a demand all over the Madras Presidency. The woollen carpets, however, cannot compete with those of Ellore and Mysore. Chintz-stamping still forms an important industry in the Gooty taluk of Anantapur District, where also tape,

there

is

carried

A

a considerable manufacture of glass bangles.

on

Hospet and other

in the

Iron-smelting

is

taluks.

portion of the ^Madras Railway (north-west line), 56 miles, runs

boundary of the District, passing the town of Adoni, a branch line from Guntakal station, 32 miles in length, being carried due west to the town of Bellary. A section of the Southern Maratha State Railway also falls within the District, running for a distance of 40 miles, due west, from Bellary to Hospet. There are 974 miles of imperial and local roads. A District road cess,

just

within the north-eastern

levied at the rate of about i|d. in every

2s.

of land revenue, provides

maintenance of the roads. The principal ferries over the Tungabhadra are at Hampsagra, Hathalli, and Madavaram, and those over the Hagari at Permadavanhalli and Moka. The right of ferrying is rented out at about ^^900 per annum, which supplements the regular road fund. Numerous local funds contribute to the District revenue. The public bungalow fund,’ derived from the fees paid by travellers for accommodation in the public rest-houses ; the pound fund and the chaultri fund, derived from economies in the administration of the resources of endowed charities, sufficiently denote the institutions of the District. A District Gazette is published in the town of Bellary for

the

‘

monthly, and a private printing-press Administration separate District,

.

— Until

its

1808,

is

when

also maintained.

Bellary was

first

history forms part of that of the

recognised as a

Ceded Provinces

With the rest it suffered throughout all the changes of government from anarchy and extortionate revenue collectors. In 1800, when the District was ceded to the Company, it was found that

generally.