Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/616

* INDIA. 540 INDIA. ■were obliged to pay labor on the old scale, in spite of the appririation of the curreiiL-y. llciico, while indusitrial iwpenses remained noiiiinally tlio same, the employers received lower priilitn. Heavy losses fell also upon the natives, who aa times grew hard were obliged to turn their hoards of silver into money. Finally, in the spring of 1898, a currency connnittee was ap- pointed to investi;;ate the monetary situation in Jnilia. This eomiiiittce reported, in .July, 18!t!t, in favor of nuiintaining the gold standard, and nuiking it more elVective; and to this end n law was passed in September of the same year. Since 1.S1I9 the value of the silver rupee has been stable at the rate fixed— Is. 4d. (.32.4 cents). The coinage of rupees, which for .some years after 18i)3 almost ceased, became large in 19001901, and the profit on the coinage was set aside as a special gold ri'serve fund to be used in maintain- ing the rate of exchange between tireat Britain and India. There is a comparatively small amount of paper money in circulation in India. It is legal teniler within certain limited districts. The amount outstanding in !Mareh. 1898, wa.i 298.0.59,000 rupees, about two-thirds of which was in the districts of Calcutta and Bombay. According to the Indian money system. 100.000 rupees equal 1 lakh, and 100 lakhs equal 1 crore. Hence a sum that would be read in terms of rupees onlv. according to the English method, would, according to the Indian nu'tliod. be dill'er- ently punctuated and read in terms of both the larger and the smaller denominations. To illus- trate: The sum 37S84:')I7000 rupees would in Eng- lish read 37..884.. 517.000 rtijices. but in the Indian notation it would be written 3.788.4.5.17.000 and read "Three thousand seven hundred eighty-eight crores, forty- five lakhs, seventeen thousand rupees." In Indian money estimates. sims are often given in tens of rupees, the abbreviation being Rx. Civil Service. The administrative offices are largely filled through civil sen'ice appointments. Candidates taking the examination reqiiired to secure a position must be under twenty-four years of age. The successful candidate is then on probation for a year in England, during which period certain requirements are to be ful- filled, as. for instance, the learning of the Indian law. A |>ensinn is obtainable after twenty-five years of service. Advancement is secured partly by promotion and partly by seniority. After a probationary jK-riod of four years a .selection may be made between the revenue and the judi- cial departments, the civilian remaining in the department selected throughout the remaindir of his career in the service. There are about 1000 positions to be filled under the covenanted civil service of India. Inasnuu'h as the examina- tions are held in London, there are not many natives of ln<lia who are able to take them, and nearly all the highly paid positions still go to Englishmen. However, the minor administra- tion, both administrative and judicial, is mostly filled by natives. It is estimated that 90 per cent, of the civil employees of India are natives. Defense. The supremacy of the British sea power practically guarantees India from invasion liy way of the sea, and the Himalaya Mountains perform a like service for a great part of the northern frontier. The main interest in the defense of India centres about the northwest frontier, which is the historic gateway for in- vasions into India. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century the British adopted 'i more active frontier )iolicy. They have estab- lished outposts and fortifications commanding the mountain passes that communicate with the west and north and more securely defend the Trans-Indus region. The British have a post of observation at (hitral and possess an "inllu- ence' at (iilgit which enables them to keep in- formed as to the llindu-Ku.sh passes. Farther south the Swat Valley is in the hands of the British. The important Khyber Bass (q.v.) is open, and the large garrison stationed at Pesha- war serves to protect it. Continuing south, the Kurani and the Tochi valleys arc controlh'd by the British, as are also the tlunal Bass and the y.hoh Valley. Quetta has been made a strong defensive point, as has also Sakkar — the city on the Indus where the railroad crosses to the westward. A number of posts along the earlier frontier line farther east are still maintained; others have been abandoned. The scheme of defense has led to the construction of railroad.s for military purposes, one of which extends to Xew Chanian. the farthest outpost on the Afghan frontier. These lines now make it possiblij quickly and easily to transport the soldiers to the dill'erent frontier strongholds. The threatening approach of the Russians to the Indian frontier has established an excuse for the Britisii to maintain a large army. The experience of the Sepoy rebellion has led them to increase the proportion which the Britisii troops hold to the total military force, the inten- tion being that the latter shall constitute one- third of the total number, and that the artillery .shall be almost wholly British. The native soldiers are drawn largely from a few tribes, such as the Sikhs, Gurkhas, Kajputs, and .lats, who are the warrior races of the country, and are much more efficient as soldiers than are the niasses of the population. Class distinctions are recognized, an I the different units in the army organization are composed of homogeneous ele- ments. Through the improvement of sanitary conditions. an<l the exercise of greater caution in locating British soldiers, fatalities are of much less frequent occurrence than formerly. The na- tive .States still maintain military forces, but the British have succecdid in their effort to have their number reduced and brought more or less under their own control. For a statement con- cerning the organization and statistics of the army, sw Ahmik.s, paragraph on lirilish Empire. Weights ANn ^lEAsrRES. The imit of weight conunonly used is the maund.but it varies greatly in amount, being equivalent to 82S pounds avoir- dupois in Bengal, only about 28 jmunds in Bom- bay, and 25 pounds in Madras. The tola, a small unit, is equivalent to 180 grains. In Bengal there is a unit of measure called the guz, equiva- lent ta36 inches. An act was passed in 1871 to establish a uniform decimal system of weights and measures, but it has never gone into oper- ation. PopfLATTON. India is one of the most densely populated countries, containing between one-fifth and one-sixth of the estimated population of the world. In 1901 the number of inhabitants per square mile was 188. as against 283 (estimated) for Cliina. and 25.fi (1900) for the United States. Tile population is most unevenly distributed. nearly two-fifths being found in the valley of the