‘REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1882-83.’ [‎73r] (154/498)

1882-83. J RELATIONS WITH TRIBUTARY STATES AND FRONTIER AFFAIRS. 91
The troublesome Deshi Bhils have been controlled by tbe plan of having a special police
officer and 20 mounted constables to prevent crime and to hunt down offenders, regardless of
'urisdiction, which is necessary amongst small and much intermixed states. The experiment
has been very successful, but there is a difficulty about its cost. In the Katosan district the Production,
crime of arson is extremely common. It is perpetrated generally on account of some domestic
(rrudge, and often an unsigned letter of warning is previously affixed. Among the hill Bhils
thereVas been a marked decrease in cases of cattle-stealing.
2 210 cases were reported to the police concerning 1,437 accused persons. 821 persons
were convicted and 534 released.
Crimes of violence have decreased. Dacoities have numbered 84, in which 8 persons were Criminal Justice,
killed and 51 wounded. A Wania, out of revenge, hired a band of robbers to plunder the
house of his relative, and carried off Bs. 10,000; but four-fifths of the property have been
recovered, and Government signified their approval of the action of the Tdar Police in this
case. Property of the reputed value of Bs. 85,300 was stolen, and Bs. 26,600 were recovered.
The'Criminal Courts convicted 1,835 persons and released 1,477, leaving 53 persons still to be
tried at the close of the year. The Sessions Court disposed of 24 cases in which it convicted
47persons and acquitted 11. Fine is the customary mode of punishment; it fills the treasury,
and does away with the inconvenience and expense of guarding and feeding the prisoners.
One of the conditions the Pol Bhils exacted from their Chief in 1881 was that on no account
should he imprison any of them,—confinement to these people accustomed to an out of door
life being specially obnoxious. Out of 33 appeals 21 sentences were modified or reversed, 588
prisoners were sent to jail, and the daily average in confinement was 161, the cost for diet being
only Ik anna per head. The prisoners wear a prison dress with distinguishing numbers, and
the scale of diet has been amended. The total Marwadi population under surveillance to check
infanticide is now 983 males and 1,179 females; of the latter, 298 are children under fifteen
years of age. 2 boys and 4 girls died during the year. Bs. 415 were granted to assist in the
marriages of 16 girls. No case of infanticide is known to have occurred, and the annually
increasing excess number of females would appear to show that there is no reason to believe
that the Marwadi population is now more addicted to this crime than any other class of the
community; neither does the proportion of unmarried females of a marriageable age seem
especially large.
The Civil Courts disposed of 1,685 suits of the average value of Bs. 68, and left 329 Civil Justice,
suits in arrears; but the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. complains of the vast number of useless ami xepeated
petitions. 17 appeals were disposed of, leaving 16 in arrears in the Political Agent’s Court;
besides these, 222 political cases were decided.
The I'dar State has engaged an experienced agent to import farmers as cultivators, as well as Protection,
to take measures calculated to increase the prosperity of the cultivators and the levenue. Two
new hamlets have been established, each with 30 Ivunbi cultivators, and in othei villages the
number of cultivators has been increased by importation. Attention has been cliawn to the
cultivation of indigo, and it is intended to experiment on 50 bighas this year. Leases have
been granted on favourable terms to those who will dig masonry wells, and 51 have in conse
quence been sunk.
Bs. 22,000 have been spent on public works, among which the hospital at Ilol, and irnga- Public Works,
tional work on the Varavashi Biver, and 5 school-houses at I dar may be mentioned. The eait -
quake has shaken the house of the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. so much that it has had to be condemnec .
11,078 births and 7,752 deaths were reported, the number being less than in the previous ^ ltal
two years. Two new dispensaries were opened at Ilol and Bramhakhed, and in the oldei dispen
saries the average daily attendance was from 43 to 62. The hospital at I dar has been muc
improved, and quarters for 10 in-patients have been erected. Except among the Lhi s, t re
people take kindly to vaccination, and there is now no trouble in persuading them to presen
their children. 11,402 operations were performed.
There are 65 schools attended by 3,668 scholars. Kolis and Ivunbis rarely attend ; still Instruction,
their number has increased by 80 to 329. Bhils have not yet been induced to attend. Ihe
Maharaja of Pdar takes a healthy interest in education, and generally examines the schools at
villages he may pass through ; he has also induced one of his sardars to send his son to the
Bajkumar College. The school at Sadra for the sons of talukdars is fairly prosperous.
i
KATHIAWAR.
Area, 20,879 square miles; Population (1881), 2,343,899; Revenue, Rs. l,2o,00,000.
The peninsula of Kathiawar, the ancient Surashtra, lies on the north-west coast of the KdMdwdr.
Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , and the old divisions into Jhalavad north, Sorath south, Grohelvad east, an a ar
west are still retained for administrative purposes. The four leading states are JJnranga ra,
Navanagar, Junagad and Bhavnagar, and many of the other states are ottshoots trom 'these
four, but in parting with land each parent state has been careful to reserve o i se e
coast and harbours/ Thus Bhavnagar has all the eastern and Navanagar all the western ports,
while Junagad has a majority on the south. Under the ruling houses there are numerous petty
Bajput lairds and yeomen, representatives of old houses long ruined and supplanted, oi oi t e
younger brothers of Chiefs who have received their giras, or portion, from the estate.
Chap. I.
POLITICAL.
Tributauy
States.
Mahi Kdntha.