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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1871' [‎308v] (623/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (393 folios). It was created in Dec 1870-Dec 1871. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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might safely rely for the construction of railways within that period
(about 12 years), before bringing the matter under the notice of Her
Majesty’s Government.
In order that no time might be lost while this question was under
investigation, we issued orders in April 1870 for the preliminary
surveys and other professional and statistical inquiries, in order that
we might be placed in possession of the data needful for a correct
appreciation of the particular railway system which would be most
suited to the province as a whole, as well as of the relative claims of
its several districts to priority of railway communication.
Accordingly, the Chief Commissioner and the several district
officers have recorded their opinions concerning the routes which rail
ways should take in order to secure a fair chance of their being
directly remunerative, and to obtain the greatest advantage for the
province and its population. Our Engineers have carefully examined
the several lines thus indicated, and have estimated in some detail the
cost of construction on about 500 miles of railway in different directions •
and now that the funds available have been determined, we are
in a position to place before you a definite scheme for the con
struction of a line of railway which will work in with any provincial
system that it may hereafter be determined to adopt, and which is
certainly within the limits of the resources of the State.
The broad facts of the financial position are as follows. There
is now an invested fund which, it is estimated, would, on realization
he worth 24| lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees . There are also 3| lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of accumulated interest on
this fund, and, allowing liberally for the cash balances required by the
administration, there is a farther surplus on this account of two lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
There is therefore a sum of 301 ] acs i u hand, and we are advised
that the experience of past years justifies the belief that an annual
surplus of 21 lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees will, on the average, accrue through the term of
twelve years during which the British administration of the State
will probably continue.
The Chief Commissioner, alter mature deliberation, has come to
the conclusion, in which we fully concur, that the available surplus
may best be spent in improving the communications of the province
by constructing a railway, so that markets may be opened up for the
staple agricultural produce of the country. It is a noteworthy fact
that the result of a recent favourable season was a decrease of land
revenue. The production being in excess of home consumption, and
the means of communication being defective, land was thrown out of
cultivation. Colonel Meade thinks that the project, which is on all
sides approved, may be executed for 40 lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees . We are not so sanguine,
and are of opinion that it would be unwise to enter on the undertaking
without being sure that 60 lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees will be forthcoming, in case they are
required. We have been careful to assign this wide margin in order

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Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1871. The letters are dated December 1870-December 1871. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

  • Abstracts of Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden and Bushire
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Bushire
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar, Bushire and Aden
  • Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:

  • Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
  • Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
  • Public works, including: roads; railways including proposed railways to Persia [Iran] and the head of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; prisons; barracks; irrigation; canals; harbours; and land reclamations
  • Issues concerning Princely States, including: debts; allowances; internal administration; and police action on the borders of Marwar and Serohi [Sirohi]
  • Land issues, including land revenue settlements and forestry
  • Telegraphy
  • Issues concerning emigration from India to British Guiana [Guyana], Grenada, Penang, and French colonies
  • Military affairs, including: the reorganisation, supply, accommodation, and discipline of military units; naval deployments; and harbour defences in Aden and Bombay
  • Education
  • Banking
  • Affairs on the Northwest Frontier, including raids by the Wuzeerees [Wazīrī tribe] and frontier policy in Beloochistan [Baluchistan]
  • Affairs on the Eastern [Northeast] Frontier, including: defensive arrangements; frontier defences in British-occupied Arracan [Rakhine] and Tenasserim [Tanintharyi] in Burmah [Myanmar/Burma]; raids on tea plantations in Cachar, Sylhet, Tipperah [Tripura], and Munnipore [Manipur] by members of the Looshai [Mizo] tribes; and arrangements for a military expedition against the Looshai
  • Affairs in Persia, including: frontier relations with Turkey [Ottoman Empire] and with Afghanistan concerning Seistan [Sistan]; trade issues in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; famine and prohibitions on grain export
  • Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, in particular civil conflict leading to the accession of Syud Toorkee [Turkī bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd] to the throne and potential threats to Syud Toorkee’s power
  • Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and Arabian Peninsula, including: conflict in Nejd [Emirate of Najd, also written here as Nujd] between Saood [Sa’ūd bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd] and Abdullah [‘Abdullāh bin Fayṣal Al Sa’ūd]; a Turkish [Ottoman] expedition to Nejd, the Turkish occupation of Lahsa [Al Hasa], and the raising of the Turkish flag in Guttur [Qatar]; and the settlement of Odeyd [Khor al-Udayd], claimed by Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi], by an independent tribe
  • Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: the capture of Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] by the Aseeris [Emirate of ‘Asir]; relations with neighbouring polities, in particular Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate] and the Foodlees [Faḍlī Sultanate]; the security of roads; and suspected Turkish designs in Yemen
  • Affairs in Zanzibar, including the accession of Syud Burgash [Sayyid Barghash bin Sa’īd Āl Bū Sa’īd] to the throne and his relations with Britain and Muscat and the slave trade
  • Affairs in East Africa, including suspected Turkish designs on Berbera and an attack on a British ship by the Majerteen [Mājertīn Sultanate]
  • Civil conflict in Affghanistan [Afghanistan] between Yakoob Khan [Muḥammad Ya’qūb Khān] and the Ameer [Amīr Shīr ‘Alī Khān], the flight of refugees to India, and Russian overtures to the Ameer
  • Relations with Burmah, including trade relations, proposed routes to China, and arms imports
  • Exploration of the route from Ladak [Ladakh] to Yarkund [Yarkant].

The primary correspondents are:

Extent and format
1 volume (393 folios)
Arrangement

The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 381-391.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 393; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1871' [‎308v] (623/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA11, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100133326063.0x000018> [accessed 6 October 2024]

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