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    INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS.

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    EMIGRATION TO INDIA AND EMIGRATION TO OTHEB , COLONIES . At the present moment thcro is a kind of competition for likely emigrants , in which India has no share . The diggings attract to Victoria , and Columbia , but Canada , the Cape , New South Wales , and Auckland , arc in the market offering great advantages to recruits . * In the Colonisation Circular issued by her

    Majesty ' s Emigration Commissioners , and which is the official Guide to emigrants , there' is not ono word about Indiu . At page 3 , is a very copious list , showing the cost of passage not only to a great number of English colonies , but likewise to New York , but not a line as to India , although , Hongf-Kong is not forgotten . At page 25 , there is a list of colonies and their governors , and hero , again , India is loft out ; so , too , iu the population returns U ffiVnd bounties are B iwm nt . groat lpjigth for every colony except India , and it is worth w ulo seeing what they amount , to . In Canada , the price of land worth anything , » 7 * . del . por acre , but u Canada West , one hundred acres are granted , m ccrii districts to settlors on condition ol keeping

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    sponding half-years . The gross revenue for the year has now reached 150 , 232 / . As the figures are divided in the directors' report , it may be as well to give some of the items which constitute the revenue for the year : — dB . Passengers G 4 , 6-00 Parcels and luggage . ; 3 , 035 Live stock 3 , 397 Carriages 2 , 41 <> Merchandise 32 , 052 Minerals 43 , 223 On a line -which is a coal and mineral line , it is natural that mineral traffic should form a large portion of the income , and that the passengers traffic should be thereby surpassed . The conveyance of this mass of minerals into Calcutta is a great fact . The merchandise traffic is of course in its infancy . The entry for live stock , 3397 / ., is a very large one for a new traffic , which takes many ; years to bring into Working . The parcels traffic , some people will think , is small , but this is another branch of

    traffic which it requires a large extent of line and extensive organisation to bring into bearing . It is one of the best paying branches and one which is last got . The conveyance of carriages Is a large entry for a new line . We do not see any allusion to season tickets for the class of residents and regular passengers , who are now beginning to come upon the line , nor do we see any statement of military traffic although the line has rendered very j rreat services to the State in these times of peril .

    Fish / vegetables , fruit , poultry , meat , and many other valuable articles of traffic are scarcely known at present , because they require not merely railway arrangements but trade arrangements . There must be higglers to collect , there must be convenient packages , and there must be salesmen in Calcutta to dispose of the produce . Thus it is quite clear the traffic is in its infancy . . The board report their extreme disappointment , in which our readers will concur , that , notwithstanding every representation , the East India Directors have refused to sanction , except upon prejudicial terms , the advance to Sir Macdonald Stephenson of one third of the annuity granted to him by deed of the 13 th September , 1853 , as requested by the Proprietors . Such want of consiflemtion for this benefactor of India savours too

    EAST INDIAN BAIL WAT COMPANY . The report read at the half-yearly meeting on Thursday merits attention , for it gives us some means of judging of how the railway system will work in India when in an advanced state . The progress of the works is on the whole satisfactory , notwithstanding the mutiny , but we cannot conceal from ourselves that the interests of India conceal ironi oursuivus mui / tut ; miuww ui j . xj . u . i « ,

    require a more rapid extension , of railway communication . With what is opened and what is in hand we shall only have 270 miles available at an early period in this Presidency , and ten times that length would not suffice for the" wants of the country . This deficiency' cannot be said to be owing to any fault of the railway directors , who have urged on the Government the concession of the necessary powers , and have been unremitting in their endeavours to advance the works . They have had to contend with the local insurrection of the Southals

    and the ravages of the great mutiny , by which many of their works are still delayed , and they are nat therefore in the happy position of the Great Indian Peninsular or Madras . The question of transport is one which materially affects the ' progress of the works . Had the original plan been prosecuted and the line by Raneegunge and the-Grand Trunk Road pushed on , these difficulties would not have been felt to such a degree , but the unhappy determination to suspend the direct route and prosecute a line by the banks of the Ganges has left the Country without the relief of quick transit by a line which would be the chord to the

    sinuous arc of river navigation . The difficulties and delay of navigation on the Gauges are very great , but : these are now more severely felt , because the necessities of the Government during the revolt have greatl y pressed on the means of transport , and bricks , timber , rails , girders , engines , and all app liances being kept back , the works proceed tardily . This has forced the directors on . a strange enterprise , that of navigating the Ganges and building a number of light draught

    ferred to the provision of steamers , and we may further mention the determination to introduce iron girders largely for bridge construction , which will result in a very considerable saving of time . The intercourse between civil engineers and the Government engineers will have a very considerable effect in modifying the proceedings of the latter by bringing them in contact with men of practical experience and authority . Mr . Rendel has naturally been treated with courtesy by the officers of Government , and the result of the intercourse will be to give more weight to his representations and those of his staff . At present the power of Government interference is sensibly felt in very many respects , and , with the best intentions , an officer of Engineers of narrow professional education and little acquainted with English practice , may well be expected to err in his ¦ recommendations , however well acquainted With the climate and country , when English civil engineers find it necessary year after year to modify their practice . There has" been a strong fancy in India for brick bridges , and for these Mr . Rendel and Mr . Turnbull propose to substitute iron girders ; cast iron sleepers were considerably preferable for the permanent way , but the experience of the working lias determined them to substitute what was formerly thought most desirable fo be avoided , namely , wooden sleepers . With to lines extensions

    regard new ana , xne Jubbulpore surveys arc to be vigorously proceeded with . It is stated the board made application _ for the concession of tlie bridge across the river Ilooghlv , and the line to . the new port in the Mutlalu Of this line , in ease of its concession to other parties , they Wish to have the power of purchase , on what grounds we do not very well see . Of the Northern JSeng-al line , from their main line at Rajmahal to Darjeeliug , the directors say nothing , which is much to be regretted , as in the present state of public opinion this line is justly considered of great importance . The ravages of death and disease among the engineering staff have been very great , and among the lower classes of employes , as engine-drivers , stokers , carriage-builders , and workshop engineers , deaths have become so remarkable that many of the best railway hands in this country arc indisposed to take engagements on the East Indian Railway . " Were their line completed to the hills by this extension , the benefit to the main line would be very great , for all classes of officers and servants would have the relief of a temperate and healthy climate from time to time , and much head work and hand work could be done at Darjceling . The Director of tho Topographical Survey of India will in his generation have established his head-quarters iu the hills , and his assistants employed in field work have hill stations to retire k > , whore they will do their desk work in health and comfort . Many a valuable life would have been saved to the East Indian / ciul t hkc

    Itailway LOmpany tiey pursue a course . The loss to the conipimy of tno passage money is a small thing , for the loss of the local experience gained by each man is a greater loss . It is said that each' soldier who dies in India in action or by tho neglect of tho Government costs tho state 100 / ., but there is no employe" costs the railway company so little . A superintendent costs about 500 / ,, and an engineer 1000 / ., or for that mutter months and years of delay . By the late Mr . J . Hamilton and Mr . Nelson , the contractor , being successful in an effort to save a costly dam at the Kurumnasa-bridgc , a whole year bus been saved in tho completion of i he work—ono example among many of tho vuluo of un intelligent ofiicer . Tho truflio of tho line is now beginning to show great figures . Tho passengers conveyed iu one year now amount to above n million , being 1 , 103 , 03-X . Of these nearly allwcra third-clnss passengers or natives , that is to say , of tho class that wo were told would never travel at all . In tho month of May , 90 , 000 third-class passengers were convoyed , and in Juno above n hundred thousand , being 107 , 901 . In tho half-year llio first-class passengers wore inconsidcra'blo , being 7737 , tho second class 25 , 335 , but tho third class 513 , 202 . Tho tonungo of goods rind minerals iu tho yoar has reached 100 , 905 , and it is to bo observed all tho flguros show an increase over tho preceding mid

    eorrcsteamers and flats , for the exclusive service of the company—a measure which , has been taken with great judgment . A portion of these vessels is being fcuilt here , and a portion at Calcutta , and as they are hastened as far as possible , the board fairly calculate on most favourable results . These vessels will afterwards be most necessary for steam ferries across the Ganges , and working passengers and goods from the other bank to the stations on the line .

    About the 1 st of October , twenty-three miles more from the Burdwan Junction to the River Adjai , were to be opened , and next year twentytwo miles more , as far as Cynthea . The line be * tween Allahabad and Cawnpore , a portion of which has been worked by Government for some time , was to be opened for public traflic between the 1 st and 15 th ot this month . As Allahabad is at tho head of steam navigation on the Ganges , and is the new

    capital of the North-West Provinces , this extension is of great importance , as it is an extension of the steam traffic towards tho upper distriots , and is under favourable influences for tho development of a revenue . Of other works wo find it reported that ; the Great Monghyr Tunnel , nine hundred feet long , through quartz rock , is already a quarter through , and that , though tho works of the grand bridge over the Soano have boen suspended by the unsettled state of tho oountry , rapid progress will be made under favourable ciroumstanocs .

    Wo consider it a great advantage that Mr . Mcadows Rendel , who succeeded his father as chief engineer , proceeded to Calcutta and took counsel with Mr . Turubull and Mr . Puster . Mr . Turnbull has dono very much for tho advancomont of the lino , and it was a great benofit for him and for the undertaking to secure tho more vigorous co-operation of Mr . Rondel and the authorities at homo , This is one of tho early examples of our leading engineers visiting India , and Captain Moorson affords another , but whon tho liili countries are accessible wo hopo India will bo us well known lo our loading tnon as a field of employment as . Franco ov any European oountry i » . Mr . Rondel jnado several important arrangements . Wo have

    remuch of ingratitude to meet with concurrence from any one else . That eminent man has , by tho promotion of the East Indian Railway , the Euphrates Valley and the Red Sea Telegraph , conferred vast benefits on India , and all who know this arc desirous that he shall in his lifetime reap some reward for his assiduous labours . The exertions of the shareholders and directors of the railway company arc most meritorious , and we all hope they will persevere and make a fresh application to the new Jouucil for India .

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    No . 449 , ( iwm 30 . 1858 . 1 THE LEADER . 1165

    India And Indian Progress.

    INDIA AND INDIAN PROGRESS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 30, 1858, page 1165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2266/page/21/