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The total number of messages despatched on the telegraph lines of India in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1876, was 921,640. Of these, 761,915 were paid private messages and on the public service, and the rest unpaid messages on the news and telegraph service. There were 230 telegraph offices on March 31, 1876.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of India, and the British equivalents, are:

MONEY.

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Star Pagoda of Madras

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Sicca Rupee.

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Madras or Company's Rupee of 16 Annas or 192 Pice

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The sum of 100,000 rupees is called a 'lac,' and of 10,000,000 acrore,' of rupees.

In 1835 the Government remodelled the currency of India, establishing a more uniform system, in conformity with which accounts are mostly kept at present in Rupees, reckoned of the value of 2 shillings. Silver is the only legal tender and standard of value.

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An Act to provide for the ultimate adoption of an uniform system of weights and measures of capacity throughout British India' was passed by the Governor-General of India in Council in 1871. The Act orders: Art. 2. The primary standard of weight shall be

called a ser, and shall be a weight of metal in the possession of the Government of India, equal, when weighed in a vacuum, to the weight known in France as the kilogramme.' Art. 3. The units of weight and measures of capacity shall be, for weights, the said ser; for measures of capacity, a measure containing one such ser of water at its maximum density, weighed in a vacuuni.' Art. 4. The Governor-General in Council may, from time to time, by notification in the "Gazette of India," declare the magnitude and denominations of the weights and measures of capacity, other than the said units, to be authorised under this Act: provided that every such weight or measure of capacity shall be an integral multiple or integral submultiple of one of the units aforesaid. The Governor-General in Council may, in like manner, revoke such notification. Unless it be otherwise ordered in any such notification, the sub-divisions of all such weights and measures of capacity shall be expressed in decimal parts.'

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning India.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of British India with Foreign Countries, and of the Coasting Trade between the several Presidencies, together with Miscellaneous Statistics relating to the Foreign Trade of British India, from various periods to 1875-76. Imp. 4. Calcutta, 1877.

Finance and Revenue Accounts; and Miscellaneous Statistics relating to the Finances of British India. Part I. Revenues, Charges, and other Cash Transactions of British India. Fol. Calcutta, 1877.

Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part II. Revenues and Charges of each Presidency and Province. Fol. Calcutta, 1877.

Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part III. Revenues and Charges, Statisties for the Administration of Revenue, and Miscellaneous Statistics. Fol. Calcutta, 1877.

Indian Army and Civil Service List. Issued by permission of the Secretary of State for India in Council. 8. London, 1877.

Memorandum on the Census of British India of 1871-72. Fol. London, 1875. Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Railways in India for the year 1876-77. By Julian Danvers, Government Director of Indian Railway Companies. Fol. London, 1877.

Statement exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during the year 1875-76. Fol. London, 1877.

Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom in each year from 1861 to 1875. No. XIII. 8. London, 1877. Statistical Abstract relating to British India from 1866-7 to 1875-6. No. XI. 8. London, 1877.

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Trade of India with Great Britain; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions in the year 1876.' Imp. 4. London, 1877.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Blair (Charles) Indian Famines; their historical, financial, and other aspects. 12. London, 1874.

Carnegy (P.) Notes on the Land Tenures and Revenue Assessments of Upper India. 8. London, 1874.

Chesney (George), Indian Polity: a view of the system of Administration in India. 8. London, 1868.

Dilke (Sir Charles Wentworth, Bart., M.P.), Greater Britain: a record of travel in English-speaking countries in 1866 and 1867. 3rd ed. 8. London, 1869. Elliot (Sir H. M.), History of India. 6 vols. 8. London, 1869-76, Fitzgerald (W. F. Vesey), Egypt, India, and the Colonies. 8. London, 1870. Garnier (Lieut. Fr.), Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine, effectué pendant les années 1866, 1867, et 1868. 4. Paris, 1873.

2 vols.

Gleig (Rev. G. R.), History of British India. 4 vols. 16. London, 1830. Gordon (Lieut.-Col. T. E.), The Roof of the World, being a narrative of a journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian frontier and the Oxus sources in Pamir. 8. Edinburgh, 1876.

Grant Duff (M. E., M.P.), Notes of an Indian Journey. 8. London, 1876. Griffin (Lepel H.), The Rajas of the Punjab, being the history of the prin cipal states in the Punjab, and their political relations with the British Government. 2d edit. 8. London, 1872.

Hunter (Dr. W. W.), The Annals of Rural Bengal. 5th ed. 8. London, 1870. Hunter (Dr. W. W.), The Indian Musulmans. 2nd ed. 8. London, 1871.

Jacolliot (L.) Lois, prêtres, et castes dans l'Inde. 8. Paris, 1877. Kaye (John William), The Administration of the East India Company: a history of Indian progress. 8. London, 1853.

Knight (Robert), The Indian Empire and our financial relations therewith. 8. London, 1866.

Latham (R. G.), Ethnology of India. 8. London, 1859.

Mahon (Lord), Rise of our Indian Empire. 8. London, 1858.

Markham (Clements R.), Memoir of the Indian Surveys. 8. Londor, 1871. Marshman (John Clark), The History of India, from the earliest period to the close of Lord Dalhousie's administration. 3 vols. 8. London, 1867-70. Martin (R. Montgomery), The Progress and Present State of British India. 8. London, 1862.

Martineau (Rev. A.), British Rule in India. 12. London, 1857.

Prichard (J. T.), The Administration of India from 1859 to 1868. 2 vols. 8. London, 1869.

Raikes (C.), The Englishman in India. 8. London, 1867.

Sherring (Rev. M. A.), History of Protestant Missions in India. 8. Benares, 1875.

Thornton (W. T.), Indian Public Works and cognate Indian Topics. 8. London, 1875.

Thurlow (Hon. T. J.), The Company and the Crown. 8. London, 1866. Torrens (Wm. T. M'Cullagh), Empire in Asia: How we came by it. 8. London, 1872.

Tyrrell (Lieut.-Col. F.), Waterways or Railways, or the Future of India. 8. London, 1874.

Watson (J. Forbes), and Kaye (Jn. Wm.), The People of India: a Series of Photographic Illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan. 4 vols. Imp. 4. London, 1866-70.

Wheeler (J. Talboys), The History of India from the earliest ages. 4 vols. 8. London, 1874-76.

JAPAN.

(SHO KOKU.-NIPPON.)

Constitution and Government.

THE system of government of the Japanese empire is that of an absolute monarchy. It was adopted in the year 1869, when the now ruling sovereign overthrew, after a short war, the power of the formerly independent Daimios, or feudal nobles, reducing them to the position of simple tenants of the vast estates in their hereditary possessions. The sovereign bears the name of Supreme Lord, or Emperor; but the appellation by which he is generally known in foreign countries is the ancient title of Mikado, or 'The Venerable.' Mikado of Japan.-Mutsu Hito, born at Yedo, Sept. 22, 1852; succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, 1867; married, Dec. 28, 1868, to Princess Haru-ko, born April 17, 1850, daughter of Prince Itchidgo.

The power of the Mikado is absolute and unlimited, in temporal as well as spiritual affairs. He acts through an executive ministry, divided, in imitation of that of France under Napoleon III., into eight departments, of the Imperial House, of Foreign Affairs, War, Navy, Finances and the Interior, Justice, Public Instruction, and Ecclesiastical Affairs. At the side of the Ministry stands the 'Sain,' or Senate, composed of thirty members, and the Shoïn,' or Council of State, of an unlimited number of members, both nominated by the Mikado, and consulted by him at his pleasure.

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There exists no regular law of succession to the throne, but in case of the death or abdication of the Mikado, the crown devolves generally, not on his son, but on either the eldest or the most distinguished member of his house. It is not uncommon that palace intrigues settle the choice, the only condition of legality of which is that the elect should be member of the Shi Shinnô, the 'Four Imperial Relatives,' or Royal Families of Japan. The throne can be, and has frequently been, occupied by a female, who, however, is not allowed to remain single, but must seek a consort within the limits of the Shi Shinnô.

The government is at present organised on a basis which is partly European. The Mikado is, theoretically, an absolute Sove

reign, who reigns and governs; but the work of government is carried on by the Great Council, which is divided into three sections denominated Centre, Right, and Left. The Centre is composed of the Prime Minister, Vice-Prime Minister, and five advisers. The Left is made up exclusively of the Council of State, the functions of which are analogous to those of the French Conseil d'Etat, so far as the preparation and discussion of laws is concerned. The Right includes all the Ministers and Vice-Ministers of the eight departments into which the administration is divided. The Ministers, either individually or united in a Cabinet, decide all ordinary questions; but points of real importance are reserved for the Great Council, presided over by the Mikado. A Parliament was formed in 1869, with deputies selected by the provincial Governments, but it was soon dissolved, its deliberations taking no effect. The local administration in the provinces is in the hands of prefects, one of them residing in each of the 75 districts into which Japan is divided. The powers and the attributes of these prefects are far more extensive than those of any similar functionaries in Europe. There is, however, a limit to their judicial action, for they cannot carry into execution sentences involving banishment or death until they have been confirmed by the Minister of Justice.

Previous to the last change of government, which placed all power in the hands of the Mikado, a large share of administrative authority rested with the Daimios, the feudal proprietors of the soil, an official list of whose names was published periodically at Yedo, the capital. The list gave the family name and genealogy of each, as well as the fullest particulars of his family, the number of his residences, the extent and value of his territorial and other property, the uniform of his retainers, the design of his coat of arms, and the flag carried on his ships. A list of Daimios, published at Yedo in 1862, stated their number at 266, with incomes varying from 10,000 to 610,500 koban, or from about 15,000l. to 915,5007. The territory of each Daimio formed a sovereignty within itself, governed, in the case of the more powerful magnates, by a Secretary of State. called Karô, and a number of assistant ministers, and many of them were possessed of large bodies of troops. All these, with their fortified castles, and every attribute of authority, the Daimios surrendered, after more or less resistance, to the hereditary Emperor.

Revenue, Public Debt, and Army.

The total revenue of Japan for the year 1874 was given, in official returns, at 9,750,000l., and the total expenditure at 9,320,000Z., leaving a surplus of 430,000l. The sources of revenue and branches of expenditure were as follows:—

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