amounted to 12,099,5937., while the gross expenses in the same year were 6,192,1717., equal to 51.17 per cent of the earnings.

The total amount of guaranteed capital raised for the construction of railways up to the 31st March 1879 amounted to 96,444,6661., while the total outlay upon railways, both State and guaranteed, amounted to 119,979,1397. at the same date.

The construction of railways, besides fostering trade and commerce, has produced social and moral effects indicated, to some extent, by a vastly increased postal intercourse. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1880, the number of letters which passed through the Post-office of British India was 128,567,058; of newspapers 11,251,021; of parcels 1,074,262; and of books and patterns 2,085,303; being a total of 142,977,644. The following table gives the number of letters, newspapers, etc., carried, and the number of offices and receiving houses, together with the total revenue and expenditure of the Post-office-including that of the non-postal branches-in each of the ten fiscal years 1871 to 1880 :

The number of letters carried by the Post-office nearly doubled in Bengal and Madras during the ten years 1870 to 1880. In 1870 the number was 15,511,495 in Bengal, and 12,167,455 in Madras, while in 1880 it was 22,065,695 in Bengal, and 23,950,820 in Madras. The increase was not in anything like the same proportion in the other provinces of India.

เ

In the fiscal year, ending March 1870, the mails travelled over 50,281 miles, of which total 40,586 miles was done by boats and runners;' 5,460 miles by carts and on horseback; and 4,235 miles by railways. Eleven years after, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1880, the mails travelled over 57,418 miles, of which total 45,817 miles was done by boats and runners;' 3,034 miles by carts and on horseback; and 8,567 miles by railways.

The following table gives the number of miles of lines, the total receipts, and the working expenditure of all the telegraphs in India, in each of the ten fiscal years from 1871 to 1880:

The total number of messages despatched on the telegraph lines of India in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1880, was 1,569,907. Of these, 1,562,511 were paid private messages and on the public service, and the rest unpaid messages on the news and telegraph service. There were 276 telegraph offices on March 31, 1880.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

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

MONEY.

The relative value of the money of India and England fluctuates in the Money market; thus, a Rupee is sometimes worth 2s. 2d., and sometimes only 18. 9d.; but 2s. is the medium, or, as it is called, its par value.

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.

An Act to provide for the ultimate adoption of an uniform system

was

of weights and measures of capacity throughout British India 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 vacuum.' Unless it be otherwise ordered, 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 1878-80. Imp. 4. Calcutta, 1881.

Correspondence respecting the relations between the British Government and that of Afghanistan since the accession of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan. Fol. London, 1879-80.

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, 1881.

Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part II. Revenues and Charges of each Presidency and Province. Fol. Calcutta, 1881.

Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part III. Revenues and Charges, Statisties for the Administration of Revenue, and Miscellaneous Statistics. Fol. Calcutta, 1881.

Indian Army and Civil Service List.

Issued by permission of the Secretary of State for India in Council. 8. London, 1881.

Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Railways in India for the year 1880-81. By Julian Danvers, Government Director of Indian Railway Companies. Fol. London, 1881.

Statement exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during the year 1879-80. Fol. London, 1881.

Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom in each year from 1865 to 1879. No. XVI. 8. London, 1880. Statistical Abstract relating to British India from 1870-71 to 1879-80. No. XV. 8. London, 1881.

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 1880.' Imp. 4. London, 1881.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Adams (W. H. Davenport), Episodes of Anglo-Indian History. 8. London, 1880.

Andrew (W. P.), India and her Neighbours. 8. London, 1878.

Banks (J. S.), Our Indian Empire, its rise and growth. 16.. London, 1880. 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.

Cunningham (H. S.), British India and its Rulers. 8. London, 1881.

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. 8 vols. 8. London, 1869-78. Forbes (C. J. T.), British Burma and its people. 8. London, 1889. Fitzgerald (W. F. Vesey), Egypt, India, and the Colonies. 8. London, 1870. Fontpertuis (Ad. Frout de), L'Inde britannique. 8. Paris, 1878.

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 principal states in the Punjab. 2d edit. 8. London, 1872.

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.

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

Low (Charles Rathbone), The History of the Indian Navy. 2 vols. 8. London, 1878.

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

Malleson (Col. G. B.), The Native States of India, in subsidiary alliance with the British Government. 8. London, 1878

Markham (Clements R.), Memoir of the Indian Surveys. 8. London, 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.

Rousselet (L.), India and its Native Princes. 4. London, 1876.

Routledge (James), English Rule and Native Opinion in India. 8. London, 1878.

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

Strachey (Sir John), The Finances and Public Works of India, from 1869 to 1881. 8. London, 1882.

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.

Williams (Dr. Monier), Modern India and the Indians. 8. London, 1879.

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 Tycoon, together with that of the principal Daimios, or feudal nobles. 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 Honourable Gate.'

Mikado of Japan.-Mutsu Hito, born at Yedo, Nov. 23, 1850; succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, 1867; married, Dec. 28, 1868, to Princess Haru-ko, born April 17, 1850, daughter of Prince Itchiô.

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, and Public Instruction. 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.

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 Sovereign, who reigns and governs; but the work of government is carried on by the Great Council, which is divided into three sections