152 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — INDIA. AND DEPENDENCIES
in 1920, against 10,858,3792. in 1918-19. The railway staff in 1919-20 numbered 6,941 Europeans, 10,865 Anglo-Indians, and 693,884 Indians ; total, 711,690.
India and Ceylon haye been connected by rail and steamer ferry combined, the steamers plying between Dhanushkodi Point on Rameswaram Island and Talaimannar in Ceylon. A project has also been prepared for replacing the ferry by a railway, to be constructed on a causeway laid over the reef known as Adam's Bridge.
III. Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones.
In 1920 there were 69,494 post-offices and letter-boxes, against 753 in 1856.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1920, the number of letters, post-cards, and money -orders passing through the post-offices was 1,225,047,599 ; of newspapers 61,918,287 ; of parcels 11,389,643 ; and of packets 68,384,861 ; being a total of 1,366,740,393. The following table gives statistics for five years : —
Letter Boxes
Total Revenue
Tear ended Number of L*tterg> March 31 Newspapers, Ac.
Post Offices
Total Expenditure
1916 1,082,984,058
1917 1,120,235,120
1918 1,147,922,768
1919 1,229,355.641
1920 1,306,740,393
19,328 19,409 19,410 19,445 19,439
49,684 49,763 49,749 49,838 50,055
& 2,450,883 2,622,493 2,774,015 3,020,187 3,550,973
£
2,110,253 2,114,737 2,361,631 2,643,965 2,995,903
The following are statistics of the Government telegraphs for five years : —
Tear ended
Number of
Number of
Revenue
Revenue
Number of
March 31
Miles of Wire
Miles of Line
Receipts
Charges
Paid Messages
1916
337,720
86.067
£
1,238,517
£
948,452
18,129,748
1917
343,487
87,480
1,385,499
911,601
19,297,692
1918
347,906
87,714
1,645,683
848,197
19,897,787
1919
357,472
87,814
2,157,348
980,821
21,314,943
1920
369,273
88,417
2,515,321
1,435,324
20,275,352
There were 10,440 telegraph offices in India on March 31, 1920.
There are several wireless telegraph installations under tho Government of India.
The telephone system is in the hands of the Post and Telegraph Department, but telephone exchanges have been established in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Ahinedabad, Karachi, Rangoon, and Moulinein, by private companies, under licences from the Government. At the eud of 1919 than were 13 telephone exchanges, with 17,810 connections, established by companies, and 245 exchanges, with 8,975 connections established by the Department.
Money and Credit.
The total value of the silver, nickel, copper, and bronze coined in British India from 1835-36 to 1919-20 inclnsive was Rs. 7,53,29,03,895, includ- ing Rs. 50,14,78,068, the value of 221,003,960 British dollars ; Rs. 8,02,68,091, the value of 35,374,655 Straits dollais ; Rs. 92,74,505 and Rs. 23,17,847, the value of subsidiary silver coinage for the Straits Settlements and Ceylon respectively ; Rs. 2,43,47,157, the value of ooinage for the Egyptian Govern- ment ; Rs. 10,10,700, the value of pennies and halfpennies for the Australian Commonwealth ; Rs. 74,86,672, representing the value of cents and fractions
