414 NOWGONG DISTRICT. £44,984, or 599 per cent., and excise £16,936, or 22'5 per cent. The expenditure on the District in the same year was £19,153. The land revenue has multiplied itself nearly fourfold within the past thirty years, despite a diminution in the area of the District. In 1883-84 there were ii magisterial and 4 civil courts open. For police purposes the District is divided into 5 thánás or police circles. In 1883 the regular police force consisted of 143 officers and men, maintain a total cost of £2418. These figures show one policeman to every 24 square miles of area, or to every 2 172 of the population, the average cost of maintenance being 14s. Id. per square mile, or id. per head. There is no municipal police force in Nowgong, and the chaukidárs or village watch of Bengal are not found anywhere throughout Assam proper. During 1883–84, the total number of persons convicted of any offence, great or small, was 435, or 1 person to every 714 of the population. By far the greater number of the convictions were for petty offences. There is one jail at Nowgong town. In 1883, the daily average number of prisoners was 71'98, of whom '54 were women. These figures show one prisoner to every 4313 of the District population. The total cost of the jail was £464, or £6, gs. 5d. per prisoner. In the spread of education, Nowgong ranks second to Kámrúp among all the Districts of Assam ; but as compared with Bengal, the entire Province is in a backward condition. In 1856 there were only Il schools in the District, attended by 679 pupils. The figures for 1860 show a considerable falling off, but by 1870 the number of schools had increased to 39, and the number of pupils to 1373. This improvement was due to the reform by which grants of inoney were awarded to vernacular schools; and since the latter date, the benefit of the grantin-aid rules has been further extended to the village schools or påthsálás. By the close of 1873 the schools had risen to 85, and the pupils to 2357. In 1883–84 there were altogether 133 schools under Government inspection, attended by 5257 pupils, including 4 girls' schools with 77 pupils. There were also in the same year 14 private uninspected schools, attended by 315 pupils. The chief cducational establishment is the Government English school at Nowgong town, attended by 130 pupils. The American Baptist Mission maintains 2 normal schools. Nowgong District is divided for administrative purposes into the 5 thánás or police circles of Nowgong, Rahá, Jági, Kaliábar, and Dobáka The Sub-divisional system has not yet been extended to the District, and there are no municipalities. The number of mauzás or village units for the collection of the land revenue amounts to 65, each under its own mauzádár or native fiscal officer. Medical Aspects. The climate of Nowgong is considered extremely
