DEFENCE
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inchuling an advanced position covering the place ; on strategic roads ; and on defences for various bridges, tunnels, &c,, on the Sind-Pishin Railway. The Indus crossings at Attokand Sukkur have been defended ; an entrenched position has been formed at Rawal Pindi and a defensible post at Multan ; an arsenal has been established at Ferozepore ; and a variety of minor works, such as defences for railway bridges, have been carried out. The health of the Indian troops has been so im})roved by better barracks, by quartering a larger proportion of the European soldiers at hill stations, and by attention to sanitary conditions that the death-rate, which before the Mutiny was 6 9 per cent, for Europeans, and 2 for natives, has been reduced to 1 '6 and 1 '0 per cent, respectively. The number of volunteers in India on April 1, 1898, was as follows : —
— Enrolled. Efficient. Punjab . . . Bengal . . . Madras . , . Bombay . . . 2,412 14,006 8,522 4,630 2,308 13,425 8,086 4,414 28,233 Total . . 29,570
According to the estimates for 1898-99 the strength of the entire British army in India for the year (excluding the veteran and invalid establishment) is as follows : —
— Artillery Cavalry i Engineers Infantry Miscell. Officers Total Bengal Punjab Bombay Madras Total . 4,862 8,365 6,120 11,893 3,980 5,458 2,934 3,259 1,577 69 1,092 1,724 41,765 50,504 36,360 38,619 320 220 132 116 56,889 68,806 47,022 46,652 17,896 1 28,975 4,462 167,248 788 219,369
Returns published in 1884 showed that the various feudatory and dependent States of India had armies numbering 349,835 men, and 4,237 guns. A large proportion of these forces were little better than a badly-equipped, undisciplined rabble ; but in 1888, after the native chiefs had loyally offered large sums of money towards the cost of imperial defence, the Indian Government elabor- ated a scheme for the training and equipment of picked contingents of troops in certain States, with a view to enabling the chiefs to bear a direct share in the defence of the Empire. ^Measures are now in progress which will enable the chiefs to furnish contingents of troops lit to take their place in line with the regiments of the Indian
