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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎227r] (460/798)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (395 folios). It was created in Dec 1869-Dec 1870. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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nve ver, to
' the Stat e for f ul :
'o nominal
111 u ch, the matt,
State mjgij
lis f uH period,
the “anner prop,,
1 Fund s, and lea*.
f ht fi nd themseW
her than interest s;
>ght take overtld,
ambents, and
the 600f, as tie „
er case, the deiiti
but in case ofatsorit
‘ssary to keep accoi
be wound Uganda!
deduction would keen
r.
Ian the better. Iti
he State, and therefi
3d Civil Service, wl:
rdance with the prii
of other branches il:
that the State slot
of retired members d
i is, in fact, only par
why, if the State fc:
, it should practical ! 1
ier cent, deduction t
ore continue to la -
reduced on the A
(V ed, we would ft
don, but the ^
delayed. Wefear*
t 600 /..andlea®f t '
'ould not pi
, r Officers who P’-
r’ s Covenanted Clfl '
would, we think" 1
445
pension as may be a fair equivalent to the subscriptions of the
members of the Services, the question arises what this addition should
be, and how it should be regulated. It appears that, taking the three
Presidencies together, Officers have, on the average, since the new Rules
have been in force, resigned the service at the age of 50, after completing
a service of 31 years, including 27 years’ residence. The average
annuity value of their subscriptions to the Funds has been 435/.; the
average annuity value of the fines paid voluntarily at the time of retire
ment to supplement the subscriptions has been 17/.; and the value
of the lapses divided among the annuitants has been 51/. If the Funds
are absorbed by the State, the voluntary fines will of course cease.
Thus, deducting fines, the average annuity is 486/., due on account of
the payments of the subscribers over and above the pension of 600/.,
the charge for which, it is assumed, falls properly on the State. This
pension and the annuity together amount to 1,086/.
It must, however, be remembered that the annuities derived from
the subscriptions would amount to the sum above stated only on the
assumption that six per cent, interest is allowed on the assets of the
Funds. It is also assumed that the table of annuity values now in
force represents the actual value of the lives of annuitants, while there
are reasons for supposing that this table is pitched too low. If the
pensions are improved, the average period of service at the time of
retirement may be somewhat shortened. On these considerations, we
may perhaps take somewhat less than 1,086/. as the proper average
amount of the pension to be given.
Hitherto, omitting the sums purchased by fines, the actual annuities
given under the existing rules have varied from 724Z. to 1,000/. Of
the whole 131 annuities only eight have been below 800/., and of these
eight all but one (a notoriously exceptional case) have exceeded 775/.
The average has been 940/., or, deducting the value of the fines, 923/.
We therefore think that, if the State accepts the charge of 600/. pension
for each annuitant, and is willing to give a fair equivalent for the Fund
assets, the pension should vary from about 900/. to about 1,200/., hut
that the average should rather exceed 1,000/. The question is, how
can a scale of pensions best be arranged on these principles ?
A pension is, as above remarked, deferred pay, and, practically,
the only way of determining, with tolerable fairness, the amount of
pension which a man is to receive after a certain period of service, is
to make it proportionate in some degree to the scale of his pay.
Speaking generally, for the purpose now under consideration, the
only way in which it is possible to estimate the proportionate value of
a man s services is to measure them by the amount of his pay.
Whether this be really a complete test of the comparative claims of
Officers or not, it is, we think, quite certain that no better test can be
found.

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Content

Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1870. The letters are dated December 1869-December 1870. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:

  • Abstracts of Secret Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Military Letters received from India
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Muscat
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire [Bushehr]
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Aden and Zanzibar
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Bushire and Aden
  • Abstracts of Letters received from Zanzibar and Aden.

Each abstract contains summaries of one or more letters from the specified source, each with a title giving the subject of the letter. Letters from India are divided within each abstract by the branch or department of the Government of India they originated from. The correspondence covers issues including:

  • Pay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishments
  • Public works, including: railways, including a proposed railway from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; roads; canals; irrigation; docks; and river embankments
  • Revenue, expenditure, and taxation
  • Land issues, including: the cultivation of cotton, cinchona, and silk; forestry; and coal mining
  • Education
  • Banking
  • Telegraphy, including international telegraphic links to India
  • Affairs concerning Princely States, including internal administration, debts, allowances, issues of succession, investment in railways, and territorial claims
  • Issues around emigration from India to British and French colonies
  • Legislative and judicial affairs, including the question of jurisdiction over British subjects in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
  • Military affairs, including the organisation and supply of military units and a proposed naval force for the Indian seas and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
  • Frontier affairs: relations with tribes on the Northwest and Northeast Frontiers and frontier raids
  • Affairs in Persia [Iran], including: Persian claims to sovereignty over Bahrein [Bahrain] and objection to British actions in Bahrein; frontier disputes around Khelat [Kalat], Mekran [Makran], and Seistan [Sistan] and proposed arbitration of the Persian-Afghan border; anticipated food shortages and subsequent disturbances involving British subjects exporting grain from Bushire
  • Affairs in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, including: the consolidation of and challenges to the rule of Syud Azan [Azzān bin Qays Āl Bū Sa‘īd]; debates around British policy towards Syud Azan; confrontation between Muscat and the Wahabees [Waḥabī movement]; the issue of the Zanzibar subsidy; and Syud Azan’s claims to Bunder Abbas [Bandar-e ‘Abbas], Gwadur [Gwadar], Charbar [Chabahar] and other territories on the Mekran Coast
  • Affairs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , including: the campaign of Colonel Lewis Pelly in Bahrein and the installation of Esau bin Ali [‘Īsá bin ‘Alī Āl Khalīfah] as Ruler; trade and shipping in the Gulf; the desire of the Shah of Persia for a naval presence in the Gulf; Dutch and Turkish [Ottoman] activity in the region; and tensions between Bahrein and the Wahabees, including Wahabee inroads in the Guttur peninsula [Qatar]
  • Affairs in Affghanistan [Afghanistan], including relations with Bokhara [Emirate of Bukhara] and Russia
  • Central Asian affairs, including the Russian advance in the region, trade and communication from India to Central Asia via Cashmere [Kashmir] and Ladak [Ladakh], and affairs in Eastern Turkestan [Xinjiang]
  • Affairs in Zanzibar, including the slave trade, relations with Muscat, the death of Syud Majid [Mājid bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd], and the accession to the throne of Syud Burgash [Barghash bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd]
  • Affairs in and around Aden Settlement, including: relations with neighbouring polities, including Lahej [Laḥij Sultanate], Houshebi [Ḥawshabī Sultanate], Fodtheli [Faḍlī Sultanate], and Kathiree [Kathīrī Sultanate]; the purchase of Little Aden; the defences of Aden; an attack on Hodeida [Al Hudaydah] from Aseer [‘Asir] and the threat to Lahej from the Zaidees [Zaidīs]
  • Affairs in the Red Sea, including attempted French, Austrian, Turkish, and Egyptian inroads in the region
  • Affairs in Burmah [Burma/Myanmar], Bhootan [Bhutan], and Nipal [Nepal].

The primary correspondents are:

Extent and format
1 volume (395 folios)
Arrangement

The abstracts are arranged in roughly chronological order. A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 384-393.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 395; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎227r] (460/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113393.0x00003d> [accessed 22 July 2026]

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