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'ABSTRACT OF LETTERS FROM INDIA 1870' [‎330v] (667/798)

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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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The very insufficient supply of water possessed by Nasmn
for some time past attracted considerable attention and ^
schemes have been prepared for improving the supply ’ The SeVetal
supply is defective both in quantity and quality. The
except that of the Ambajaree Tank, is more or less impure whi??
well water is generally brackish. 5 e the
All the authorities seem unanimous in considering that th
largement of the Ambajaree Tank is the best scheme for improv^
the supply, and in April 1869 an outline of a project was submit!!
for the work, the main object of the reference then made beinst
ascertain if Government would advance the funds necessary f
carrying out the scheme. The project being submitted in very little
detail, we were unable to come to any definite conclusions eoncerninj
it, but concluded our remarks on the occasion with an assurance that
had the necessary data been forthcoming, we would not have been
disinclined to give any necessary assistance on reasonable terms.
This resulted in the submission of three projects. The one ulti-
mately approved of by us provides for increasing the height ofthe
embankment 10 feet, which raises the total capacity of the reservoir
from 80 to 267J millions of cubic feet; allowing five feet for evaporation,
which would reduce the capacity by about 54 millions, and deducting
17£ millions more as being at too low a level, there would be an
available supply of 196 millions of cubic feet from the improved
reservoir. The requirements of the station, estimated for a population
of 84,000 persons at 15 gallons per day, an allowance amply sufficient,
are 74 millions of cubic feet, so that a surplus of 122 millions is
expected, one half of which it is proposed to use for irrigating 326
acres of land, at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,000 only. This portion of
the scheme we have, however, ordered^ to be postponed until the rest
of the project is in working order.
The entire scheme has been estimated to cost Rs. 3,65,000, and
provides also for the supply of water to the Government Central Jail
at Aujnee, in consideration of which we have consented to defray
Rs. 15,000 from Imperial Funds, to cover a fair share of the cost of
the mains, and also to bear a fair proportion of the charge for esta
blishments,^ The balance, Rs. 3,45,000, we have agreed to advance
to the municipality as a loan, repayable with interest at 4i per cent,
in 17 years, by annual payments of Rs. 27,000. The annual instal
ments are to be provided for by a water rate, leviable on every house
which water will reach, while the interest (Rs. 15,525 annually) is to
be met from pandhari collections in the city, and the Seetabuldee
station ground rents, estimated to yield Rs. 13,000 annually. Any
e ciencies which might occur from the sources specified are to be
made good from the district pandhari tax, a tax leviable under Act XIV.
of 1867, from all persons dwelling or working for gain, or carrying on
usiness in certain districts of the Central Provinces, whose inconiG is

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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' [‎330v] (667/798), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/CA10, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100135113394.0x000044> [accessed 8 August 2026]

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