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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [149r] (290/541)
The record is made up of 1 item (278 folios). It was created in 1865-1866. 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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’sition to ig ’
re railway
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- years misti
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military. [ Bombay]
16. For all present purposes of Indian warfare the com
position of our Army is not well proportioned.
17. The European element is certainly larger than is
necessary. It is far in excess of what was needed to conquer
the country when many native powers had leaders of their
own in command of large armies, with powerful artillery.
The people of this part of India and its neighbourhood are
now fairly content with our rule; they have few leaders of
any promise ; the common people are prosperous enough to
have but few revolutionary tendencies ; no known extensive
grievances are un-redressed, and there are but few guns left
at the command of any native chief.
18. Without being over-confident it may be safely said
that putting out of consideration all chance of interference
by any European power, it is not easy to see in this part
of India any risk of internal disturbance in which a single
European regiment, with a battery of guns and Native troops
in proportion, would not be able to do all the fighting that
could possibly be required in the open field, unless mis-
government, or political or religious excitement, or our
inahility to promptly punish open resistance to Government,
or some real grievance, should cause a general rising of the
population. Whenever that occurs it will of course require
a very large force to restore order.
19. But while the European element in our Army is
far in excess of our probable internal wants, the Native
Infantry is certainly rather below than above the complement
necessary for efficiency.
20. It is deficient in numbers because for every Euro
pean regiment we require to have at hand a certain pro
portion of Natives for duties which are not suited to Euro
peans, or which involve more risk of loss of health or effici
ency to Europeans than to Natives.
21
About this item
- Content
Annual administration report of the Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , providing a summary record of the main events and developments in each department of the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. during the financial year 1865-66.
The report is divided into the following headings, some of which are further divided into sub-headings:
- ‘JUDICIAL’ (ff 7-30), consisting of: Legislative; Civil Justice; Court of Small Causes; Criminal Justice; Police; Jails
- ‘REVENUE’ (ff 31-42), consisting of: Land Revenue; Alienated Revenue; Income Tax; Customs, Salt and Opium
- ‘FINANCIAL’ (ff 43-50), consisting of: Finance; Mint; Paper Currency
- ‘POLITICAL’ (ff 51-58), consisting of: Political; Kattywar [Kathiawar]; Kutch [also known as Kachchh]; Rewankanta [Rewa Kanthar]; Khadeish; Surat; Sind [Sindh]; Aden; Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS’ (ff 59-117), consisting of: Military Army; Ordance; Commissariat; Military Finance Offices; Civil Buildings; Public Improvements
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS – RAILWAY’ (ff 118-134) consisting of: GIP [Great Indian Peninsular] Railway; BB and CI [Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian] Railway; Sind Railway; Indus Valley Survey; Indus Steam Flotilla
- ‘MILITARY’ (ff 135-161)
- ‘PENSIONERS’ COLONY AT CHALLISGAUM [Chalisgaon]’ (f 162)
- ‘INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH’ (ff 163-251). This section gives details on the Mekran [Makran] Coast and Musandam telegraph station. This section also has appendices: A (letter from Colonel Frederic John Goldsmid, Director in Chief of Indo-European Telegraph, and a report by Major Smith on the Island of Angaum [Hengam]); B (a report by Colonel Goldsmid of his journey through Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. [Ottoman Iraq] and Asia Minor [Turkey]); C (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid and reports by himself, Major Smith of the Royal Engineers, and Mr Johnstone, British Agent at Busrah [Basra], of the journey from Ispahan [Isfahan] to Gwadur [Gwadar] to survey the land for connecting the Persian [Iranian] and Mekran Coast land lines of the telegraph); and D (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid with enclosure proposing an alternative land line from Gwadur to join the main Persian line between Bushire [Bushehr] and Tehran).
- ‘PUBLIC INSTRUCTION’ (ff 252-258)
- ‘MEDICAL’ (ff 259-260)
- ‘SURVEYS’ (ff 261-265), consisting of: Revenue Survey; Topographical Survey
- ‘FORESTS’ (ff 266-268)
- ‘EMIGRATION’ (f 269)
- ‘MILLS’ (ff 270-272)
- ‘MUNICIPAL’ (ff 273-275)
- ‘ECCLESIASTICAL’ (ff 276-277)
- ‘COTTON FRAUDS DEPARTMENT’ (ff 278-279)
- ‘POPULATION, SIND’ (f 280)
- ‘AGRICULTURE, SIND’ (f 281).
A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 5-6. There are two maps relating to surveys of the Indo-European Telegraph line.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (278 folios)
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [149r] (290/541), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/280/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100137004134.0x000064> [accessed 12 August 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/V/10/280/1
- Title
- 'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66'
- Pages
- 3r:29r, 30r:41r, 42r:90r, 91r:166r, 167r:235r, 236r, 237r, 238r, 239r, 240r, 241r, 242r, 243r, 244r, 245r:267r, 268r:270r, 271r, 272r:281v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence