Abstract: Confidential printed abstracts of letters received by the India Office from the Government of India, and from senior officials in certain areas outside India, during the year 1874. The letters are dated December 1862-December 1863. The abstracts each have one of the following titles:Abstracts of Letters received from IndiaAbstracts of Secret Letters received from IndiaAbstracts of Military Letters received from IndiaAbstracts of Secret Letters received from the Resident at AdenAbstracts of Letters received from the Resident at AdenAbstracts of Secret Letters received from the Governor of the Straits Settlements.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:Military affairs, including: the deployment, organisation, transport, and supply of units; deployments of Indian troops in China; the despatch of troops to New Zealand [Invasion of the Waikato, 1863-1864]; and destitution among ‘Native’ [Indian] regimentsThe aftermath of the ‘Mutiny’ [Indian Uprising of 1857], including the communal reorganisation of military units, the distribution of the ‘Prize Funds’ of property looted by British forces, and proposed police reformsPublic works, including railways, canals, roads, irrigation, docks, and land reclamationRevenue and expenditureJudicial affairs, in particular the appointment of judgesFrontier affairs, including conflict with Cossyah [Khasi] resisters in the Cossyah and Jynteah [Jaintia] Hills on the Northeast Frontier, and an expedition against ‘Hindoostanee Fanatics’ [followers of Syed Ahmad Barelvi and rebel Sepoys] and allied tribes on the Northwest FrontierLand issues, including: changes to laws concerning the ownership and purchase of land; plantations of cash crops including coffee, tea, and cotton; the sale of ‘waste lands’; forestry; and religious endowmentsThe effect of high prices for raw cotton on Indian weaversEmigration from India to French coloniesCommunications issues, including postal services in the Persian GulfRelations of the Government of India with Burmah [Myanmar/Burma], Persia [Iran], Afghanistan, and Bootan [Bhutan]Affairs concerning Princely States, including pensions and stipends for local Rulers and questions of successionPay, pensions, recruitment, and other personnel issues in the Indian Civil and Military establishmentsBankingEpidemicsEducationArrangements for the abolition of the Indian NavyMonitoring of the ‘native’ press in BengalThe activities of rival colonial powers, including: the possible French colonisation of Little Aden and an agreement with the Chief of the Akrabi [‘Aqrabī Shaikhdom] to prevent this; planned French colonisation of Obokh [Obock]; and Dutch colonial expansion in SumatraAffairs in and around Aden Settlement, in particular relations with neighbouring states including the Foudtheli [Faḍlī] and Lahej [Laḥij] Sultanates; the slave trade, including anti-slavery treaties with the rulers of Maculla [Al Mukalla] and Shuhur [Al Shihr]; defences and public worksAffairs in East Africa, in particular an attack on British sailors at Cape Guardafui and subsequent relations with the Mijerteyn [Majertīn Sultanate]Affairs in Beloochistan [Baluchistan], including the construction of telegraph lines in Mekran [Makran] which is resisted by the Persian Governor of Bunpoor [Bampur], and a revolution in Khelat [Kalat] bringing Shere Dil Khan [Mīr Shīrdil Khān Balūch] to powerAffairs in and around the Malay Peninsula, including: a succession struggle in Pahang; the claims of Siam [Thailand] to sovereignty in Tringanu [Trengganu] and Kalantan [Kelantan]; and the arms trade in the Straits Settlements.The primary correspondents are:The Viceroy and Governor-General of IndiaThe Government of IndiaThe Government of BombayThe Resident in AdenThe Governor of the Straits Settlements.The abstracts were printed and bound in London, and each one includes the following colophon: ‘LONDON: Printed by GEORGE E. EYRE and WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, Printers to the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty. For Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.’Physical description: A detailed index of subjects, places and people mentioned in the correspondence is included on folios 444-454.
by John Cary.Relief shown pictorially and with shading.Prime meridian: Greenwich.Covers Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, the Philippines, Papua new Guinea and portions of China, Burma and Malaysia.Shows boundaries, rivers, roads and settlements.