BENARES. T546 criminals, of from
whom
261
174 were females; but these were recruited
the Districts composing the Benares Division.
all
The
District
and lock-up included, during the same year, a daily average of 553 prisoners, of whom 550 were males and 3 females. The postal establishment comprises 16 imperial and 2 provincial post-offices, and the telegraph is in operation at all the stations on both railways, as well as
jail
in the city.
The total number of schools receiving State aid or under inspection by the Education Department, in 1881-82, was 144, attended by 7190 pupils. There are also several unaided and uninspected schools The in the District, regarding which no statistics are available. Census Report of 1881 returns 9808 boys as being under instruction, and 37,635 other males as able to read and write, but not under instruction. These figures, however, must not be accepted as accurate, and are probably considerably below the mark. For fiscal and administrative purposes the District is divided into 2 tahs'ils and 19 pargands. The only municipality is that of Benares, which had an income, in 1880-81, of ;^i749, or is. a|d. per head of municipal population.
—
Medical Aspects. The climate of Benares is one of the hottest and dampest in the North-Western Provinces. No really cold weather and diversifies the year as in the upper country beyond Allahabad since the hot west winds have lost their force before reaching this District, tattis or grass mats fail to perform their function of cooling the air by evaporation. The temperature more nearly resembles that of Lower Bengal than that of the North-Western plains in general. The average mean monthly thermometrical readings for a period of 1 3 years, ending in 1880, are returned as follows: January 6o'i° F., February 66'5°, March 76-9°, April 86’7°, May 91 '6°, June 91 '6°, July 85'i°, August 84‘5°, September 83’5°, October 78'5°, November 68'9°, December 60-4°.
—
Yearly average, 77'8o°.
In
1880-81,
the
perature was iii‘3° in June, and the lowest the annual
mean being
The average
78'5°.
highest
maximum
minimum 38 '5°
tem-
in January,
total rainfall for
about 30
maximum during this period and the minimum 21 ‘6 inches in
years ending 1881 was 39‘86 inches; the
being
7 5
1860-61.
"7
inches in
The
1861-62,
1880 was only 26^36 inches, or i3'5o inches below the average. The total number of deaths recorded in the year 1880 was 22,479, or 25’2 per 1000 of the population. The District contains 5 charitable dispensaries 4 in the city and suburbs, and i at Chandauli, on the south bank. In 1881 they afforded relief to a total rainfall in
—
of 57,678 persons.
[For further particulars regarding Benares, see the
forthcoming volume of the North- Western Provinces
much interesting Duncan Records,
Gazetteer, and volumes of extracts from the the Allahabad Government Press. Also
information printed at
in
the
