4

STATISTICS OF THE BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA FROM 1871 TO 1876.      [Section I.

Gain and Loss Statement for the Army of India for the six years from 1871 to 1876—contd.

  1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Total for the
five years.		 Average
for the
five years.		 1876.
Decrease during the year—                
Deaths . . . 974 1,396 889 795 1,015 5,069 1,014 881
Passed Invaliding Commit-
tees:—		                
For Discharge . . 688 701 596 615 534 12,017 2,403 2,273
For change of climate . 1,691 1,719 1,841 1,795 1,837
Discharged by purchase . 70 64 112 149 117 512 102 128
„ by sentence of
Courts Martial		 106 61 108 88 84 447 90 74
„ service expired . 681 579 918 1,309 1,313 4,800 15,426 3,085 4,780*
Transfers . . . . 2,288 1,803 2,143 2,119 2,273 10,626
Desertions . . . . 64 92 81 64 78 379 76 55
TOTAL DECREASE . 6,562 6,415 6,688 6,934 7,251 33,850 6,770 8,191
Strength of the Army towards
the close of each year, not
including regiments which
may have arrived in course
of relief....		 55,584 57,668 57,748 57,441 57,072 285,513 57,103 55,792

     Besides the fully recruited regiments which have replaced the weaker bodies removed
from India, 17,379 recruits from England were required to replace the loss by death and
invaliding from 1871 to 1875; for in this period 5,147 men died, and 12,035 were invalided,
and the strength was thus diminished by 17,182.

     The loss by invaliding varies little from year to year:—

Number of Men Lost by Invaliding from 1871 to 1875.

1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Average of the
five years.
2,381 2,438 2,434 2,411 2,371 2,407

     The facilities for removal to England are great, and are fully taken advantage of; and
that the death statistics of the Army of India of the present day show to advantage as a
consequence of the weeding out of these sickly men year by year, is not doubtful.

     The Army Medical Reports published annually in England debit to India the deaths
among invalids during the voyage home and after arrival at Netley. The mortality of the
Army of India from 1871 to 1875 is shown to be increased by these additional deaths to this
extent:—

1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Average.
70 60 63 42 69 61

Disposal of Invalids from India after
arrival in England.

     A return furnished to the House of Commons by the War Office in February of the cur-
rent year, shows that a body of 10,041 invalids for India,
arriving between 1870 and 1874, were disposed of after land-
ing in England, as under:—

To duty. To Pension. To Asylum. Died. Otherwise disposed of.
5,587 3,858 199 174 223

     It is satisfactory to find that more than one-half of the men sent home were considered
fit for further service.

Volunteering from Regiments leav-
ing India.

     It is also satisfactory to know that hitherto the volunteering from regiments on leaving
India has compensated to a great extent for the loss of time-
expired men. Out of the regiments which have left India
in the past five years, nearly 5,000 men elected to remain
in the country. The statement for 1876, however, shows that the number of men whose
service expired during the year was greater by 1,014 than the average of the previous five
years, and with shortened service this source of loss will naturally increase.

Desertions during service in India.

     The loss by desertion in the five years was 253 only; the number that deserted was 379,
and of these 126 were received back. Nearly one-half of all
desertions from the Army of Bengal take place from Calcutta
and Dum-Dum. Fort William, from 1871 to 1875, gave 87 desertions, out of a total for the
Presidency of 217.

Fluctuation of the Annual Mortal-
ity in the period 1871-76.

     The number of deaths has ranged from 806 in 1874 to 1,425 in 1872; or, excluding
cholera deaths, from 752 in 1876 to 998 in 1872. In the past
four years the range of the annual mortality has been within
100, if cholera be excluded. And it is right that cholera
should be thus placed separately, since this cause of mortality is as yet an item incapable of
being reduced to an average that can be reckoned on, even approximately.

*Time -expired 1,974, 1,014 above the average of 1871—75.