I m p e r I a L g a z e t t ee r o f I n d I a vol. X i I i
Download 5.53 Mb. Pdf ko'rish
|
- Bu sahifa navigatsiya:
- Administration. . . . . . . ‘ „ v • 1
78 HAZARA DISTRICT Hazara under its former name Urasa (the modern Rash or Orash) before the Muhammadan occupation, are found here and there. Hazara District contains 4 towns and 914 villages. Its population at each of the last four enumerations was: (1868) opuation. 367,218, (1881) 407,075, (1891) 516,288, and (1901) 560,288. The principal statistics of population in 1901 are shown below :—
Ta/istl. Area in square miles. Nur
c 5 £_ nber of V be J
> Population. Population per | square mile. Percentage of
variation in
population be
tween 1891
and IQ01. Number of persons able to read and write. I Abbottâbâd. . Harlpur
. . Mânsehra . . Total Tanâwal . . Grand total
657
i ,4S6
2 I I 4 3 5 9 311
244 ï 94,632 273 151,638
228 182,396 124 + IO.7
+ 6-1
+ 1 0 - 3 3 . 5 3 5 4,715
2,104 2,85s
914 528,666 185 10,354 204
31,622 155 5 l 6 3,062 560,288 184 + 3.5 10,870
Population has increased by 8-5
per cent, during the last decade, the increase being greatest in the Abbottâbâd tahsll and least in that of Harlpur. It is
divided into
three tahsils-.
Abbottâbâd, HarIpur, and
Mânsehra. The head-quarters of these tahsils are at the places from which
each is
named. The
towns are
the municipalities of Abbottâbâd (the head-quarters of the
District), HarIpur, Nawâshahr, and
Baffa. The
District also
contains the
hill stations of Nathia
Gali with Dungâ Gali (the former being the summer head-quarters of
the Local
Government), Chângla
Gali, and
Thandiâni; and
the hill cantonments of Bàra Gali, Kâlâ Bagh, Khaira Gali, and Ghora Dakka. Muhammadans number 533,000, or more than 95 per cent, of the total ; Hindus, 23,000 ; and Sikhs, 4,000.
The language spoken is chiefly a dialect of Western Punjabi, known locally as Hindki. Pashtü is spoken on the Black Mountain border, and the Güjars have a dialect of their own called Gîijarï. In Hazara, Pathâns are not the predominant race. They number only 55,000, while the Güjars, who profess to be aborigines, number 92,000, and the Awâns 91,000. Tanaolis (59,000), though not Pathâns, are closcly allied to them by customs and tradition. Dhünds, another aboriginal tribe, number 25,000, Swâtis 33,000, and Kharrals 16,000. The Saiyids (23,000) exercise great influence over the other Muham madans. Of the trading classes, Khattrls number 13,000 and Aroras only 4,000. Brahmans number 5,000. Of the artisan classes, the Julâhàs (weavers, 16,000), Tarkhans (carpenters, ir,ooo), Mochls
AGRICULTURE 7 9 (shoemakers and leather-workers, 9,000), and Lohars (blacksmiths, 9,000) are the most important. The Kashmiris, who live mainly by woollen industries, number 15,000. The chief menial classes are the Nais (barbers, 7,000) and Musallis (sweepers, 3,000). About 2,000 persons returned themselves as Turks, descendants of the Turkomans who came with Timur in 1391. Agriculture supports 72 per cent, of the population. The Church Missionary Society opened a branch at Abbottabad in 1899, and the Peshawar branch of the society has an outpost at Haripur. In 1901, the District contained 17 native Christians. The level, portion of the District enjoys a seasonable and constant rainfall of about 30 inches; the soil is better than that of the hill tracts and more easily cultivated, and the spring har- A g r -
j t r
vest is accordingly superior. The best irrigated and ' manured lands are equal to the most fertile in the Punjab, and the harvests are more certain than in the adjacent District of Rawalpindi. The low dry hills have a climate and rainfall similar to that of the plains, but the soil is much poorer. In the temperate hills and high land in the middle of the District the rainfall averages 47 inches, and snow falls occasionally; the autumn crop is here the more valuable, but a fair proportion of spring crops are raised. The mountain tracts have an excessive rainfall and a severe winter ; so that there is but little spring harvest. The soil in the open portion of the District is deep and rich, the detritus of the surrounding hills being lodged in the basin-like depressions below; the highlands have a shallow and stony covering, compensated for by the abundant manure obtained from the flocks of sheep and cattle among the mountain pastures. The spring harvest, which in 1903-4 formed 41 per cent, of the total crops harvested, is sown in the higher hills in October, and lower down in November and December ; the autumn crops are sown in the hills in June and July, while in the lower lands seed-time varies from April to August with the nature of the crop. The District is held chiefly on the patfiddri and bhaiydchard tenures, zamlnddri lands covering about 339 square miles. The following table shows the main statistics of cultivation in 1903-4, areas being in , square miles :—
Total. Cultivated. Irrigated. Forests. Abbottäbäd llarïpur . Mänsehra. 715 207
657 2 .
1 1,486
199 121
7 5 sy Total , 2,858 ¡,858 637
Maize covers the largest area, being grown on 273 square miles in S o HAZARA DISTRICT 1903-4.
Wheat (171)
comes next
in importance, followed by
barley (7S). The cultivated area has increased by xo per cent, since the settle ment in 1874. The chief field for extension lies on the hill-sides, large areas of which can be brought under cultivation by terracing; but until the pressure of the population on the soil becomes much heavier than it is at present, there is little prospect of any considerable progress in this direction. Nothing has been done to improve the quality of the crops grown. The potato was introduced shortly after annexation, and is now largely cultivated. A sum of Rs. 14,700 is outstanding up to date on account of loans to agriculturists, and Rs. 4,856 was advanced during 1903-4 for this purpose. Cattle are most numerous in the hilly portions of the District. The breed is small, and the cows are poor milkers, but the introduction of bulls from Hissar has done a good deal to improve the quality of the stock. Sheep and goats are grazed in the District in large numbers, chiefly by Gujars ; the larger flocks migrate at different seasons of the year between Kagan and Lower Hazara or Rawalpindi. The sheep are of the ordinary thin-tailed breed, and attempts to cross them with English stock and to introduce merino sheep are being made. Sheep and goats are largely exported to the cantonments and towns in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Jhelum. The local breed of horses is small; the Civil Veterinary department maintains seven horse and twenty-one donkey stallions, and one horse and two pony stallions are kept by the District board. The Abbottabad and Mansehra tahsils possess a large number of mules. A few camels are kept in Lower Hazara.
' The area irrigated in 1903-4 was 52 square miles, or 8 per cent, of the cultivated area. Of this, only 1-4 square miles were supplied by wells, 377 in number, which are confined to the Indus bank and the plain round Haripur. They are built for the most part of boulder masonry, and are worked by bullocks with Persian wheels. The chief method of supply is by cuts from the Harroh, Dor, and Siran rivers and minor hill streams. The undulating formation of the valleys, and the ravines which intersect them, make any considerable extension of irrigation very difficult. The two main classes of forests in Hazara District are : the ‘ reserved ’ forests, in which only few rights of user are admitted, although the For sts villagers are entitled to a share in the price of the ’ trees felled for sale; and the village forests, in which Government retains a similar share, but which are otherwise practically left to the charge of the villagers, subject to the control of the Deputy- Commissioner. The
; reserved ’ forests, which are situated mainly in the north and TRADE A AD COMMUNICATIONS Si east, cover 235 square miles, and yield annually about 80,000 and 40.000 cubic feet of deodar and other timber, respectively. The Jhelum and its tributaries convey the timber not used locally. The most important forests, which lie between altitudes of 5,000 and 10,000 feet, contain deodar, blue pine, silver fir, spruce, and Quercus incana, d/lataia, and semecarpifolia. In the Gali range, where deodar is now scarce, trees of hardwood species are abundant, whereas in the drier Kagan range and in the Upper Siran valley pure deodar forests are not uncommon, but the variety of species is smaller. Between 10.000 feet and the limit of tree growth at about 12,500 feet, the spruce and silver fir are the most common. In the south some hardwood forests of poor quality are of importance for the supply of firewood, and at elevations between 3,000 and 6,000 feet there is a considerable extent of forest in which Finns longifolia predominates. Forest fires, which formerly did much damage, are now becoming less frequent. Working-plans have been prepared and will shortly come into force for all the ‘reserved’ forests, which are controlled by the Forest officer in charge of the division. In 1903-4 the forests yielded a revenue of Rs. 83,000. The village forests are not so strictly preserved. Those of the Haripur tahsll and parts of Abbottabad, including Tanawal, produce only fuel; but in the northern parts of the latter tahsll and in Mansehra the forests contain coniferous and deciduous trees, which increase in value as the forests become less accessible. These village forests are controlled, under the Hazara Forest Regulation of 1893, by the Deputy- Commissioner through the village headmen, on the principle that the villagers, while taking without restriction all that they require for their own needs, shall not be permitted to sell timber or firewood cut from them.
Of the 1,700 square miles of waste land in the District, only 200 are clad with timber-producing trees, 200 more forming fuel reserves. About 200 square miles have been demarcated as village forests, to check denudation and to prevent waste, while securing the produce to the villagers for the satisfaction of their needs. As already mentioned, coal exists in the District, but has not been worked. Limestone, building stone, and gypsum are abundant, and coarse slate is found in places. Antimony and oxide of lead have been observed; and iron occurs in considerable quantities, but is little worked. The industries of Hazara are of only local importance. The principal manufacture consists of coarse cotton cloth and cotton strips for use as turbans. In the northern glens blankets are largely ^ ^ made from sheep’s wool. The domestic art of communications, embroidering silk on cotton cloth attains a higher degree of excellence than in any other part of the Province or the V O L . X I I I . c
82 IfAZARA DISTRICT Punjab, and jewellery of silver and enamel is produced. Water-mills are used to a considerable extent for grinding flour and husking rice. Cotton piece-goods, indigo, salt, tobacco, and iron are imported from Rawalpindi and the south, and a large proportion goes through to Kashmir and Bajaur, whence the chief imports are wood, fibres, and ghi. Grain, chiefly maize, is exported to the dry tracts west of Rawalpindi, to the Khattak country across the Indus, and to Peshawar; a large part is bought direct from the agriculturists by Khattak merchants who bring their own bullocks to carry it away. Ghi is exported chiefly to Peshawar, and sheep and goats are sent to Peshawar and Rawalpindi. No railways pass through the District. It contains 90 miles of metalled roads under the Public Works department, and r,x57 miles of unmetalled roads, of which 406 are under the Public Works depart ment and the rest are managed by the District board. The principal route is the metalled road from Hassan Abdal in Attock on the North Western Railway, which passes through Abbottabad and Mansehra to Srinagar in Kashmir, crossing the Kunhar, Kishanganga, and Jhelum rivers by iron suspension bridges. Another route, not passable for wheeled traffic, connects Abbottabad with the hill station of Murree. Both routes run through mountainous country, but are kept in excellent repair, though the latter is in winter blocked by snow. A third road, from Hazro to Haripur and Abbottabad, is chiefly used by Pathan traders from Peshawar. A tonga and bullock-train service connects Hassan Abdal on the North-Western Railway with Abbottabad. The Kunhar is crossed by several wooden bridges. Hazara suffered great scarcity in the memorable and widespread famine of 1783, which affected it with the same severity as the remainder _ . of Northern India. During the decade ending 1870, Famine. ... . ,
6 . .
. . . which was a period of dearth 111 the plains Districts, the harvests of Hazara produced an excellent yield, and the high price of grain for exportation gave large profits to the peasantry, besides affording an incentive to increased cultivation. In 1877-8 Hazara again experienced scarcity ; but in 1879-80 the yield was abundant, and high prices ruled during the continuance of the Afghan War. The District was not seriously affected by the famines of 1896-7 and 1899-1900. The District is divided for administrative purposes into three tahsils— A biiottai
’. ad , H aripur , and M ansehra
— each under a tahsildar and . . . . , . naib-tahsildiir. The Deputy-Commissioner, besides
holding executive charge of the District, is Political officer in charge of the tribes of the adjacent independent territory. He has under him a District Judge who is usually also Additional District Magistrate, an Assistant Commissioner who commands the border military police, and two Extra-Assistant Commissioners, one ADMINISTRA TION 3 3 of whom is in charge of the District treasury. The Forest division is in charge of a Deputy-Conservator. The Deputy-Commissioner as District Magistrate is responsible for criminal justice, and civil judicial work is under the District judge. Both officers are supervised by the Divisional and Sessions Judge of the Peshawar Civil Division. The District Munsif sits at Abbottabad. Crime in Hazara is very light for a frontier District. Sikh rule in Hazara began in 1818. As in the Punjab generally, the only limit to the rapacity of the kcirdars was the fear of imperilling future realizations, but up to this limit they exacted the uttermost farthing. Some parts of Hazara were too barren or too inaccessible to be worth squeezing, and it may be doubted whether the Sikhs actually collected more than one-third of the total grain produce. When Major Abbott made the first summary settlement of Hazara in 1847-8, he took one-third as the fair share of Government. Records and measurements he neither found nor made, but he assessed each village after comparison of what it had paid with its degree of impover ishment. The Sikh demand was reduced by 16 per cent. In 1852 Major Abbott made a second summary settlement, which was in effect a redistribution of the first, and was less by Rs. 3,000 than his original demand of Rs. 2,06,000. The fact that the first assessment was easily paid is evidence of its equity, while the fact that it was reimposed, after a fall in prices quite unprecedented in both suddenness and extent, points to the improvement which must have taken place in the cultiva tion and the general circumstances of the District. The assessment of 1852 remained in force for twenty years, and a regular settlement was carried out between 1868 and 1874. The prosperity of the District had advanced rapidly, and the demand was increased by 34 per cent, to 3 lakhs. The District again came under settlement in 1901, when a similar rise in prosperity had to be taken into account. The new demand shows an increase of Rs. 20,400, or 7 per cent, over the demand for 1903-4. The collections of land revenue and of total revenue are shown below, in thousands of rupees :— 1 880- 1. 1890-1.
1900-1. 1903-4.
Land revenue . . 2,23
! 2,26
3 ,
* 2,40
Total revenue . . 2,9°
j 3,io
5 ,
*
,
* Including collections from the Attock
which then formed part of the District. The
District contains five municipalities, H aiupur
, A hhoi ' tauad
, B affa , M anskhra , and
N awashahr
; and a‘notified area/
N athia
G ali -< t //7//-D unga
G ali . Outside these municipal areas, local affairs are managed by the District board, all the members of which are appointed. G 2
8 4
Its income, derived mainly from a cess on the land revenue, amounted in 1903-4 to Rs. 29,500; and the expenditure was about the same, the principal item being education. The regular police force consists of 487 of all ranks, of whom 42 are cantonment and municipal police. The force is controlled by a Superintendent. The village watchmen number 471. There are 16 police stations, one outpost, and 12 road-posts. The District jail at head-quarters has accommodation for 114 prisoners. The border military police, numbering 250, are under the control of the Deputy- Commissioner exercised through the commandant, an Assistant Com missioner, and are distinct from the District police. Only 2-4 of the District population could read and write in 1901, the proportion of males being 4-35, and of females 1 per cent. Education is most advanced among Hindus and Sikhs. The number of pupils under instruction was 872 (in public schools alone) in 1880-1, 8,006 in 1890-1, 5,264 in 1902-3, and 5,439 in 1903-4. In the last year there were 6 secondary and 33 primary (public) schools, and 18 advanced and 165 elementary (private) schools, with 103 girls in the public and 161 in the private schools. The District is very backward in education. Only 6 per cent, of children of a school-going age are receiving instruction. Some progress, however, is being made, and there are two Anglo-vernacular high schools at Abbottabad. The total expenditure 011 education in 1903-4 was Rs. 24,000, of which the District fund contributed Rs. 8,000, municipalities Rs. 6,000, and fees Rs. 4,000. The District possesses five dispensaries, at which 83,264 cases were treated in 1904, including 1,266 in-patients, and 2,698 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 11,500, the greater part of which was contributed by Local funds. In 1903-4 the number of persons successfully vaccinated was 10,574, or 19-5 per 1,000 of the population.
Download 5.53 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling