ds.

_Railways_.--Until recently, the only railway in the Central Provinces
was the Great Indian Peninsula, with two branches, one terminating at
Nagpur, the other at Jubbulpore, whence it was continued by the East
Indian system to Allahabad. The Bengal-Nagpur line has now opened up
the eastern portion of the country, bringing it into direct connexion
with Calcutta; and a new branch of the Indian Midland, from Saugor
through Damoh, has been partly constructed as a famine work. Large
portions, however, in the hilly centre and in the south-east, are
still remote from railways.

_Administration_.--The administration of the province is conducted by
a chief commissioner on behalf of the governor-general of India in
council, assisted by members of the Indian civil service, provincial
civil service, subordinate civil service, district and assistant
superintendents of police, and officers specially recruited for
various departments. The form of the administration of Berar was in
1903 entirely reorganized. Under the original settlement concluded by
the treaties of 1853 and 1860 the revenues of the province were
assigned primarily for the maintenance of the Hyderabad contingent,
such surplus as accrued from year to year being made over to the
nizam, while the province itself was administered in trust by the
government of India through the resident at Hyderabad. In November
1902 a fresh settlement was arranged and Berar was leased in
perpetuity to the British government in return for an annual rental of
25 lakhs. It remained under the administration of the resident until
the 1st of October 1903, from which date it was amalgamated with the
Central Provinces for administrative purposes. As the immediate result
of this change the offices of heads of departments in Berar, except
the judicial commissionership and the conservatorship of forests, were
amalgamated with the corresponding appointments in the Central
Provinces, and Berar is now treated as one of the divisions of that
province for purposes of revenue administration, with a divisional
commissioner as its immediate head.

_Population_.--The population of the Central Provinces and Berar as
now defined according to the census of 1901 was 10,847,325, and is of
very diverse ethical construction, having been recruited by
immigration from the countries surrounding it on all sides. There are
six main division