Now in the army we reckon the deaths, except in time of war, at three per cent. in Bengal, and at Madras and Bombay nearly four per cent. per annum. Now, if they had a hundred of such constituents, as they were erroneously called, they would not soon recover their advances. Again, there was another system devised in Calcutta, namely, that of compromise. One civilian, for instance, who owed 300,000 rupees, or £30,000, compromised for £7,000, which he borrowed from a friend. Some made three and four lakhs of rupees, £30,000 or £40,000, in three or four years. Some have wound up in fifteen or twenty years; that is, on the last dividend being paid; say one anna in a hundred rupees, or three half-pence in £10! or the infinitesimal least portion. Those who had lent the Houses money, were losers, minus these dividends; _i.e._ some Houses paid 8, 10, 15, 25, and even 33 per cent. Now, those who lent money, got, say 8 per cent., at a time when the Company's paper yielded only 4 or 5 per cent., and the Bengal bank 10 (6 per cent. was the last dividend paid in 1849). Many a man risked his whole fortune in the effort to obtain 3 or 4 per cent., with the chance of losing all; and he not only lost his all, and ruined himself and his family, but, in many cases, took refuge in drink, to drown care. The failure of the great Houses produced a host of small ones; nearly ten times the number there were forty years ago. On the 1st of January, 1849, there were, deducting defuncts (forty insolvent firms in liquidation), about seventy European merchants, thirteen Armenian merchants and agents, and four Greek firms. Forty years since there were only six English houses, namely, Alexander and Co., Colvin and Co., Downie, Cruttenden, and Co., Fairlie and Co., Mackintosh and Co., and Palmer and Co. There are now above sixty commercial brokers, the system of brokers or middlemen being of modern date. The Chamber of Commerce, consisting of a President, Vice-President, nineteen members, and a Secretary, was established in April, 1834. The duty of this chamber is to discuss any subject connected with commerce. Thus, in the year 1842, the merchants sent in a memorial to Sir Lawrence Peel, chief justice, complaining that the barristers and attorneys still charged sicca rupees while all the rest of the community were taking Company's rupees, or six and two-thirds per cent. less. Any matter connected with port-dues and pilots, is also considered by this committee, which is a very useful board. The Calcutta Trade Association, established in July, 1830, is for the purpose of regulating matters of trade, and to represent to Government any grievance injurious to it. The Indian establishment of the East India Railway Company arrived in Calcutta in November, 1847. The act for the formation of the Company guaranteeing 5 per cent., has been passed by Parliament, and a Staff of Engineers are at work in laying down the projected line of railway.