Latest revision as of 21:20, 4 March 2015

[edit] Khulna Town, 1908

Head-quarters of Khulna District, Bengal, situated in 22 degree 49' N. and 89 degree 34' E., at the point where the Bhairab river meets the Sundarbans. Population (1901), 10,426. Khulna may be described as the capital of the Sundarbans, and has been for more than a hundred years a place of commercial importance. It was the head- quarters of the salt department during the period of the Company's salt manufacture. It is the terminus of the central section of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, and all the great river routes converge on the town, it being connected by steamer with Narayanganj, Barisal, Madaripur, Muhammadpur, and Binodpur. Rice, sugar, betel-nuts, and coco-nuts, the produce of the vicinity, are collected here for export to Calcutta, and the trade in salt is also large. Khulna was constituted a municipality in 1884. The income during the decade ending 1901— 2 averaged Rs. 22,000, and the expenditure Rs. 20,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 19,000, including Rs. 4,600 derived from a tax on persons (or property tax), Rs. 3,500 from a tax on houses and lands, and Rs. 4,600 from a conservancy rate ; and the expenditure was Rs. 17,000. The municipality has recently undertaken a scheme for improving the drainage. The town contains the usual civil, criminal, and revenue courts, District jail, circuit-house, hospital, and schools. The jail has accommodation for 49 prisoners ; the principal industries are oil-pressing, wheat-grinding, paddy-husking, mat-making, aloe- pounding, and rope-making. The YVoodburn Hospital was com- pleted in 1 901 at a cost of Rs. 18,000.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.