14 JUNE 1884, Page 3

India, which rarely receives windfalls, is about, it is believed,

to benefit by one. The Government appears confident that a petroleum district has been discovered near Sibi, on the proposed Quetta Railway, and has sent experts to report and sink shafts. As the demand for a cheap oil for light is in India absolutely limitless, the discovery, if really made, may pay for the Quetta Railway. The curious Hindoo rule that no man shall eat twice during the same sunlight—the object of which has hitherto baffled all enquirers—makes artificial light a neces- sity of life. The Indian will make shift with wonderfully little, but he must have some.