Chapter IV: Part 4

(11) The progressive and graduated imposition of large enhancements.

(12) Greater elasticity in the revenue collection, facilitating its
adjustment to the variations of the seasons, and the circumstances of
the people.

(13) A more general resort to reduction of assessments in cases of
local deterioration, where such reduction cannot be claimed under the
terms of settlement."

In 1900-1901 the total land revenue realized from territory under British administration in India amounted to £17,325,000, the rate per cultivated acre varying from 3s. 1d. in Madras to 10d. in the Central Provinces. The general conclusion of the Famine Commission of 1901 was that "except in Bombay, where it is full, the incidence of land revenue is low to moderate in ordinary years, and it should in no way _per se_ be the cause of indebtedness."

Salt Administration.

Prior to the successive reductions of the salt duty in 1903, 1905 and 1907, next to land, salt contributed the largest share to the Indian revenue; and, where salt is locally manufactured, its supervision becomes an important part of administrative duty. Up to within quite recent times the tax levied upon salt varied extremely in different parts of the country, and a strong preventive staff was required to be stationed along a continuous barrier hedge, which almost cut the peninsula into two fiscal sections. The reform of Sir J. Strachey in 1878, by which the higher rates were reduced and the lower rates raised, with a view to their ultimate equalization over the whole country, effectually abolished this old engine of oppression. Communication is now free; and it has been found that prices are absolutely lowered by thus bringing the consumer nearer to his market, even though the rate of taxation be increased. Broadly speaking the salt consumed in India is derived from four sources: (1) importation by sea, chiefly from England and the Red Sea and Aden; (2) solar evaporation in shallow tanks along the seaboard; (3) the salt lakes in Rajputana; (4) quarrying in the salt hills of the northern Punjab. The salt lakes in Rajputana have been leased by the government of India from the rulers of the native states in which they lie, and the huge salt deposits of the Salt Range mines are worked under government control, as also are the brine works on the Runn of Cutch. At the Kohat mines, and in the salt evaporation works on the sea-coast, with the exception of a few of the Madras factories, the government does not come between the manufacturer and the merchant, except in so far as is necessary in order to levy the duty from the salt as it issues from the factory. The salt administration is in the hands of (1) the Northern India Salt Department, which is directly under the government of India, and controls the salt resources of Rajputana and the Punjab, and (2) the salt revenue authorities of Madras and Bombay.

The consumption of salt per head in India varies from 7 lb. in Rajputana to 16.02 lb. in Madras. The salt duty, which stood in 1888 at Rs. 2½ per maund, was reduced in 1903 to Rs. 2, in 1905 to Rs. 1½ and in 1907 to R. 1 per maund, the rate being uniform all over India. In 1907-1908 the gross yield of the salt duty was £3,339,000, of which more than one-fourth was derived from imported salt.

Opium.

The heading _Opium_ in the finance accounts represents the duty on the export of the drug. The duty on local consumption, which is included under excise, yielded £981,000 in 1907-1908. The opium revenue proper is derived from two sources: (1) a monopoly of production in the valley of the Ganges, and (2) a transit duty levied on opium grown in the native states of western India, known as Malwa opium. Throughout British territory the growth of the poppy is almost universally prohibited, except in a certain tract of Bengal and the United Provinces, where it is grown with the help of advances from government and under strict supervision. The opium, known as "provision opium," is manufactured in government factories at Patna and Ghazipur, and sold by auction at Calcutta for export to China. The net opium revenue represents the difference between the sum realized at these sales and the cost of production. Malwa opium is exported from Bombay, the duty having previously been levied on its passage into British territory. In 1907-1908 the net opium revenue from both sources amounted to £3,576,000. The Chinese government having issued an edict that the growth and consumption of opium in China should be entirely suppressed within ten years, the government of India accordingly agreed in 1908 that the export of opium from India should be reduced year by year, so that the opium revenue would henceforth rapidly decline and might be expected to cease altogether. In 1908 an international commission that met at Shanghai passed resolutions inviting all the states there represented to take measures for the gradual suppression of the manufacture, sale and distribution of opium, except for medicinal purposes.

_Excise._--Excise, like salt, is not only a department of revenue
collection, but also to a great extent a branch of the executive. In
other words, excise duties in India are not a mere tax upon the
consumer, levied for convenience through the manufacturer and retail
dealer, but a species of government monopoly. The only excisable
articles are intoxicants and drugs; and the avowed object of the state
is to check consumption not less than to raise revenue. The limit of
taxation and restriction is the point at which too great encouragement
is given to smuggling. Details vary in the different provinces, but
the general plan of administration is the same. The right to
manufacture and the right to retail are both monopolies of government
permitted to private individuals only upon terms. Distillation of
country spirits is allowed according to two systems--either to the
highest bidder under strict supervision, or only upon certain spots
set apart for the purpose. The latter is known as the _sadr_ or
central distillery system. The right of sale is also usually farmed
out to the highest bidder, subject to regulations fixing the minimum
quantity of liquor that may be sold at one time. The brewing of beer
from rice and other grains, which is universal among the hill tribes
and other aboriginal races, is practically untaxed and unrestrained.
The European breweries at several hill stations pay the same tax as
imported beer. Apart from spirits, excise duties are levied upon the
sale of a number of intoxicating or stimulant drugs, of which the most
important are opium, bhang, ganja and charas. Opium is issued for
local consumption in India from the government manufactories at
Ghazipur and Patna in the Behar and Benares Agencies, and sold through
private retailers at a monopoly price. Bhang, ganja and charas are
three different narcotic drugs prepared from the hemp plant (_Cannabis
sativa_, var. _indica_). Scientifically speaking, bhang consists of
the dried leaves and small stalks, with a few fruits; ganja of the
flowering and fruiting heads of the female plant; while charas is the
resin itself, collected in various ways as it naturally exudes. The
plant grows wild in many parts of India; but the cultivation of it for
ganja is practically confined to a limited area in the Rajshahi
district of eastern Bengal, and charas is mainly imported from Central
Asia. The use of bhang in moderation is comparatively harmless; ganja
and charas when taken in excess are undoubtedly injurious, leading to
crime and sometimes to insanity. In accordance with the
recommendations of the Hemp Drugs Commission, the government of India
passed an act in 1896 providing that, in regard to ganja and charas,
cultivation of the plants should be restricted as much as possible,
and that a direct quantitative duty should be levied on the drugs on
issue from the warehouse in the province of consumption; while as
regards bhang, cultivation of the hemp for its production should be
prohibited or taxed, and collection of the drug from wild plants
permitted only under licence, a moderate quantitative duty being
levied in addition to vend fees. No duty whatever is now levied upon
tobacco in any part of India. The plant is universally grown by the
cultivators for their own smoking, and, like everything else, was
subject to taxation under native rule; but the impossibility of
accurate excise supervision has caused the British government to
abandon the impost. In 1907-1908 the total gross revenue from excise
amounted to £6,214,000, of which more than two-thirds was derived from
spirits and toddy.

Since 1894 a uniform customs duty of 5% _ad valorem_ has been levied
generally on imported goods, certain classes being placed on the free
list, of which the most important are food-grains, machinery, railway
material, coal, and cotton twist and yarn (exempted in 1896). Most
classes of iron and steel are admitted at the lower rate of 1%. Cotton
goods are taxed at 3½%, whether imported or woven in Indian mills.
Special duties are imposed on liquors, arms and ammunition and
petroleum, while imported salt pays the same duty as salt manufactured
locally. From 1899 to 1904 a countervailing duty was imposed on
bounty-fed beet sugar. There is also a customs duty at the rate of
about 3d. per 82 lb. on exported rice. In 1907-1908 the total customs
revenue amounted to £4,910,000, of which £664,000 was derived from the
export duty on rice and £223,730 from the excise on cotton
manufactures.

Since 1886 an assessed tax has been levied on all sources of income
except that derived from land. The rate is a little more than 2½% on
all incomes exceeding £133 a year, and a little more than 2% on
incomes exceeding £66, the minimum income liable to assessment having
been raised in 1903 from £33. The total number of persons assessed is
only about 260,000. In 1907-1908 the gross receipts from income tax
amounted to £1,504,000.

Other sources of revenue are stamps, levied on judicial proceedings
and commercial documents; registration of mortgages and other
instruments; and provincial rates, chiefly in Bengal and the United
Provinces for public works or rural police. The rates levied at a
certain percentage of the land revenue for local purposes are now
excluded from the finance accounts. In 1907-1908 the gross receipts
amounted to: from stamps, £4,259,000, of which more than two-thirds
was derived from the sale of court fee stamps; from registration,
£415,000; and from provincial rates, £526,000.

_Commerce and Industries._

India may almost be said to be a country of a single industry, that industry being agriculture. According to the census of 1901 two-thirds of the total population were employed in occupations connected with the land, while not one-tenth of that proportion were supported by any other single industry. The prosperity of agriculture therefore is of overwhelming importance to the people of India, and all other industries are only subsidiary to this main occupation. This excessive dependence upon a single industry, which is in its turn dependent upon the accident of the seasons, upon a favourable or unfavourable monsoon, has been held to be one of the main causes of the frequent famines which ravage India.

_Agriculture._--The cultivation of the soil is the occupation of the
Indian people in a sense which is difficult to realize in England, and
which cannot be adequately expressed by figures. As the land tax forms
the mainstay of the imperial revenue, so the ryot or cultivator
constitutes the unit of the social system. The organized village
community contains many other members besides the cultivators; but
they all exist for his benefit, and all alike are directly maintained
from the produce of the village fields. Even in considerable towns,
the traders and handicraftsmen almost always possess plots of land of
their own, on which they raise sufficient grain to supply their
families with food. The operations of rural life are familiar to every
class. They are enveloped in a cloud of religious sanctions, and serve
to mark out by their recurring periods the annual round of common
life.

But though agriculture thus forms the staple industry of the country,
its practice is pursued in different provinces with infinite variety
of detail. Everywhere the same perpetual assiduity is found, but the
inherited experience of generations has taught the cultivators to
adapt their simple methods to differing circumstances. For irrigation,
native patience and ingenuity have devised means which compare not
unfavourably with the colossal projects of government. Manure is
copiously applied to the more valuable crops whenever manure is
available, its use being limited by poverty and not by ignorance. The
rotation of crops is not adopted as a principle of cultivation; but in
practice it is well known that a succession of exhausting crops cannot
be taken in consecutive seasons from the same field, and the advantage
of fallows is widely recognized. The periodicity of the seasons
usually allows two, and sometimes three, harvests in the year, but not
necessarily, nor indeed usually, from the same fields. For
inexhaustible fertility, and for retentiveness of moisture in a dry
year, no soil in the world can surpass the "black cotton-soil" of the
Deccan. In the broad river basins the inundations deposit annually a
fresh top-dressing of silt, thus superseding the necessity of manures.

_Wheat._--Within recent years wheat has become one of the most
important crops in India, more especially for export. The canal
colonies of the Punjab have turned northern India into one of the
great grain-fields of the British empire; and in 1904 India took the
first place in supplying wheat to the United Kingdom, sending nearly
25½ million cwts. out of a total of 97¾ millions. In 1905, however, it
fell back again into the third place, being passed by Russia and
Argentina. Wheat is grown chiefly in the Punjab, the United Provinces,
and the Central Provinces. In 1905-1906 there were 23 million acres
under wheat in the whole of India, of which 8½ million were in the
Punjab alone.

_Rice._--The name of rice has from time immemorial been so closely
associated with Indian agriculture that it is difficult to realize how
comparatively small an area is planted with this crop. With the
exception of the deltas of the great rivers and the long strip of land
fringing the western coast, rice may be called an occasional crop
throughout the remainder of the peninsula. But where it is grown it is
grown to the exclusion of all other crops. The rice crop is most
important in Burma, Bengal and Madras, and there is an average of 20
million acres under rice in the other provinces of British India. In
Bengal the area varies from 36 to 40 million acres according to the
season. In Burma, where the large waste area is being gradually
brought under cultivation, there has been an almost uninterrupted
increase in the area of the rice crop, and the rice export is one of
the main industries of the province. In ordinary years most of this
rice goes either to Europe or to the Farther East; but in famine
seasons a large part is diverted to peninsular India, and Burma is the
most important of the outside sources from which the deficient crops
are supplemented. In 1905-1906 the export of rice from India was
valued at 12½ millions sterling.

_Millets._--Taking India as a whole, the staple food grain is neither
rice nor wheat, but millets, which are probably the most prolific
grain in the world, and the best adapted to the vicissitudes of a
tropical climate. Excluding the special rice-growing tracts, different
kinds of millet are grown more extensively than any other crop from
Madras in the south at least as far as Rajputana in the north. The
_sorghum_ or great millet, generally known as _jowar_ or _cholum_, is
the staple grain crop of southern India. The spiked millet, known as
_bajra_ or _cumbu_, which yields a poorer food, is grown on dry sandy
soil in the Deccan and the Punjab. A third sort of millet, _ragi_ or
_marua_, is cultivated chiefly in Madras and Bengal. There are also
other kinds, which are included as a rule under the general head of
"other food grains." Millet crops are grown for the most part on
unirrigated land. In the Bombay Deccan districts they cover generally
upwards of 60% of the grain area, or an even larger proportion in
years of drought. In Gujarat about half the grain area is under
millets or maize in ordinary years. The grain is consumed almost
entirely in India, though a small amount is exported.

_Pulses._--Among pulses gram covers in ordinary years more than 10
millions of acres, chiefly in the United Provinces, the Punjab and
Bengal. Gram is largely eaten by the poorer classes, but it is also
used as horse-food. Other pulses, lentils, &c., are extensively grown,
but the area under these crops is liable to great contraction in years
of drought, as it consists for the most part of unirrigated lands.

_Oil-seeds._--Oil-seeds also form an important crop in all parts of
the country, being perhaps more universally grown than any other, as
oil is necessary, according to native custom, for application to the
person, for food, and for burning in lamps. In recent years the
cultivation of oil-seeds has received an extraordinary stimulus owing
to the demand for export to Europe, especially to France; but as they
can be grown after rice, &c., as a second crop, this increase has
hardly at all tended to diminish the production of food grains. The
four chief varieties grown are mustard or rape seed, linseed, _til_ or
gingelly (sesamum), and castor-oil. Bengal and the United Provinces
are at present the chief sources of supply for the foreign demand, but
gingelly is largely exported from Madras, and, to a smaller extent,
from Burma. These seeds are for the most part pressed in India either
in bullock presses or in oil-mills. The refuse or cake is of great
value to agriculturists, as it forms a food for cattle, and in the
case of sesamum it is eaten by the people. But a very large quantity
of the seeds is exported. The total value of oils and oil-seeds
exported in 1905-1906 was over 7½ millions sterling.

_Vegetables._--Vegetables are everywhere cultivated in garden plots
for household use, and also on a larger scale in the neighbourhood of
great towns. Among favourite native vegetables, the following may be
mentioned:--the egg-plant, called _brinjal_ or _baigan_ (_Solanum
Melongena_), potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, radishes, onions,
garlic, turnips, yams, and a great variety of cucurbitaceous plants,
including _Cucumis sativus_, _Cucurbita maxima_, _Lagenaria vulgaris_,
_Trichosanthes dioica_, and _Benincasa cerifera_. Of these, potatoes,
cabbages, and turnips are of comparatively recent introduction. Almost
all English vegetables can be raised by a careful gardener. Potatoes
thrive best on the higher elevations, such as the Khasi hills, the
Nilgiris, the Mysore uplands, the Shan States, and the slopes of the
Himalayas; but they are also grown even in lowland districts.

_Fruits._--Among cultivated fruits are the following:--Mango
(_Mangifera indica_), plantain (_Musa paradisiaca_), pine-apple
(_Ananassa sativa_), pomegranate (_Punica Granatum_), guava (_Psidium
pomiferum_ and _P. pyriferum_), tamarind (_Tamarindus indica_), jack
(_Artocarpus integrifolia_), custard-apple (_Anona squamosa_), papaw
(_Carica Papaya_), shaddock (_Citrus decumana_), and several varieties
of fig, melon, orange, lime and citron. According to the verdict of
Europeans, no native fruits can compare with those of England. But the
mangoes of Bombay, of Multan, and of Malda in Bengal, and the oranges
of Nagpur and the Khasi hills, enjoy a high reputation; while the
guavas of Madras are made into an excellent preserve.

_Spices._--Among spices, for the preparation of curry and other hot
dishes, turmeric and chillies hold the first place, being very
generally cultivated. Next in importance come ginger, coriander,
aniseed, black cummin, and fenugreek. Pepper proper is confined to the
Malabar coast, from Kanara to Travancore. Cardamoms are a valuable
crop in the same locality, and also in the Nepalese Himalayas. _Pan_
or betel-leaf is grown by a special caste in most parts of the
country. Its cultivation requires constant care, but is highly
remunerative. The betel-nut or areca palm is chiefly grown in certain
favoured localities, such as the deltaic districts of Bengal and the
highlands of southern India.

_Palms._--Besides betel-nut (_Areca Catechu_), the palms of India
include the coco-nut (_Cocos nucifera_), the bastard date (_Phoenix
sylvestris_), the palmyra (_Borassus flabellifer_), and the true date
(_Phoenix dactylifera_). The coco-nut, which loves a sandy soil and a
moist climate, is found in greatest perfection along the strip of
coast-line that fringes the west of the peninsula, where it ranks next
to rice as the staple product. The bastard date, grown chiefly in the
country round Calcutta and in the north-east of the Madras presidency,
supplies both the jaggery sugar of commerce and intoxicating liquors
for local consumption. Spirit is also distilled from the palmyra,
especially in the neighbourhood of Bombay and in the south-east of
Madras. The true date is almost confined to Sind.

_Sugar._--Sugar is manufactured both from the sugar-cane and from the
bastard date-palm, but the total production is inadequate to the local
demand. The best cane is grown in the United Provinces, on irrigated
land. It is an expensive crop, requiring much attention, and not
yielding a return within the year; but the profits are proportionately
large. The normal area under sugar-cane in India is generally about 3
million acres, chiefly in the United Provinces, Bengal, and the
Punjab. A large share of the produce is consumed in the form of _gur_
or unrefined sugar, and the market for this preparation is independent
of foreign competition. The total import of sugar in 1905-1906 was
valued at £5,182,000, chiefly from Java and Mauritius.

_Indigo._--Owing to the manufacture of synthetic indigo by German
chemists the export trade in indigo, which was formerly the most
important business carried on by European capital in India, has been
almost entirely ruined. In the early years of the 19th century there
were colonies of English planters in many districts of Bengal, and it
was calculated that the planters of North Behar alone had a turnover
of a million sterling. The industry suffered depression owing to the
indigo riots of 1860 and the emancipation of the peasantry by the Land
Act of 1859; but in the closing decade of the century it received a
much more disastrous blow from the invention of the German chemists.
In 1895-1896 the area under indigo was 1,570,000 acres, and the value
of the exports £3,569,700, while in 1905-1906 the area had sunk to
383,000 acres, and the value of the exports to £390,879. The only hope
of rescuing the industry from total disappearance lies in the fact
that the natural indigo gives a faster dye than the manufactured
product, while an effort has also been made to introduce the
Java-Natal seed into India, which gives a much heavier yield, and so
may be better able to compete in price with synthetic indigo.

_Tea._--The cultivation of tea in India began within the memory of men
still living, and now has replaced indigo as the chief article for
European capital, more particularly in Assam. Unlike coffee-planting
the enterprise owes its origin to the initiation of government, and
has never attracted the attention of the natives. Early travellers
reported that the tea-plant was indigenous to the southern valleys of
the Himalayas; but they were mistaken in the identity of the shrub,
which was the _Osyris nepalensis_. The real tea (_Thea viridis_), a
plant akin to the camellia, grows wild in Assam, being commonly found
throughout the hilly tract between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and
the Barak. There it sometimes attains the dimensions of a large tree;
and from that, as well as from other indications, it has been
plausibly inferred that Assam is the original home of the plant,
which was thence introduced at a prehistoric date into China. The
real progress of tea-planting in Assam dates from about 1851, and was
greatly assisted by the promulgation of the Waste-land Rules of 1854.
By 1859 there were already fifty-one gardens in existence, owned by
private individuals; and the enterprise had extended from its original
headquarters in Lakhimpur and Sibsagar as far down the Brahmaputra as
Kamrup. In 1856 the tea-plant was discovered wild in the district of
Cachar in the Barak valley, and European capital was at once directed
to that quarter. At about the same time tea-planting was introduced
into the neighbourhood of the sanatorium of Darjeeling, among the
Sikkim Himalayas. The success of these undertakings engendered a wild
spirit of speculation in tea companies both in India and at home,
which reached its climax in 1865. The industry recovered but slowly
from the effects of this disastrous crisis, and did not again reach a
stable position until 1869. Since that date it has rapidly but
steadily progressed, and has been ever opening new fields of
enterprise. At the head of the Bay of Bengal in Chittagong district,
side by side with coffee on the Nilgiri hills, on the forest-clad
slopes of Kumaon and Kangra, amid the low-lying jungle of the Bhutan
Dwars, and even in Arakan, the energetic pioneers of tea-planting have
established their industry. Different degrees of success may have
rewarded them, but in no case have they abandoned the struggle. The
area under tea, of which nine-tenths lies in the new province of
Eastern Bengal and Assam, expanded by 85% during the sixteen years
from 1885 to 1901, while the production increased by 167%. This great
rise in the supply, unaccompanied by an equal expansion of the market
for Indian tea, involved the industry in great difficulties, to meet
which it became necessary to restrict the area under tea as far as
possible, and to reduce the quantity of leaf taken from the plant,
thus at the same time improving the quality of the tea. The area under
tea in 1885 was 283,925 acres and the yield 71,525,977 lb., while in
1905 the area had increased to 527,290 acres and the yield to
222,360,132 lb., while the export alone was 214,223,728 lb. As much as
92% of the export goes to the United Kingdom, where China tea has been
gradually ousted by tea from India and Ceylon. The other chief
countries that afford a market for Indian tea are Canada, Russia,
Australia, Turkey in Asia, Persia, and the United States. India's
consumption of tea is computed to average 8¼ million pounds, of which
5½ millions are Indian and the remainder Chinese. There should
therefore be considerable room for expansion in the home market. In
1905 there were 134 tea-planting companies registered in India, about
80% of the capital being held by shareholders in London.

_Coffee._--The cultivation of coffee is confined to southern India,
though attempts have been made to introduce the plant both into Lower
Burma and into the Eastern Bengal district of Chittagong. The coffee
tract may be roughly defined as a section of the landward slope of the
Western Ghats, extending from Kanara in the north to Travancore in the
extreme south. That tract includes almost the whole of Coorg, the
districts of Kadur and Hassan in Mysore, the Nilgiri hills, and the
Wynaad. The cultivation has also extended to the Shevaroy hills in
Salem district and to the Palni hills in Madura.

Unlike tea, coffee was not introduced into India by European
enterprise; and even to the present day its cultivation is largely
followed by the natives. The Malabar coast has always enjoyed a direct
commerce with Arabia, and at an early date gave many converts to
Islam. One of these converts, Baba Budan by name, is said to have gone
on a pilgrimage to Mecca and to have brought back with him the coffee
berry, which he planted on the hill range in Mysore still called after
him. According to local tradition this happened more than two
centuries ago. The shrubs thus sown lived on, but the cultivation did
not spread until the beginning of the 19th century. The state of
Mysore and the Baba Budan range also witnessed the first opening of a
coffee-garden by an English planter about 1840. The success of this
experiment led to the extension of coffee cultivation into the
neighbouring tract of Manjarabad, also in Mysore, and into the Wynaad
subdivision of the Madras district of Malabar. From 1840 to 1860 the
enterprise made slow progress; but since the latter date it has spread
with great rapidity along the whole line of the Western Ghats,
clearing away the primeval forest, and opening a new era of prosperity
to the labouring classes. The export of coffee in 1905 was 360,000
cwt., being the highest for sixteen years. The over-supply of cheap
Brazilian coffee in the consuming markets caused a heavy fall in
prices at the beginning of the decade, the average price in London in
1901 being 47s. per cwt. compared with 101s. in 1894. The United
Kingdom and France are the chief consumers. An agreement with France
at the beginning of the decade secured to Indian produce imported into
that country the benefits of the minimum tariff, thus protecting the
coffee industry from taxation in French ports on a scale which would
have seriously hampered the trade. There is practically no local
market for coffee in India.

_Cinchona._--The cultivation of cinchona was introduced into India in
the year 1860 under the auspices of government, owing to the efforts
of Sir Clements Markham, and a stock of plants was prepared and
distributed to planters in the Nilgiris and in Coorg. At the same time
governmental plantations were established in the Nilgiri hills and at
Darjeeling, and these have been continued up to the present time. A
considerable amount of the bark from private plantations is bought by
the government and treated at the government factories. The sulphate
of quinine and the cinchona febrifuge thus produced are issued for the
most part to medical officers in the various provinces, to gaols, and
to the authorities of native states; but a large and increasing amount
is disposed of in the form of 5-grain packets, costing a farthing
each, through the medium of the post-offices. This system brings the
drug easily within the reach of the people.

_Cattle._--Throughout the whole of India, except in Sind and the
western districts of the Punjab, horned cattle are the only beasts
used for ploughing. The well-known humped species of cattle
predominates everywhere, being divided into many varieties. Owing
partly to unfavourable conditions of climate and soil, partly to the
insufficiency of grazing ground, and partly to the want of selection
in breeding, the general condition of the cattle is miserably poor. As
cultivation advances, the area of waste land available for grazing
steadily diminishes, and the prospects of the poor beasts are becoming
worse rather than better. Their only hope lies in the introduction of
fodder crops as a regular stage in the agricultural course. There are,
however, some fine breeds in existence. In Mysore the _amrit mahal_, a
breed said to have been introduced by Hyder Ali for military purposes,
is still kept up by the state. In the Madras districts of Nellore and
Kurnool the indigenous breed has been greatly improved under the
stimulus of cattle shows and prizes founded by British officials. In
the Central Provinces there is a peculiar breed of trotting bullocks
which is in great demand for wheeled carriages. The large and handsome
oxen of Gujarat in Bombay and of Hariana in the Punjab are excellently
adapted for drawing heavy loads in a sandy soil. The fodder famines
that accompanied the great famines of 1897 and 1900 proved little
short of disastrous to the cattle in the affected provinces. In
Gujarat and the arid plains of the south-east Punjab the renowned
herds almost disappeared. In the affected districts of the Punjab the
loss of cattle averaged from 17 to 45% of the whole. In Rajputana more
than half of its thirteen or fourteen millions of stock is said to
have perished in 1900 alone. In one state the loss amounted to 90%,
and in four others to 70%. In Gujarat half of its 1½ million cattle
perished in spite of the utmost efforts to obtain fodder. The worst
cattle are to be found always in the deltaic tracts, but there their
place is to a large extent taken by buffaloes. These last are more
hardy than ordinary cattle; their character is maintained by crossing
the cows with wild bulls, and their milk yields the best _ghi_ or
clarified butter. Along the valley of the Indus, and in the sandy
desert which stretches into Rajputana, camels supersede cattle for
agricultural operations. The breed of horses has generally
deteriorated since the demand for military purposes has declined with
the establishment of British supremacy. In Bengal Proper, and also in
Madras, it may be broadly said that horses are not bred. But horses
are still required for the Indian army, the native cavalry, and the
police; and in order to maintain the supply of remounts a civil
veterinary department was founded in 1892, transferred in 1903 to the
army remount department. Horse-breeding is carried on chiefly in the
Punjab, the United Provinces, and Baluchistan, and government keep a
number of stallions in the various provinces. Formerly Norfolk
trotters held the first place in point of number, but their place has
been taken in recent years by English thoroughbreds, Arabs, and
especially Australians. For the supply of ordnance, baggage, and
transport mules a large number of donkey stallions have been imported
by the government annually from various European and other sources.
But the supply of suitable animals is not good, and their cost is
large; so the breeding of donkey stallions has been undertaken at the
Hissar farm in the Punjab.

_Forests._--The forests of India, both as a source of natural wealth
and as a department of the administration, are beginning to receive
their proper share of attention. Up to the middle of the 19th century
the destruction of forests by timber-cutters, by charcoal-burners, and
above all by shifting cultivation, was allowed to go on everywhere
unchecked. The extension of cultivation was considered as the chief
care of government, and no regard was paid to the improvident waste
going on on all sides. But as the pressure of population on the soil
became more dense, and the construction of railways increased the
demand for fuel, the question of forest conservation forced itself
into notice. It was recognized that the inheritance of future
generations was being recklessly sacrificed to satisfy the immoderate
desire for profit. And at the same time the importance of forests as
affecting the general meteorology of a country was being learned from
bitter experience in Europe. On many grounds, therefore, it became
necessary to preserve what remained of the forests in India, and to
repair the mischief of previous neglect even at considerable expense.
In 1844 and 1847 the subject was actively taken up by the governments
of Bombay and Madras. In 1864 Dr Brandis was appointed
inspector-general of forests to the government of India, and in the
following year an act of the legislature was passed (No. VII. of
1865). The regular training of candidates for the Forest Department in
the schools of France and Germany dates from 1867. In the interval
that has since elapsed, sound principles of forest administration have
been gradually extended. Indiscriminate timber-cutting has been
prohibited, the burning of the jungle by the hill tribes has been
confined within bounds, large areas have been surveyed and demarcated,
plantations have been laid out, and, generally, forest conservation
has become a reality. Systematic conservancy of the Indian forests
received a great impetus from the passing of the Forest Law in 1878,
which gave to the government powers of dealing with private rights in
the forests of which the chief proprietary right is vested in the
state. The Famine Commission of 1878 urged the importance of forest
conservancy as a safeguard to agriculture, pointing out that a supply
of wood for fuel was necessary if cattle manure was to be used to any
extent for the fields, and also that forest growth served to retain
the moisture in the subsoil. They also advised the protection and
extension of communal rights of pasture, and the planting of the
higher slopes with forest, with a view to the possible increase of the
water-supply. These recommendations embody the principle upon which
the management of the state forests is based. In 1894 the government
divided forests into four classes: forests the preservation of which
is essential on climatic or physical grounds, forests which supply
valuable timber for commercial purposes, minor forests, and pasture
lands. In the first class the special purpose of the forests, such as
the protection of the plains from devastation by torrents, must come
before any smaller interests. The second class includes tracts of
teak, _sal_ or _deodar_ timber and the like, where private or village
rights of user are few. In these forests every reasonable facility is
afforded to the people concerned for the full and easy satisfaction of
their needs, which are generally for small timber for building or
fuel, fodder and grazing for their cattle, and edible products for
themselves; and considerations of forest income are subordinated to
those purposes. Restrictions necessary for the proper conservancy of
the forests are, however, imposed, and the system of shifting
cultivation, which denudes a large area of forest growth in order to
place a small area under crops, is held to cost more to the community
than it is worth, and is only permitted, under due regulation, where
forest tribes depend on it for their sustenance. In the third place,
there are minor forests, which produce inferior or smaller timber.
These are managed mainly in the interests of the surrounding
population, and supply grazing or fuel to them at moderate rates,
higher charges being levied on consumers who are not inhabitants of
the locality. The fourth class includes pastures and grazing grounds.
In these even more than in the third class the interests of the local
community stand first. The state forests, which are under the control
of the forest department, amounted in 1901-1902 to about 217,500 sq.
m., or more than one-fifth of the total area of British India, varying
from 61% in Burma to 4% in the United Provinces.

_Timbers._--A large part of the reserved forests, where the control of
the forest department is most complete, consists of valuable timber,
in which the first place is held by teak, found at its best in Burma,
especially in the upper division, and on the south-west coast of
India, in Kanara and Malabar. It is also the most prevalent and
valuable product of the forests at the foot of the Ghats in Bombay,
and along the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, as far as the middle of the
Central Provinces. Here it meets the _sal_, which however is more
especially found in the sub-Himalayan tracts of the United Provinces
and Eastern Bengal and Assam. In the Himalayas themselves the _deodar_
and other conifers form the bulk of the timber, while in the lower
ranges, such as the Khasi hills in Assam, and those of Burma, various
pines are prominent. In the north-east of Assam and in the north of
Upper Burma the _Ficus elastica_, a species of india-rubber tree, is
found. The sandal-wood flourishes all along the southern portion of
the Ghats, especially about Mysore and Coorg; and in the same regions,
as well as in Upper India, the blackwood occurs. A valuable tree,
known as the padouk, is at present restricted almost entirely to the
Andaman Islands, with a scattering in Lower Burma. There are many
other timber trees that are in general demand in different parts of
India, but the above are the best known outside that country. There is
also the universal bamboo, and in the north-western tracts the equally
useful rattan. The annual timber yield of the Indian forests is about
fifty millions of cubic feet, excluding what is used for local
purposes. About half of this quantity comes from the forests of Burma,
where large amounts of teak and other woods are annually extracted,
chiefly through the agency of private firms. It is, however, only the
more valuable of the woods, such as teak, sandal-wood, ebony and the
like, which find a market abroad. The total value of the export trade
in forest produce averages between 1½ and 2 millions annually.

_Manufactures._

Manufacturing industries are being slowly developed in India, though their growth has not yet materially affected the pressure on the land. Next to agriculture, weaving is the most important industry in the country, the cotton-mills of Bombay and the jute mills of Bengal having increased greatly of recent years. On the other hand, the old indigenous industries of India decayed greatly during the latter part of the 19th century. The colonies of hand-workers in silk, cotton, carpets, brass and silver ware, wood and ivory, and other skilled craftsmen, which formerly existed in various parts of India, have fallen off both in the extent of their output and in the artistic excellence of their work. An attempt has been made to remedy the evil by means of schools of art, but with little result.

_Cotton._--Cotton is the staple article of clothing in Eastern
countries, and Indian cotton and other piece goods used to find a
ready market in Europe before the English cotton manufacturer had
arisen. When European adventurers found the way to India, cotton and
silk always formed part of the rich cargoes that they brought home,
and the early settlers were always careful to fix their abode amid a
weaving population, at Surat, Calicut, Masulipatam or Hugli. But now
the larger part of the cotton goods used in India is manufactured in
mills in that country or in England, and the handloom weavers' output
is confined to the coarsest kinds of cloth, or to certain special
kinds of goods, such as the turbans and "saris" of Bombay, or the
muslins of Arni, Cuddapah, and Madura in Madras, and of Dacca in
Bengal. The extent to which village industries still survive is shown
by the fact that according to the census of 1901 there were 5,800,000
hand-loom weavers in India against only 350,000 workers in cotton
mills.

The present importance of the cotton crop dates only from the crisis
in Lancashire caused by the American War. Prior to 1860 the exports of
raw cotton from India used to average less than 3 millions sterling a
year, mostly to China; but after that date they rose by leaps, until
in 1866 they reached the enormous total of 37 millions. Then came the
crash, caused by the restoration of peace in the United States, and
the exports fell, until they now average little more than 8 millions a
year. The fact is that Indian cotton has a short staple, and cannot
compete with the best American cotton for spinning the finer qualities
of yarn. But while the cotton famine was at its height, the
cultivators were intelligent enough to make the most of their
opportunity. The area under cotton increased enormously, and the
growers managed to retain in their own hands a fair share of the
profit. The principal cotton-growing tracts are the plains of Gujarat
and Kathiawar, whence Indian cotton has received in the Liverpool
market the historic name of "Surat"; the highlands of the Deccan, and
the valleys of the Central Provinces and Berar. The total area under
cotton in 1905-1906 was 20½ million acres, and the export was
7,396,000 cwt.

It was estimated in 1905 that the world's output of cotton was
19,000,000 bales, of which 13¾ millions were produced in the United
States, 3 millions in India, and nearly 1¼ millions in Egypt, Japan
and China being India's best customers for the raw article. At the
same time the total number of spindles employed in working up the
world's raw cotton was 116 millions, of which 48 millions were in the
United Kingdom, 24 millions in the United States, and a little over 5
millions in India. There were 203 cotton mills in India, employing a
daily average of 196,369 persons. The Bombay Presidency possessed 70%
of the mills and much the same percentage of spindles and looms. The
industry dates from 1851, when the first mill was started. But though
India has special advantages in home-grown cotton and cheap labour,
the labour is so inefficient as to make competition with Europe
difficult. It is calculated that an Indian power-loom weaver working
72 hours a week can turn out 70 lb. of cloth, while a European working
54 hours can turn out 468 lb., and that one Lancashire weaver can do
the work of six Indian power-loom weavers and nine hand-loom weavers.
While these figures hold good, India cannot be a serious competitor
with Europe in the cotton industry.

_Jute._--Next to cotton, jute is the most important and prosperous of
Indian manufactures. With the advance of commerce it is more and more
required for its best-known use, as sacking for produce. Australia and
Argentina need it for wool and wheat, Chili and Brazil for nitrates
and coffee, Asiatic countries for rice, and the world as a whole for
its increased output of produce. The supply has not kept pace with the
demand, and the consequence was a steady appreciation in price from
1901 onwards. The cultivation of jute is confined, to a comparatively
restricted area, more than three-fourths of the total acreage being in
eastern Bengal and Assam, while nearly the whole of the remaining
fourth is in Bengal. In 1907, however, experiments were made towards
growing it in other parts of India. In Behar it has begun to replace
indigo, and some success was achieved in Orissa, Assam and Madras; but
jute is a very exhausting crop, and requires to be planted in lands
fertilized with silt or else with manure. About half the total crop is
exported, and the remainder used in the jute mills centred round
Calcutta, which supply cloth and bags for the grain export trade. The
number of jute mills in 1904 was 38, employing 124,000 hands, and
since then the number has tended constantly upwards. The export of
jute in 1905-1906 was 14,480,000 cwt. with a value of £12,350,000.

_Silk._--The silk industry in India has experienced many vicissitudes.
Under the East India Company large quantities of mulberry silk were
produced chiefly in Bengal, and exported to Europe; and Malda,
Murshidabad, and other places in that province have long been famous
for their silk manufactures. Other kinds of silk are native to certain
parts of India, such as those produced by the "castor oil" and the
_muga_ silkworms of Assam; but the chief of the wild silks is the
tussore silk, which is found in the jungles nearly throughout India.
Large quantities of comparatively coarse silk are made from silk so
produced. In Assam silk is still the national dress, and forms the
common costume of the women, but the men are relinquishing it as an
article of daily wear in favour of cotton. Amongst the Burmese,
however, silk still holds its own. Owing to disease among the
silk-worms the industry has declined of recent years; and in 1886 an
inquiry was held, which resulted in putting the silk-rearing industry
of Bengal on a better basis. The most hopeful ground, however, for
the industry is Kashmir, where Sir Thomas Wardle reported that the
silk was of as high a quality as from any part of the world. The most
important seat of the silk-weaving industry is Bengal, but there are
few parts of India where some silk fabrics are not woven. The silk
weavers of India possess the very highest skill in their craft, and
with competent and energetic management and increased capital the
industry could be revived and extended.

_Other Manufactures._--The demand of the Indian population for woollen
fabrics is very small in comparison with that for cotton, and although
the manufacture of blankets is carried on in many parts of India, the
chief part of the indigenous woollen industry was originally concerned
with shawls. Kashmir shawls were at one time famous, but the industry
is practically extinct. The chief seat of the woollen industry now is
the Punjab, where a considerable number of weavers, thrown out of work
by the decline of the shawl industry, have taken to carpet-making. The
chief centre of this industry is Amritsar. The output of the woollen
mills is chiefly used for the army and the police. In addition to
these and the cotton and jute mills there are indigo factories, rice
mills, timber mills, coffee works, oil mills, iron and brass
foundries, tile factories, printing presses, lac factories, silk
mills, and paper mills. There is a large trade in wood-carving, the
material being generally Indian ebony in northern India, sandal-wood
in southern India, and teak in Burma and elsewhere.

From an artistic point of view the metal manufactures are one of the
most important products of India.

_Brass and Copper Work._--The village brazier, like the village smith,
manufactures the necessary vessels for domestic use. Chief among these
vessels is the _lota_, or globular bowl, universally used in
ceremonial ablutions. The form of the _lota_, and even the style of
ornamentation, has been handed down unaltered from the earliest times.
Benares enjoys the first reputation for work in brass and copper. In
the south, Madura and Tanjore have a similar fame; and in the west,
Ahmedabad, Poona and Nasik. At Bombay itself large quantities of
imported copper are wrought up by native braziers. The temple bells of
India are well known for the depth and purity of their note. In many
localities the braziers have a special repute either for a peculiar
alloy or for a particular process of ornamentation. Silver is
sometimes mixed with the brass, and in rarer cases gold. The brass or
rather bell-metal ware of Murshidabad, known as _khagrai_, has more
than a local reputation, owing to the large admixture of silver in it.

Pottery.

Pottery is made in almost every village, from the small vessels
required in cooking to the large jars used for storing grain and
occasionally as floats to ferry persons across a swollen stream. But,
though the industry is universal, it has hardly anywhere risen to the
dignity of a fine art. Sind is the only province of India where the
potter's craft is pursued with any regard to artistic considerations;
and there the industry is said to have been introduced by the
Mahommedans. Sind pottery is of two kinds, encaustic tiles and vessels
for domestic use. In both cases the colours are the same,--turquoise
blue, copper green, dark purple or golden brown, under an exquisitely
transparent glaze. The usual ornament is a conventional flower
pattern, pricked in from paper and dusted along the pricking. The
tiles, which are evidently of the same origin as those of Persia and
Turkey, are chiefly to be found in the ruined mosques and tombs of the
old Mussulman dynasties; but the industry still survives at the little
towns of Saidpur and Bubri. Artistic pottery is made at Hyderabad,
Karachi, Tatta and Hala, and also at Multan and Lahore in the Punjab.
The Madura pottery deserves mention from the elegance of its form and
the richness of its colour. The United Provinces have, among other
specialties, an elegant black ware with designs in white metal worked
into its surface.

_Mineral Resources._

Putting aside salt, which has been already treated, the chief mining resources of India at the present day are the coal mines, the gold mines, the petroleum oil-fields, the ruby mines, manganese deposits, mica mines in Bengal, and the tin ores and jade of Burma. Other minerals which exist but have not yet been developed in paying quantities are copper ore, alum, gypsum and plumbago.

_Coal._--Coal has been known to exist in India since 1774. The first
mine at Raniganj dates from 1820, and has been regularly worked up to
the present time. Coal of varying quality exists under a very
extensive area in India, being found in almost every province and
native state with the exception of Bombay and Mysore. In respect,
however, of both the number and size of its mines Bengal comes easily
first, with seven-eighths of the total output, the largest mines being
those of Raniganj, Jherria, and Giridih, while the Singareni mine in
Hyderabad comes next. Many of the Bengal mines, however, are very
small. There are some important mines in Assam and the Central
Provinces. The importance of the Indian coal production lies in the
hope that it holds out for the development of Indian industries,
especially in connexion with the nascent iron and steel industry. Coal
and iron are found in conjunction in the Central Provinces, and the
Tata Company has recently been formed to work them on a large scale.
The railways already use Indian coal almost exclusively, and Indian
coal is being taken yearly in greater quantities by ships trading to
Eastern ports. The total output in 1905-1906 was 8,417,739 tons; while
there were 47 companies engaged in coal-mining, of which 46 were in
Bengal.