'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1914-1915' [‎204r] (77/150)

1914-1915-]
5 i
MINES AND QUARRIES—POWER INDUSTRIES.
taken in hand during the year, the field work was completed by the end of March 1915.
report is now in course of compilation.
The
Chapter IV.
PRODUCTION
AND
DISTRIBUTION.
5. During the year under report the number of cases tried by Magistrates fell from Forest offences.
127 to 102, of which 87 resulted in conviction and 15 in acquittal. The percentage of failure
was i4'7 as against 15 in the preceding year. Including cases of illicit grazing, the number of
forest offences compounded under section 67 of the Indian Forest Act was 2,639 an ^ the
amount recovered as compensation was Rs. 8,886. In addition to this offenders were
discharged with warnings in 78 cases.
6. Forty-six fires occurred during the year as compared with 206 last year, the area Forest tires,
burnt being 1,046 and 10,119 acres respectively.
7. Natural reproduction during the year under report was good throughout the Circle. Natural and artificial
The area flooded was 568,856 as against 414,356 acres in the previous year. Works of artificial reproduction,
reproduction were carried on with and without the aid of cereal cultivation and the results are
reported to be generally good.
8. The value of timber and other forest produce given free for agricultural purposes and Free grants,
construction of dwellings, mosque and temples was Rs. 855 as against Rs. 2,112 last year.
9. No roads for inspection or transport purposes were constructed during the year. New Communications,
buildings were constructed at a total cost of Rs. 5,819. Repairs to existing buildings cost buildings and
Rs. 2,386. Rs. 427 were spent on new irrigation works, such as excavation of kasis and im g atlon -
construction of small sluices, etc., for the irrigation of forests. Rs. 2,866 were spent on
clearing old karias and maintaining the existing bunds in forests. The total cost of all these
works was Rs. 3,293.
10. The revenue increased from Rs. 4,14,151 to Rs. 4,18,718 for the following Fj nanc i a i resu it s ,
reasons : [a) Better prices realized by the sale of coupes and dead-wood in spite of the fact
that the coupes in Hyderabad could not be sold, (b) Supply of more wood to Government
steamers on the Indus, (c) Better realizations from grazing fees although the rates had been
lowered. The expenditure decreased from Rs. 2,24,313 to Rs. 2,22,134 owing to the post
ponement of new works on account of the war. thus the surplus amounted to Rs. 1,96,584,
which exceeds last year’s figure by Rs. 6,746.
6.—Mines and Quarries.
For details see tables under Mineral Production in Part I of the Statistics of British India,
and previous Administration Reports.
The manganese mining operations in the Ranch Mahals district came at one tune to
a complete stand-still owing to the war. The mining industries in the Dharwar district
remained at a stand-still. Fuller’s earth quarries in Sind and other quarries throughout the
Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. continued their normal output. A mining lease for gold was granted in the
Bijapur district. Prospecting for oil was begun in the Sukkur district.
7.—Power Industries and Handicrafts.
For—
' DECENNIAL REVIEW
See—
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION REPORT FOR 1911-1912, PART II,
PAGES 146-152.
For details see Statistics of British India, Part I—Industrial.
The cotton industry is by far the most important industry in the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. and it
centres chiefly in Bombay and Ahmedabad. Details as to the number of factories anc
operatives connected with the industry are given below in the section ea ing wi c
ing of the Factories Act. The industry was seriously affected for some ime a er ic u
break of war and several Bombay mills actually shut down, though al the up-country mi s
continued working. Many factories were only enabled to continue working in consequence of
the low price of cotton. All the mills had heavy accumulations of stock at the end o
year. Great difficulty was experienced in the manufacture of coloured goods owing to t e
cessation of imports of chemicals and dyes. I he hand-loom 111 us r >. ^ s0 ? u er f ^ ^
from this cause. The silk weaving and gold and silver embroidery industries also suff ^
from the effects of the war. The match factories find great difficulty in meetin g Ja Pf ne ^
competition. The metal work handicrafts suffered somewhat owing to the difficu y
obtaining metal sheets from Europe. As in previous years a considerable number of new oil
presses and flour mills were opened. The sugarcane industry con inues o ouns 1.