'REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1903-1904' [‎60r] (7/112)

- 82
hon.
Ifi8-.l69 of Report
for 1801.19®
Part II. ’
83
85
il
ib.
172-178 of Report
for 190M902, '
Part II.
)GY.
iia tt4 87
US.
’5—177 of Report
for 1901-1902,
Part II.
ib ,
ib,
Poona, ib,
But for one fact, the records of the year 1903-1904 show a general growth
of prosperity and progress, most welcome after nine years of yarying degrees
of scarcity. In all parts of 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. proper except Gujarat a rainfall,
which was in most districts both timely and sufficient, gave ample scope for
the recuperative powers of the agriculturists to assert themselves. In Gujarat
itself, though the rainfall was not quite up to the normal, it was nowhere very
deficient, and the large outturn of cotton which fetched an unprecedented price,
raised many of the land owners to a condition approaching independence. The
cultivators in Sind were equally benefited by an inundation at once high
and prolonged. Throughout the Province agriculture once more resumed its
proper position. There were of course areas, where, owing to excessive, untimely
or deficient rainfall, crops were not so good as in the preceding year. Locusts
also, though the damage they did was for the most part trifling and confined to
small areas, were at times a menace to the prospects of nearly all districts. But
for the year the danger passed with the gathering in of the rabi crops, and a
glance at the results of any of the principal branches of administration will
bear out the fact that the year was marked by a real advance in agricultural
prosperity. The small, but distinct, improvement in the statistics of crime, the
increased consumption of luxuries shown by the Excise and Opium returns,
and the improved realisations of land revenue are ! sufficient proof of this fact.
Industrial and commercial prosperity naturally followed as the outcome of
the success of the agriculturist. The mill industry received a new lease of
life owing to the large supply of cotton and the high price of manufactured
goods combined with an increased demand both for home consumption and
for export. The foreign trade of both the principal ports far eclipsed the
record figures of the previous year, an opportune demand in Europe for cotton
and wheat and other food-grains being the chief cause of the improvement.
But while the material prosperity of the Province increased, the terrible scourge
of plague widened the extent and intensified the virulence of its ravages,
the upper portion of Sind being the only part of the Province unaffected.
A decrease of 50,000 in the number of births accentuated the evil effects of a
rise of 100,000 in the plague mortality and the result was an excess in the
death-rate over the birth-rate which cannot fail to cause considerable anxiety,
2. The office of Governor and President in Council was held by the Right
Honourable Henry Stafford Baron Northcote, G.C.I.E., from the beginning of
the year till September 5th. Erom that date Sir James Monteath, K.C.S.L,
I. C. S., acted as Governor and President in Council till December 12th,
when the Right Honourable the Lord Lamington, G.C.M.G. [Knight] Grand Cross of [the Order of] St Michael and St George (accolade). , appointed by Plis
Majesty the King-Emperor to be Governor of 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. , arrived in Bombay
and assumed the office of Governor and President in Council, which office he
continued to hold till the end of the year. The posts of Second and Third
Members of Council were held throughout the year by the Honourable Sir
James Monteath, K.C.S.L, I. C. S., and the Honourable Mr. Edmund McGildowny
Hope Eulton, I. C. S., respectively, except during the period when Sir James
Monteath was acting as Governor, during which the Honourable Mr. J. W. P,
Muir-Mackenzie, I. C. S., was appointed to be a temporary Member of Council.
B 910—rl s
Introduction.
Personnel of the
Administration.