'ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1908-1909' [‎73v] (8/132)

BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION REPORT.
[19O8-i909 t
u . . , hp 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. the most satisfactory feature was the preference
cultivation m the p ^ J aml althollg h the year was nowhere favourable
eveijMhere giv n }mmaterial in view of the primary importance of ,. e .
to cotton, the ia division the water-supply was sufficient to
^ ft. ft ft. c„ pw
“ir .l.r,>0. ot the monfton. Et.. «be» ft. ™
Sa" tom. .PFm»t- I» ?”* ““fT.r
ftm.times supplemented b, gft.ts «( ^ f™, 1 ‘ ft “ T , , k *‘
” ., -I except toll? ft Eijbpbt »»<1 !>“"»' «■» P “e f «1W
TO ts»«. as usual take, b, the sarious epe.mgs lot uem-.ftr,cultural lal„„
uhicl. helped to maintaiu ot ev.u to ftcreas. ft. lu|li >*»«• of wages reached
in the previous year. The prices of produce continued to be highly favourable
to cultivators, whose improved profits were reflected hy a marked rise in the
revenue collections. The losses of cattle from rinderpest fell to one-third of the
figure of the previous year. And although agricultural credit showed signs
of the influence of a series of poor years, the smaller number of sales, the larger
numbers and membership of Go-operative Credit Societies and, most of all, the
greatly increased resort to tagavi afforded satisfactoiy evidence of lecuperation
in what was, after all, only a moderately good season.
In forming any judgment upon the depression of trade it is important to
remember that this was due in great measure to causes external not only to
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. but also to the year under review. The reduced imports of
cotton manufactures and exports of agricultural produce, which were chiefly
responsible for the decline, resulted largely from the conditions of demand and
supply prevailing in the Panjab, the United Provinces and Central India ; and
there conditions during the first half of the year were under the influence of
the harvest of 1907. So far, therefore, as 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. is concerned, the
enormous decrease in the trade returns is significant rather as illustrating than
as measuring the reaction of the year. Its effects, direct and indirect, were
wid(spiead. The receipts of Land and Sea Customs and of the Port Trusts were
diminished; business was slack in Shipping Offices; currency notes and stamps
were less in use; the income-tax demand was reduced ; fewer new companies
were registered and more went into liquidation. The year was particularly
had for Cotton Mils, many of which had to he closed, while the returns under
the Cotton Duties Act show that the demand for cotton goods of Indian
manufacture was sympathetically affected. In the circumstances of the year,
it is not surprising that little advance should have been made in other local
manufactures and industries.
On the other hand it is clear that the majority of people remained unaffect
ed by these circumstances. The increased incomes of Municipalities, largely
deiived from octroi, and of Local Boards, largely from recoveries of arrears,
were not the symptoms of a general decline in prosperity. A slight fall in the
consumption of salt loses its significance in the light of the remarkable advance
■which it followed. Por an explanation of the increase of crime it is probably
not necessary to go behind the temporary effects of police reorganization. The
increase of civil litigation appears due to more favourable economic causes
than the continued decrease which had preceded it. The educational returns
exhibit an increased rate of progress. But the most satisfactory feature of the
year was the marked improvement in the public health. The mortality from
plague fell to less than one-third of the figures of 1907-1908, and that fr° m
cholera was the least recorded for twenty years. Correspondingly the death-