'ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY, FOR THE YEAR 1908-1909' [‎80v] (22/132)

Manufacturas
ami Industriee-
Trade.
XVI
BOMBAY ADMINISTRATION BBPORT.
[1908.
‘1909,
Owing principally to the completion o? the ciearance ek from ooeupi 9d
lands in Thana the net surplus of the year which amounted to 15 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees showed
a decrease of 2j lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees compared with the year previous. It was however, no,.
LtLfWn™. heir» ff considerably in advance of the average of the precede
five years.
36. The prevailing trade depression was not without its effect upo a
manufactures and industries and comparatively little progress was made during
the year. The cotton industry is responsible for the greatest number of mills
and factories, and although these received some additions many were either
closed or worked for reduced periods while those which remained open were
frequently conducted at a loss. The slackness of the demand for cotton goods
contributed largely to this result; but until the short crops of cotton which hav e
characterized the past two years are replaced by normal harvests, this industry
cannot be expected to regain its former prosperity. In common with other
essentially local industries that ot hand-weaving was to some extent adversely
affected by the Sinhvast year, but in so far as this was the case the ensuing year
will make good the deficiency. Very little progress, however, was made in
introducing improved methods of weaving, a fact which is the more remarkable
because in Sholapur, where a newer type of hand-looms was employed, the
weavers’ guild realized excellent profits. Efforts are being made to establish
the match 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 two new factories were opened
during the year; hut in this as in other cases foreign and particularly Japanese
competition is difficult to overcome. In contrast to industrial enterprize,
mining operations are almost confined to the Southern Division 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. .
Gold and manganese are the only minerals which are now being exploited on
a large scale, but coal, copper, asbestos, graphite, mica and chrome form the
objects of exploration in Bijapur and Ratnagiri. The increasing interest
displayed in the development of the mineral resources of the latter district was
among the more satisfactory features of a year which was almost without
exception unfavourable to the larger mining undertakings. The gold mining
companies of Dharwar met with a considerable check, and the dullness of the
manganese market restricted work under the licenses in force. A third
manganese mining lease, however, was sanctioned in the Belgaum district and
in the Panch Mahals the Shivrajpur and Bamankua mines continued to work
on an extensive scale ; while the continued issue of prospecting and exploring
licenses indicates the capacity of the industry to respond to a rise in prices.
37. After the unprecedented figures of 1907-1908 following a decade of
commercial prosperity a re-action occurred, which was accentuated by special
causes. Among these the crisis in American finance in the autumn
of 1907 affected the course of trade throughout the world. But the chief factors
in the decline were internal. Crop failures in large consuming districts, the
contraction of cultivation which resulted from the prevalence of a bad type of
fever, and the abnormal prices of food-grains combined to reduce India’s power of
purchasing Lancashire goods, while a smaller demand for luxuries of all kinds
was the inevitable accompaniment of a Sinvhast year. On the other hand,
exports, consisting mainly of the agricultural produce of the country, were
seriously affected by the poorness of the preceding season. The resulting
decline in the total maritime trade amounted to 15 per cent, 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.
Proper and 23 per cent, in Sind; excluding Government transactions private
trade showed a decrease of 11 per cent, in the former and 26 per cent, in
e latter, with a total fall of over 28 crores. Nevertheless, 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.
roper the year was above the average of the past decade, and better than
any year m that period except 1907-1908.