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‘BOMBAY 1921-22. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎32r] (59/434)

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The record is made up of 1 item (216 folios). It was created in 1923?. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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47
REGISTRATION
The fall in aggregate value is found pretty generally throughout the
mofussil as well as in Bombay City. The average value of a sale of
immovable property was Rs. 2,629 in 1920, and Rs. 1,715 in 1921.
This average value fell by 26*6 per cent, in the mofussil and 54*3
per cent, in Bombay.
An interesting effect of the slump in landed property in Bombay
City was that many who had speculated in land on finding that they
could only sell at a loss, and being in need of funds, decided to raise
money on their property by means of simple mortgages and to hope
for a turn in the tide. As a result of this the number of simple
mortgages for Bombay district rose sharply as shown by the following
figures:—
Year.
Number.
Value.
1919 ..
747
2 crores 22 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
1920 ..
933
5 crores 7 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
1921
.. 1,093
6 crores 74 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
There was a decrease of over Rs. 2 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees in the income of the
Department which amounted to Rs. 124 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
Documents to the number of 562 were impounded as insufficiently
stamped and deficit stamp duty was recovered in 360 cases.
During the year 735 declarations were recorded under the Cutchi
Memons Act of 1920 ; while the number of marriages registered under
the Special Marriages Act III of 1872 was 12. The Registrars of
Parsee Marriages registered 580 marriages, of which 428 were in
Bombay. The number of marriage has not been so low for many
years.
The system of copying documents by photography instead of
by hand was first introduced in the Haveli Sub-Registrar’s office at
the end of April 1921. After two months it was introduced in six
more offices. The photographic copies were at first not as satisfactory
as could be desired, and there was some opposition and
criticism in the newspapers and in the Legislative Council. But
the prints are now quite clear and no complaints have been heard
for many months. The District Registrars of the Districts in which
the system has been introduced are entirely in its favour, and the
Registrar for the Ahmedabad District, while pronouncing the system
excellent, adds that there is complaint from the public and also from the
clerical staff about the small size of the prints which it is difficult to
read with the naked eye. To make it popular the District Registrar
suggests that the prints be larger.
“ This is,” remarks the Inspector General in this connection,
“ purely a question of cost, and that is of course the crux of the
whole matter.”
47

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Annual administration report of the Bombay 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. , providing a summary record of the main events and developments in each department of the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. during the financial year 1921-22.

The report is divided into three parts. Part I (ff 9-22) comprises a report ‘GENERAL SUMMARY’, consisting of: Political; Finance; Trade and Commerce; Agriculture; Department of Agriculture; Education; Law and Justice; Police and Crime; Bombay [Mumbai] City Police; Public Health; Excise; Salt; The Co-operative Movement; Public Works; Irrigation; Development Department.

PART II (ff 23-117) comprises the following headings, which are further divided into sub-headings:

  • CHAPTER I ‘INDIAN STATES.’ (ff 23-27), consisting of: I. North Gujarat; II. South Gujarat; III. North Konkan; IV. South Konkan; V. The Deccan; VI. Kolhapur and Southern Maratha Country States; VII. Sind [Sindh]; VIII. Aden; Condition of the people
  • CHAPTER II ‘ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAND’ (ff 27-29), consisting of: Land Records; Routine Measurement Work; Revenue Surveys; City Surveys; Revision Settlements; Waste Lands; Wards and Other Estates; Sind
  • CHAPTER III ‘LAW AND JUSTICE.’ (ff 29-32), consisting of: Work of the Year; Bills; Resolutions; Civil Justice; Criminal Justice; Registration
  • CHAPTER IV ‘POLICE AND CRIME’ (ff 33-38), consisting of: Apathy of the Public; Bombay City Police; Village Police; Aden Police; Government Male Workhouse; Bombay Jails; Prisoners’ Aid Societies; Criminal Tribes
  • CHAPTER V ‘AGRICULTURE, WEATHER AND CROPS.’ (ff 39-55), consisting of: Nature of the Crops; Outturn of the Crops; Aid to Agriculture; Research and Investigation; Agricultural Education; Advances to Cultivators; Note on the Weather for 1921-1922; Bombay (Colaba) and Alibag Observatories; Prices; Wholesale Food Prices; Labour and Wages; Forests; Co-operative Movement; Horticulture
  • CHAPTER VI ‘TRADE AND COMMERCE’ (ff 56-71), consisting of: [Industries]; the Department of Industries; the Factories Act; Sea-borne Trade; Chief-Port – Bombay; Foreign Trade; Foreign Merchandise; Indian Produce and Manufactures; Trade According to Countries; Shipping; Coasting Trade; Subordinate Ports 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. ; the Trade of Sind; Aden; the Labour Office
  • CHAPTER VII ‘PUBLIC WORKS’ (ff 72-80), consisting of: Roads and Buildings; Irrigation; Railways
  • CHAPTER VIII ‘VITAL STATISTICS AND MEDICAL RELIEF’ (ff 80-87), consisting of: [Births and Deaths]; Epidemic Diseases; Hospitals and Dispensaries; Sanitation; Vaccination; Veterinary; Chemical Analyses; Wild Animals and Venomous Snakes; Lunatic Asylums [psychiatric hospitals]; Acworth Leper Asylum [hospital for people affected by leprosy or Hansen’s Disease], Matunga; Emigration and Immigration
  • CHAPTER IX ‘LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT’ (ff 88-92), consisting of: District Municipalities; Bombay Municipality; Local Board Administration; Bombay Improvement Trust; Bombay Port Trust; Karachi Port Trust; Aden Port Trust; Working of the Rent Acts
  • CHAPTER X ‘FINANCIAL’ (ff 93-103), consisting of: Financial Review; Public Works Revenue; Customs Administration; Salt Department; Excise Department; Cotton Duties Act; Stamps; Taxes on Income; Miscellaneous Funds
  • CHAPTER XI ‘INSTRUCTION’ (ff 103-107), consisting of: Education; Reformatory Schools; Books and Publications; Newspapers; Royal Asiatic Society; Victoria and Albert Museum, Bombay; Prince of Wales Museum; Victoria Museum, Karachi; Bombay Natural History Society
  • CHAPTER XII ‘ARCHAEOLOGY’ (f 108), consisting of: Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle
  • CHAPTER XIII ‘MISCELLANEOUS’ (ff 108-117), consisting of: the Established Church of England; the Established Church of Scotland; Stationary; Printing; Bombay Development Department; Military (Indian Auxiliary and Territorial Forces); Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Visit of the Prince of Wales.

PART III (ff 118-211) comprises the following headings, which are further divided into sub-headings:

  • CHAPTER I ‘HISTORICAL SUMMARY’ (ff 118-142), consisting of: Prehistoric Period; I. Hindu Period – 325 BC-1300 AD; II. Early Mahomedan [Muslim] Period; III. Mughal Period, 1600-1739 AD; Shivaji; Bombay and the British; Sind, 1739-1843 AD; British Period, 1803-1911 AD; The War and the Reformed Constitution; The Indian States; Legislation; Famine; Co-operation; Trade and Commerce; Public Works; Public Health; Finance; Education; Boy Scouts; Bombay Development; Labour Problems; Publicity; Agriculture; Irrigation
  • CHAPTER II ‘AREA, ASPECT, CLIMATE AND PRODUCTS’ (ff 143-148), consisting of: [Introduction]; Sind; Cutch [Kutch or Kachchh]; Kathiawar; Gujarat; the Tapti Valley; the Deccan; the Konkan; Economic Geography
  • CHAPTER III ‘FORMS OF ADMINISTRATION’ (ff 149-168), consisting of: [Government]; Political; Collection of Revenue; Land Records; Registration; Administration of Justice; Organisation of the Police; Local Funds; Municipalities; The Medical Department; Forests; Opium; Excise; Salt; Customs, Bombay and Karachi; Cotton Duties; Co-operative Societies; Civil Veterinary Department; Department of Industries; Public Works Department; Irrigation; Town Planning; Income Tax; Educational Department; The Gujarat Talukdars Act; Encumbered Estates Rules, Kathiawar; Sind Incumbered Estates Act; The Court of Wards Act; The Guardians and Wards Act
  • CHAPTER IV ‘CHARACTER OF LAND TENURES: SYSTEM OF SURVEY AND SETTLEMENTS’ (ff 169-173), consisting of: [The Survey Tenure]; The Record of Rights; Remissions of Revenue; System of Land Tenure; Special Tenures; Sind; Area held under different Tenures
  • CHAPTER V ‘CIVIL DIVISIONS OF BRITISH TERRITORY’ (ff 173-188), consisting of: Northern Division: Ahmedabad; Kaira [Kheda]; Panch Mahals [or Panchmahal]; Broach [Bharuch]; Surat; Thana [Thane]; Central Division: Ahmednagar; East Khandesh; West Khandesh; Nasik [or Nashik]; Poona [Pune]; Satara; Sholapur [Solapur]; Southern Division: Belgaum [Belagavi]; Dharwar [or Dharwad]; Kanara [Karavali]; Kolaba [Colaba]; Ratnagiri; Bijapur [Vijayapura]; Bombay Suburban Division: Bombay Suburban District; Sind: Karachi; Hyderabad; Sukkur; Larkana; Thar Parkar [Tharparkar]; Upper Sind Frontier; Nawabshah; Town and Island of Bombay
  • CHAPTER VI ‘DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS’ (ff 189-195), consisting of: Distribution of Population; Movement of the Population; Religion; Age, Sex or Civil Condition; Literacy; Infirmities; Occupations; Textile Industry; Occupations of Women; Caste, Tribe and Race; Languages
  • CHAPTER VII ‘LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY’ (ff 196-199), consisting of: [Legislation]
  • CHAPTER VIII ‘POWER INDUSTRIES AND HANDICRAFTS’ (ff 200-206), consisting of: [Power Industries]; Handicrafts Manufacture
  • CHAPTER IX ‘EDUCATION’ (ff 206-209), consisting of: General System of Public Instruction; Literary Societies
  • CHAPTER X ‘ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION’ (ff 210-211), consisting of [Decennial Review of]: the Established Church of England; the Established Church of Scotland; the Roman Catholic Church.

The report includes the following photographs:

  • ‘THE SECRETARIAT BUILDING. Administrative Offices of the Government of Bombay’ (f 3)
  • ‘The Prince of Wales landing at the Gateway of India, November 17, 1921.’ (f 8v)
  • ‘An irrigated Sugar-Cane Plantation.’ (f 40)
  • ‘Irrigation channel showing how the water is distributed.’ (f 42)
  • ‘“Manjav” sugarcane growing in water-logged land, under advice from the Agricultural Department. Previously this land would not grow sugarcane at all.’ (f 44)
  • ‘Two ways of growing jowar [or sorghum]: 1.-Crop from field cultivated by the old method.’ (f 46)
  • ‘Two ways of growing jowar. II.-Crop from field where the ridge method of cultivation introduced by Agricultural Department was used.’ (f 48)
  • ‘The Bhandadara [Bhandardara] Dam in Ahmednagar District which feeds the Pravara Canal. It will be completed next year.’ (f 71)
  • ‘Another view of the great Bhandadara Dam. It is 270 feet high and 1,600 feet long, and is one of the highest dams in the World’ (f 73)
  • ‘A photograph taken in 1913, showing the excavation of the river-bed for the foundations of the great new dam at Bhatgar. The old dam is seen in the back ground.’ (f 75)
  • ‘Part of the new Lloyd Dam at Bhatgar, viewed from the top of the old dam. It is a mile long, and 190 feet high and, in respect of volume of masonry, is the largest dam in the world.’ (f 77)
  • ‘The Old Bhatgar Dam. Waste weir in flood. The new dam will store 24,000 million cubic feet of water.’ (f 79)
  • ‘Chankapur Tank and Girna Canal. The Tank holds 1,548 million cubic feet of water and feeds the Girna Left Bank Canal. This commands an area of 19,000 acres.’ (f 81)
  • ‘The Godaveri Headworks and Durna Reservoir in Nasik District.’ (f 83)
  • ‘The Reclamation of Back Bay involves the building of a sea wall four miles long. This photograph shows the work in progress.’ (f 110)
  • ‘The Development Department’s quarry at Khandivli.’ (f 112)
  • ‘The Prince replying to the Municipal address.’ (f 114)
  • ‘Government Buildings illuminated by the Electrical Engineer’s Department.’ (f 116).

There are also graphs showing the following: total expenditure from revenue for the years 1912-13 to 1921-22 (f 92v); distribution of principal heads of revenue for the year 1921-22 (f 94); distribution of principal heads of expenditure, for the year 1921-22 (f 95); and relative cost of various services in 1915-16 and 1921-22 (f 96).

There are appendices on folios 211-213, and an index on folios 214-217. There is a map of the Bombay 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. on folio 218.

A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folio 5-7. In a small number of instances, there are discrepancies in the phrasing or inclusion of sub-headings between the table of contents and the body of the report. In these cases, the sub-heading as it appears in the body of the report is included above.

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‘BOMBAY 1921-22. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎32r] (59/434), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/317/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100152998484.0x000045> [accessed 14 July 2026]

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