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‘BOMBAY 1921-22. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎144v] (284/434)

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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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BOMBAY, 1921-22
the Bhadar river which rises in the Mandar hills and at Mahuva and
Lilia where good fruit and vegetables are grown. Sugarcane is grown
with success in the same locality. Gondal and the northern and eastern
districts of Jhalawar are famous for cotton, while Halar in the west
yields wheat, millet and other grains. Kathiawar indeed has the essen
tial features of a prosperous agricultural country, namely, temperate
climate, moderate rainfall, abundance of streams and ponds, and a very
varied soil, while of late years considerable progress has been made in
artificial irrigations.
Iron and the building-stone of Porbandar are the chief mineral
products. Except in the Gir forests Kathiawar is thinly wooded, and
even there the timber is of little value. The mangrove abounds along
the coast and is largely used as fuel; the cocoanut and wild date are
common ; and excellent mangoes are grown in Mahuva from Bombay
grafts. The principal wild animals of the peninsula are the lion (found
in the Gir range), leopard, cheetah, antelope, hog, hyena, wolf, jackal,
wild cat, fox, porcupine and smaller vermin. The Indian python and
the cobra, the crocodile and land tortoise are common. Horses, for
merly of excellent repute, are bred in large numbers, for most of the
States maintain stud-farms ; while milch cows and buffaloes are reared
in the Gir, camels in the Rann, and asses in Halar and Jhalawar. The
climate of Kathiawar is on the whole pleasant and healthy, the rainfall
varying on the average from 21 inches in Jhalawar to 42 inches in
Sorath.
Gujarat, by which is meant the central plain north of the Narbada
and east of the Rann of Cutch and Kathiawar, has an area of 29,071
square miles. Of this area less than one-fourth (7,168 square miles),
chiefly in the centre and south, is British territory belonging to the four
districts of Ahmedabad, Kaira, Panch Mahals and Broach. About 4,902
square miles, chiefly in two blocks—one lying west of the Sabarmati
and the other between the Mahi and Narbada—belong to Baroda. The
remainder belongs to the large and small States that have relations with
the Bombay Government, and is distributed among the Agencies of
Palanpur in the north, Mahi Kantha in the north-east, Rewa Kantha
in the east, and Cambay at the mouth of the Sabarmati.
The plain is bounded on the north by the desert of Marwar and
on the east by the hills of crystalline rock that run south-east from Abu
to join the western outliers of the Vindhyas near Pavagarh. From these
hills, in the neighbourhood of which the country is rough, rocky and
well-wooded, it slopes in a south-westerly direction towards the Rann
of Cutch, the Nal and the sea, unbroken by any stony outcrop or rising
ground. The central region is of recent alluvial formation and has one
of the richest soils in India, though parts of it are liable to flooding in the
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Content

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’ [‎144v] (284/434), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/317/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100152998486.0x00005e> [accessed 6 July 2026]

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