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‘BOMBAY 1921-22. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎177v] (350/434)

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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
of the total length of 297 miles, and two important roads one from
Rander in the Chorasi Taluka to Kudiana in the Olpad Taluka and the
other from Olpad to Karanj in the same Taluka are under construction.
The seaborne trade has increased to some extent. His Highness the
Gaekwar of Baroda proposes to extend the Billimora-Kala Amba Line.
This would open up a portion of the Dangs.
THANA
The population of the District is 759,916 or 222 to the square
mile. The Deshastha Brahmins slightly out-number the Kokanasths
and Kayasth Prabhus, who are mostly writers and accountants, are also
numerous. The traders are chiefly Banias from Gujarat and Marwar,
Bhatias, Parsis and Musalmans. Kunbis and Agris are the principal
classes of cultivators proper. Much land in Dahanu and Umbergaon
is held by Parsis. The so-called wild tribes of Thakurs, Warlis and
Hill-Kolis also subsist mainly by cultivation. The son-kolis of the
coast, a different and more civilised race, are fishermen. Among the
many other castes of the coast Talukas, the Bhandaris or hereditary
toddy drawers the Native Christians of North Salsette and Bassein
and the Vadwals who generally live in coastal Talukas and whose
occupation is gardening are worth notice. There is a large population
of Katkaris or Katodis a tribe superior only to the Mahars in the scale
of castes, and subsisting by labour on roads or in the Forests.
The Land Revenue amounts to Rs. 134 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , Excise to Rs. 36
lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees , Assessed taxes to Rs. 14 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees and Local Fund cess nearly
one lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees . The Forest revenue in 1921 -22 realised nearly Rs. 13 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
and the revenue from Stamps was over Rs. 21 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees .
For administrative purposes the district is divided into nine talukas
and two petas under one Assistant Collector and three Deputy
Collectors. The jurisdiction of the Sessions Judge includes the District
of Kolaba and Bombay Suburban District. He is assisted by one joint
Judge, one Assistant Judge and one Inspecting Sub-Judge and six
Sub-Judges. For Forest Administration the District is divided into
three divisions each under a Divisional Forest Officer, one of whom has a
Sub-Divisional Forest Officer under him. The District Superin
tendent of Police with two Assistants and five Inspectors, controls the
policing of the District.
The cultivation of rice is carried on extensively in embanked fields.
Large areas have also been reclaimed from the sea by protective embank
ments. Inferior cereals, oil-seeds and pulses are grown on the uplands,
and in the North of the District, also, tur, til and hemp; gram or
wal occasionally follows sweet rice as a " stolen crop ”. There is
a great trade in hay and charcoal with Bombay, and in timber and rice
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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’ [‎177v] (350/434), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/317/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100152998486.0x0000a0> [accessed 6 July 2026]

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