‘BOMBAY 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎460r] (123/274)

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‘BOMBAY 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’

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Ref: IOR/V/10/317/3

The record is made up of 1 item (136 folios). It was created in 1925. 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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69
LABOUR AND WAGES
Food prices fell up to July 1923, then rose up to February and again
fell in March 1924. Non-food prices were more or less steady. The
general index may be said to have followed the movement of the food
index. Raw cotton prices were high in Sind due to small output and
favourable foreign markets.
LABOUR AND WAGES
Labour in 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. may be said to have improved its
material condition during the year 1923-1924. Wages were maintained
at the same high levels as those of the previous year and in some cases
there was a marked rise. The averages for 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. for all classes
of general labour were slightly higher than in 1922-1923. The tendency
of price movements was downward and, therefore, wages, as expressed
in terms of purchasing power, showed a decided improvement. The
season was unfavourable in several districts owing to scanty rainfall in
many tracts and this had a marked effect on the demand foi agricultural
labour in the districts of Broach, the Panch Mahals, Satara and Belgaum.
Conditions in Bijapur bordered on actual famine. In the Eastern Mahals
of the Panch Mahals the Bhils were in need of employment during the
summer and the Local Fund and the Public Works Department opened
relief measures but the wages offered and paid were low. The Bhils
of Gujarat are generally non-migratory and are therefore apt to suffer
during periods of agricultural depression.
In most other tracts 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. labour increasingly tends to
migrate to fields where better employment, better conditions and better
wages are available. There was a great exodus from the Bijapur district
to Hubli, Sholapur, Gadag and to other centres of trade and industry.
In some cases whole villages were depopulated, and although very little
employment was available for agricultural operations wages remained
fairly steady. Full wages were offered at the relief works opened at
Muddebihal and Guledgud but these measures failed to attract anything
approaching the numbers which sought relief at such works in previous
years of famine. In districts immediately adjacent to Bombay and
Ahmedabad an actual dearth of labour was reported owing to the
prevalence of higher wages in those cities.
It is becoming a matter of increasing concern to employers to find
that efficiency shows no tendency to improve with the increase in wages.
Frequent complaints are received from various employers to the effect
that labourers do not attend at work punctually, are indifferent and slow,
resentful of admonition, and inclined to throw up work at any time on
the slightest pretext. In Sind the* scarcity of capable cultivators has put
those that are there in a position of dictating their own terms to the
Zemindars for whom they work. The labourer, in view of the increase

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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 1923-24. The report was printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay [Mumbai], in 1925.

The report is divided into two parts. Part I (ff 405-416) comprises a report ‘GENERAL SUMMARY’, consisting of: [Political]; Finance; Trade and Commerce; Agriculture; Department of Agriculture; Education; Law and Justice; Police and Crime; Bombay City Police; Public Health; Salt; Excise; Forests; the Co-operative Movement; Public Works; Development Department.

PART II (ff 417-527) comprises the following headings, which are further divided into sub-headings:

CHAPTER I ‘INDIAN STATES.’ (ff 417-424), 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 424-429), consisting of: Land Records; Revenue Surveys; the Record of Rights; Remissions of Revenue; System of Land Tenure; Gujarat Talukdars’ Act; Sind Incumbered Estates Act; the Court of Wards Act; Department of Land Records; Routine Measurement Work; Revenue Surveys; City Surveys; Revision Settlements
CHAPTER III ‘LAW AND JUSTICE.’ (ff 430-436), consisting of: the Budget; Resolutions and Questions; Course of Legislation; Administration of Justice; Civil Justice; Criminal Justice; Registration; Conditions of Trade; Joint Stock Companies
CHAPTER IV ‘POLICE AND CRIME’ (ff 437-447), consisting of: Mofussil and Sind Police; Bombay City Police; Village Police; Aden Police; Government Male and Female Workhouses; Bombay Jails; Criminal Tribes
CHAPTER V ‘AGRICULTURE, WEATHER AND CROPS’ (ff 448-466), consisting of: Nature of the Crops; Outturn of the Crops; Condition of the Agricultural Population; Agricultural Research and its Application; Checking of Pests and Blights; Note on the Weather; Prices; Labour and Wages; Famine; Forests; Co-operative Movement; Horticulture
CHAPTER VI ‘TRADE AND COMMERCE’ (ff 466-483), consisting of: [Industries]; Department of Industries; the Factories Act; Sea-borne Trade; 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; Shipping Offices; Labour Office
CHAPTER VII ‘PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT’ (ff 484-492), consisting of: Irrigation; Sind; Deccan and Gujarat; Railways
CHAPTER VIII ‘VITAL STATISTICS AND MEDICAL RELIEF’ (ff 493-499), consisting of: [Births and Deaths]; Epidemic Diseases; Hospitals and Dispensaries; Sanitation; Vaccination; Bombay Bacteriological Laboratory; Veterinary; Chemical Analysers; Wild Animals and Venomous Snakes; Mental [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 500-504), 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 ‘COLLECTION OF REVENUE AND FINANCIAL REVIEW’ (ff 505-517), consisting of: the Budget for 1923-24; Loan Accounts; Land Revenue; Public Works Revenue; Customs Administration; Salt Department; Excise; Cotton Duties Act; Stamps; Taxes on Income
CHAPTER XI ‘INSTRUCTION’ (ff 517-521), consisting of: Education; Yeravda [Yerwada or Yerawada] Reformatory; Books and Publications; Newspapers; Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay; Victoria and Albert Museum, Bombay; Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Bombay; Natural History Section; Victoria Museum, Karachi
CHAPTER XII ‘ARCHAEOLOGY’ (f 522), consisting of: [Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle]
CHAPTER XIII ‘MISCELLANEOUS’ (ff 523-527), consisting of: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; the Established Church of England; the Established Church of Scotland; Stationary; Printing; Bombay Development Department; Back Bay Reclamation Scheme; Town Planning Schemes; Industrial Housing; Suburban Schemes; Salsette-Trombay and Kurla-Trombay Railways; Water Supply; Organisation of the Directorate; Sanitary Committee; Military (Indian Auxiliary and Territorial Forces); Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The report includes the following photographs:

‘Excavations at Mohinja-daro [Mohenjo-daro] (Sind) where important archæological discoveries have been made.’ (f 404v)
‘Kaira [Kheda] District Police. Officers and men who participated in raids against outlaws Namdar Garbad and Kalya Abha.’ (f 439)
‘Panch Mahals [or Panchmahal] District– Recovering stolen property buried by dacoits. The men on the left of the picture armed with bows and arrows are the village Police Patil and his two Rhakwaldars.’ (f 439)
‘Chair making at Thana [Thane] Special Prison.’ (f 443)
‘Karachi Prison: Muhammadan [Muslim] convicts at Id Prayers.’(f 445)
‘Karachi Prison: Carpet weaving.’ (f 445)
‘A Panchayat amongst the Settlers.’ (f 447)
‘Bamboo basket making: Women of Hubli Settlement.’ (f 447)
‘The Deccan can grow first class Crops. Crops of oats obtained at Manjri (Poona [Pune] District) by the Agricultural Department.’ (f 449)
‘Cotton Crop from N. R. Cotton at Jalgaon.’ (f 451)
‘Effect of Dry Farming methods on Jowar [or sorghum]. Left: methods recommended by Agricultural Department. Right: ordinary methods.’ (f 453)
‘Loni Agricultural School (Poona District). Lesson in sugar-cane crushing and gul boiling.’ (f 455)
‘Exhibit of Bombay Agricultural Department as prepared for Wembley Exhibition.’ (f 457)
‘Lloyd Barrage Circle: Left Guide Bank. Pitching in progress. Narrow gauge railway distributing stone. Barrage launch lying off bank.’ (f 485)
‘Lloyd Barrage Circle: Machinery Dump outside store shed. Part of 1[and a half]-ton and 10-ton steel derricks in foreground. 10-ton hand crane unloading. 5-ton steam crane and boilers for pile drivers in background.’ (f 487)
‘Lloyd Barrage Circle: Quarry 17 Rohri, South face. Removing overburden for use as pitching stone, to clear beds for large cut stone. 2’ 0” gauge railway removing stone.’ (f 489)
‘Lake Whiting District. The Lloyd Dam. 4 ft. diam[eter] outlet sluices, Down Stream face.’ (f 491)
‘Lloyd Dam showing outlet pipes.’ (f 492)
‘Pandharpur Fair: Water supply arrangements at Wakhari showing distribution of water through taps.’ (f 496)
‘Pandharpur Fair: Outflow from the Waiting Shed. Women waiting their turn to enter the temple via Women’s Shed.’ (f 498)
‘Government Central Distillery, Nasik [or Nashik] Road.’ (f 515)
‘Khanapur Distillery: The Fermentation room.’ (f 515).

There are also diagrams showing the following: ‘DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL HEADS OF REVENUE FOR THE YEAR 1923-24.’ (f 506); ‘DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL HEADS OF EXPENDITURE MET FROM REVENUE FOR THE YEAR 1923-24.’ (f 508); ‘TOTAL EXPENDITURE CHARGED TO REVENUE FOR THE YEARS 1912-13 TO 1923-24.’ (f 510).

There are appendices on folios 527-530, and an index on folios 531-533. 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 534.

A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 402-403. 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 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎460r] (123/274), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/317/3, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100152998489.0x000081> [accessed 9 August 2026]

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Reference: IOR/V/10/317/3
Title: ‘BOMBAY 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’
Pages: 399r:534r, 534r:534v, 534v
Author: East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms: Open Government Licence

‘BOMBAY 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [‎460r] (123/274)

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