‘BOMBAY 1923-24. A REVIEW OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRESIDENCY’ [514r] (231/274)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
157
EXCISE
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1,450,000 |
1,621,000 3
1,308,000 1
1,160,000 N
1,062,000, 11
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s accomponrih’
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rance point of®
nt by a chart’
ptionfortlev
idislandofBui
or wasaccom^
, whilein tt
country liquor, they cannot be checked by any independent test. But
while the largely increased consumption which they evidence is undoubted,
it cannot be affirmed with any degree of certainty that it replaced country
liquor to any material extent. The figures cited above would go to show
that the reasons for the increase were apparently of a local character ;
while the fact that the increase of 4,262 licenses 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
occurred mainly under the head of Domestic Consumption Licenses would
further support the inference that the increased consumption occurred
amongst a class who ordinarily use toddy and not amongst those who are
addicted to country liquor.
The consumption of Ganja, Bhang and Charas increased by 2,041,2,754
and 850 seers respectively, while that of opium decreased by 1,673 seers.
The latter was due largely to the high price now charged for the drug ;
while the comparative cheapness of the hemp drugs coupled with other
causes led to their increased use. In view of their comparatively harmless
nature the increase however calls for no particular notice at this stage.
In the case of Bhang the increase occurred in Sind, where Bhang is used
as a cooling beverage during the hot weather. The increase of Ganja on
the other hand occurred chiefly 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. The Commis
sioner of Excise is of opinion that this increase is due to people finding
country spirit too expensive and resorting to Ganja. It is however noticed
that the consumption of Ganja went up by 5,930 seers in the year 1922-23
when the use of Charas, of which 8,588 seers were consumed in the previous
year, was stopped 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. This fact would strongly
suggest that the increase of Ganja was due to the prohibition of the more
deleterious drug, and was only remotely connected, if at all, with the
reduced consumption of liquor.
Considerable interest attaches to the fact that although the consumption
of country liquor was in excess of the previous year’s level in fifteen districts,
in no case did it approach the sanctioned ration for the district. The total
figures for the whole
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.
, excluding Aden, where the rationing
system has not been introduced, are as follows :—
L. P. gallons.
Sanctioned ration for the year 1923-24 .. 2,425,550
Actual consumption .. .. .. 1,839,033
* Unused ration .. .. .. 586,517
Government are of opinion that although the reasons for this remark
able decline are largely economic, inasmuch as the high cost of living
amongst the poorer classes leaves them a comparatively small margin for
expenditure on luxuries like drink, the most important factor which keeps
down consumption at the present day is the high price of liquor itself "
says the Government Resolution reviewing the Excise Administration
Report. “ This is due in the first place to the increase of still-head
duty and the adoption of unrestricted auction as the normal mode of
157
About this item
- 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 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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- 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
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- Open Government Licence
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