‘BOMBAY – 1924-25. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’ [‎561v] (54/316)

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‘BOMBAY – 1924-25. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’

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Ref: IOR/V/10/317/4

The record is made up of 1 item (156 folios). It was created in 1926. 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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14
BOMBAY, 1924-25
while the revenue payer was placed in a position to ease his burden by
giving up the occupation of lands unprofitable to him. The extensions
of cultivation which have occurred have thus been profitable to the State
no less than to the individual ; whereas under a zemindari or kindred
system, the State would have gained nothing however much cultivation
had extended throughout the whole of 30 years’ leases.
“ But it has not been only as a revenue producing instrument that the
Survey Department has proved its usefulness. The system to which
the valuation of soil has been reduced is in many respects unique, and has
resulted in a record of that valuation complete for innumerable small
parcels of land. Probably no other province or country is possessed of
any similar record. Its chief and immediate value for administrative
purposes is that it enables field operations to be entirely dispensed with
in all future settlements. The change of assessment can be decided for
a whole tract on a review of its economic condition and revenue history
and the people are saved from all the uncertainty and harassment
consequent upon enquiry into the circumstances of individual holdings.
The greatest credit attaches to the founders of this system, which has
stood the test of experience and practical application in the most
satisfactory manner. Developments have been introduced, but in no
particular have the principles, and in very few’ have even the individual
rules and directions laid down in the Joint Report been widely departed
from.”
Comparative valuations in the fertility of soils were expressed for
convenience of handlings in parts of a rupee, 16 annas representing the
valuation of a perfect field, from which deductions were made for faults,
such as slope or irregularity of surface, excess of lime or moisture,
or inferiority in the character of depth of the soil. This at least was
the arrangement introduced under the joint rules. As time went on,
experience showed the advisability of making allowances for advantages
by making additions to the scale which carried the maximum above
16 annas. An example of this is the advantage that may be derived by
land by the deposit on it of fine silt owing to flooding or from proximity
to a stream on the bank of which a well can be dug from which the land
can be irrigated.
THE RECORD OF RIGHTS
Two important improvements which have in recent years been
introduced into the revenue administration of this 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
described. The first is the Record of Rights. The Record prepared
by the Survey Department was necessarily a fiscal record, the object of
which was to show from whom the assessment was due and what that
assessment was. It was not a record of rights or title. In course of time
it was found that a Record of Right based on possession, if not on title,
was indispensable for the needs of the administration, more especially
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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 1924-25. The report was printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay [Mumbai], in 1926.

The report is divided into two parts. Part I (ff 541-554) comprises a report ‘GENERAL SUMMARY’, consisting of: [Political]; Finance; Trade and Commerce; Agriculture; Department of Agriculture; Instruction; Law and Justice; Police and Crime; Bombay City Police; Public Health; Salt; Excise; Forests; Co-operative Movement; Public Works; Bombay Development Department.

PART II (ff 555-683) comprises the following headings, which are further divided into sub-headings:

CHAPTER I ‘INDIAN STATES.’ (ff 555-560), 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 560-565), 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 565-572), consisting of: the Budget; Resolutions and Questions; Course of Legislation; Administration of Justice; Civil Justice; Criminal Justice; Registration; Joint Stock Companies
CHAPTER IV ‘POLICE AND CRIME’ (ff 573-580), 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 582-602), consisting of: Nature of the Crops; Outturn of the Crops; Agricultural Stock; Condition of the Agricultural Population; Department of Agriculture; Note on the Weather; Prices; Labour and Wages; Forests; Co-operative Movement; Horticulture
CHAPTER VI ‘TRADE AND COMMERCE’ (ff 603-624), 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 624-634), consisting of: Irrigation; Sind; Deccan and Gujarat; Railways
CHAPTER VIII ‘VITAL STATISTICS AND MEDICAL RELIEF’ (ff 634-649), consisting of: [Births and Deaths]; Epidemic Diseases; Hospitals and Dispensaries; Sanitation; Vaccination; the Haffkine Institute; 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
CHAPTER IX ‘LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT’ (ff 650-656), consisting of: District Municipalities; Bombay Municipality; Local Board Administration; Village Panchayats; 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 656-670), consisting of: the Budget for 1924-25; Loan Accounts; No Revenue from Income Tax; Land Revenue; Public Works Revenue; Customs Administration; Salt Department; Excise; Cotton Duties Act; Stamps; Taxes on Income
CHAPTER XI ‘INSTRUCTION’ (ff 671-676), 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’ (ff 677-678), consisting of: [Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle]
CHAPTER XIII ‘MISCELLANEOUS’ (ff 679-683), consisting of: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; the Established Church of England; the Established Church of Scotland; Stationary; Printing; Bombay Development Department; Back Bay Reclamation; Industrial Housing in Bombay; Suburban Industrial Schemes; Suburban Development; Water Supply in Salsette; Railway Schemes; Advisory Committee; Organization of the Directorate; Military (Indian Auxiliary and Territorial Forces); Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Advances to Cultivators.

The report includes the following photographs:

‘Gateway of India, Apollo Bandar, Bombay.’ (f 540)
‘Large Hand Sizing Machine (suitable for a hand-loom factory An East India Company trading post. )’ (f 606)
‘Group of castings made at the P. W. D. Workshops, Dapuri, Poona [Pune]. The large roller rim weighs over a ton.’ (f 625)
‘Dragline Excavators for the three Right Bank Canals ex Indus at Sukkur. Ruston and Hornby’s Model No. 300, crossing the North-Western Railway line at Bagerji [Bagarji].’ (f 627)
‘Dragline Excavators crossing Sukkur Canal on a bank 16 feet high, pierced with 6 ‘armco’ pipes 36” in diameter to carry the canal discharge.’ (f 629)
‘Four machines ready to start on their journey to the site of work.’ (f 631)
‘Lake Arthur Hill, Bhandardara Dam. Downsteam full view from south Bank.’ (f 633)
‘Lloyd Barrage Circle. View of the Barrage Township at Sukkur.’ (f 635)
‘Another view of the Barrage Township.’ (f 637)
‘Alandi Fair–Pilgrims taking baths in the ‘Chakratirtha’’ (f 644)
‘Alandi Fair–View of the pilgrims encamped on the river side from the bridge over the Indrayani River.’ (f 646)
‘Alandi Fair–Lady Volunteers from the Seva Sadan, Poona, assisting the pilgrims in securing a darshan.’ (f 648)
‘Salt Department. West wall of wharf at Dabhol. S. S. “Jayanti” alongside wharf, south side.’ (f 664)
‘East end of wharf at Dabhol, showing landing steps and Indian Company’s office at far side.’ (f 666)
‘Mohenjo-Daro (District Larkana, Sind). Well and paved baths.’ (f 676)
‘Mohenjo-Daro (District Larkana, Sind). Seals with pictographic writings.’ (f 678).

There are also diagrams showing the following: ‘WAGES AND COST OF LIVING’ (f 597); ‘Chart I DEATHS IN 1924 AND PREVIOUS YEARS.’ (f 639); ‘DEATH-RATE AT AGE-PERIOD’ (f 640); ‘CHART VI - ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF DEATHS FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES.’ (f 641); ‘CHART VII MONTHLY INCIDENCE OF DEATHS FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES’ (f 642); ‘DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL HEADS OF REVENUE FOR THE YEAR 1924-25.’ (f 657); ‘DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL HEADS OF EXPENDITURE MET FROM REVENUE FOR THE YEAR 1924-25.’ (f 659); ‘TOTAL EXPENDITURE CHARGED TO REVENUE [1913-14 to 1924-25]’ (f 661).

There are appendices on folios 684-686, and an index on folios 687-689. 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 690.

A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 538-539. 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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Reference: IOR/V/10/317/4
Title: ‘BOMBAY – 1924-25. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’
Pages: 535r:659r, 659r:659v, 659v:690r, 690r:690v, 690v
Author: East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
Usage terms: Open Government Licence

‘BOMBAY – 1924-25. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’ [‎561v] (54/316)

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