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‘BOMBAY – 1925-26. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’ [‎706r] (31/316)

The record is made up of 1 item (154 folios). It was created in 1927. 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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India.
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GENERAL SUMMARY
by 5 per cent. in the mofussil and 10 per cent, in the town
and island of Bombay in the ration fixed for the year, the
consumption did not touch the ration of 1,883,804 gallons
by over 478,000 gallons. The actual consumption was
1,405,437 gallons. From the financial point of view these
figures are disquieting and while they would seem to point to
less drinking, in fact the ration is not worked up to because
the licensees find they can cover their profit by charging very
high prices from smaller sales. The apparent deficiency in
consumption is, it is suggested, made up in Bombay from cheap
foreign spirits and up-country by illicit distillation.
The figures for Excise crime showed an increase over the
previous year due, apparently, to the strengthening of the
preventive staff. The total number of cases detected was 5,214
as against 4,964 in the previous year. Cases of illicit distillation
increased from 2,333 in the previous year to 2,611 in the year
under report. Although the number of palm trees tapped
decreased, the sales of toddy showed a considerable increase, but
adulteration is the explanation given for the figures of greater
sales. In the opinion of the Commissioner the revenue figures
point very clearly to the discovery of substitutes for licit country
spirit. In Bombay City it is largely being supplemented by
malted and cheap foreign liquors from the continent of Europe
and the Dutch Colonies. Up-country its place is being taken
by illicit liquor where distilling bases are cheap and plentiful or
by denatured spirit where they are not. Illicit distillation showed
a considerable increase and there are good grounds for supposing
that the number of cases of this form of excise crime that are
brought to book is but a fraction of the total illicit production.
The position with regard to Excise was summed up in a
Government Resolution reviewing the Commissioner’s report
which said :—
" There is no steady movement in favour of abstinence from
liquor, and in the rural regions where it flourishes excise crime
is not considered reprehensible, but rather is encouraged and
concealed. Indeed in those tracts where the Government
policy runs counter to public opinion, as for example in West
Khandesh, secret, and at times, open and violent resistance is
xix

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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 1925-26. The report was printed at the Government Central Press, Bombay [Mumbai], in 1927.

The report is divided into two parts. Part I (ff 697-709) 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; the Co-operative Movement; Public Works; Bombay Development Department.

PART II (ff 710-837) comprises the following headings, which are further divided into sub-headings:

  • CHAPTER I ‘INDIAN STATES.’ (ff 710-715), 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 715-719), consisting of: Land Records; Gujarat Talukdars’ Act; Sind Incumbered Estates Act; Department of Land Records; Routine Measurement Work; Revenue Surveys; Revision Settlements; City Surveys
  • CHAPTER III ‘LAW AND JUSTICE.’ (ff 720-725), consisting of: Resolutions and Questions; Course of Legislation; Administration of Justice; Civil Justice; Criminal Justice; Civil and Criminal Justice; Joint Stock Companies
  • CHAPTER IV ‘POLICE AND CRIME’ (ff 725-734), 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 734-759), consisting of: Nature of the Crops; Outturn of the Crops; 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 760-782), consisting of: Industries; Department of Industries; the Factories Act; the Workmen’s Compensation Act; Bombay Boiler Inspection Department; Sea-borne Trade; Foreign Trade; Foreign Merchandise; Indian Produce and Manufactures; Trade According to Countries; Shipping; Coasting Trade; Subordinate Ports 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. ; the Trade of Sind; Shipping Offices
  • CHAPTER VII ‘PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT’ (ff 782-792), consisting of: Irrigation; Sind; Deccan and Gujarat; Railways
  • CHAPTER VIII ‘VITAL STATISTICS AND MEDICAL RELIEF’ (ff 792-805), consisting of: [Births and Deaths]; Epidemic Diseases; Hospitals and Dispensaries; Sanitation; Vaccination; 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 805-812), 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 812-824), consisting of: the Budget for 1925-26; Loan Accounts; No Revenue from Income Tax; Revenue and Expenditure; Land Revenue; Public Works Revenue; Customs Administration; Salt Department; Excise; Stamps; Taxes on Income
  • CHAPTER XI ‘INSTRUCTION’ (ff 825-830), 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; Natural History Section; Victoria Museum, Karachi
  • CHAPTER XII ‘ARCHAEOLOGY’ (f 831-832), consisting of: [Archaeological Survey of India, Western Circle]
  • CHAPTER XIII ‘MISCELLANEOUS’ (ff 833-837), consisting of: Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; the Established Church of England; the Established Church of Scotland; Stationary; Printing; Bombay Development Department; Industrial Housing in Bombay; Industrial Schemes; Town Planning Schemes; Suburban Schemes; Railway Schemes; Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Advances to Cultivators.

The report includes the following photographs:

  • ‘KING EDWARD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, PAREL. (CENTRAL BLOCK)’ (f 696)
  • ‘SUGARCANE GROWN BY THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT METHODS AT POONA [Pune]’ (f 737)
  • ‘COTTON GROWN UNDER RIDGE CULTIVATION BY THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT AT POONA’ (f 742)
  • ‘ONE OF THE AGRICULUTURAL DEPARTMENT’S PREMIUM BULLS’ (f 744)
  • ‘WEAVING BY SCHOOL BOYS AT THE DEVI-HOSUR AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL’ (f 747)
  • ‘BIJAPUR [Vijayapura] COTTON SALE SOCIETY–VIEW OF THE WEIGHING OPERATIONS OF CULTIVATORS’ KAPAS IN THE SOCIETY’S COMPOUND’ (f 758)
  • ‘BORING OPERATIONS UNDERTAKEN BY THE SANITARY ENGINEER’ (f 783)
  • ‘SUKKUR BARRAGE SCHEME–A DRAGLINE EXCAVATOR WORKING ON THE KHIPRO CANAL’ (f 785)
  • ‘FLOATING PIPELINE FOR DREDGERS IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION AT SUKKUR’ (f 783)
  • ‘WATER WORKS SERVICE RESERVOIR AT WANOWRIE, POONA, CONSTRUCTED BY THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT’ (f 789)
  • ‘VISIT OF HIS EXCELLENCY THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF TO THE LLOYD DAM’ and ‘LLOYD DAM AT BHATGAR [Bhatghar] NEAR POONA’ (f 791)
  • ‘MOHENJO-DARO, DISTRICT LARKANA–BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE EXCAVATED AREA’ (f 830)
  • GATESVARA MAHADEVA TEMPLE AT SARNAL IN THE KAIRA [Kheda] DISTRICT SHOWING PROGRESS OF CONSTRUCTION WORK’ (f 832).

There are also diagrams showing the following: ‘DEATHS IN 1925 AND PREVIOUS YEARS.’ (f 793); ‘DEATH-RATE AT EACH AGE PERIOD’ (f 795); ‘ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF DEATHS FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES.’ (f 797); ‘Distribution of Principal Heads of Revenue for the year 1925-1926.’ (f 813); ‘DISTRIBUTION OF PRINCIPAL HEADS OF EXPENDITURE MET FROM REVENUE FOR THE YEAR 1925-26.’ (f 815); ‘Total Expenditure Charge to Revenue.’ (f 817).

There are appendices on folios 838-840, and an index on folios 841-843. 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 844.

A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 694-695. 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 – 1925-26. A Review of the Administration of the Presidency’ [‎706r] (31/316), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/317/5, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100152998492.0x00001b> [accessed 14 July 2026]

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