THE FINANCES OF INDIA FOR THE YEARS 1883-84. Principal Heads of Revenue: Land Revenue Assessed Taxes.. Interest 1884-85. ! £22,361,899 £21,832,211 9,556,501 8,816,469 6,145,413 6,507.236 3,513,201 3,606,622 3,836,961 4,011,867 2,878,731 2,791,461 1,187,266 1,029,943 526,087 511,828 1,052,900 986,984 £52,038,401 £51,080,422 £856,255 £711,011 Corps must have completed one years' regi- The Ecclesiastical Establishment in India consists of the Bishops of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Lahore, and Rangoon (whose names will be found at page 384), and 160 Chaplains. Certain allowances are also paid from Indian revenues to other clergymen, and to priests and ministers of other denominations when ministering to British regiments. Minor Departments.. In aid of pensions, &c. 3,249 £11,960,157 £11,898,131 Total. The reader who compares these figures with those given in last year's Almanack will find some apparent discrepancies; they arise from a reform adopted this year for the first time in the manner of presenting the Indian accounts. The balance-sheet for 1883-84 has also been recast on similar lines. The British Empire in India-Revenue and Expenditure. EXPENDITURE. 389 Law and Justice 3,238,896 Police. 2,761,054 Marine (inc.River Nvgn.) 634,536 Education 1,184,227 Ecclesiastical. 159,183 Medical.. 718,532 Political 538,616 Minor Departments... 474,205 Salaries & Expenses of Civil Depts.: 788,435 Total Expend. charged? £69,962,313 £71,077,127 against Revenue General Administration £1,653,074 £1,666,925 The following is a Table of Revenue and Ex3,305,978 penditure, up to 1885, in each decade since 2,832,725 1839-40, and for the year 1884-85, together with 531,973 the totals of all the years between those dates, 1,238,787 the values being stated approximately at the 166,411 conventional rate of 1=Rs. 10. It should be 743,722 borne in mind that the area of British territory 799,028 in India has risen since 1840 from 616,000 to 457,618 868,000 square miles : REVENUE. £1,522,813 £1,548,357 46 ys. 842'83 294'53 519°49 128'89 194°co 1979'74 The INDIAN DEBT on the 31st March, 1886, stood at £166,931,000, as compared with 162,454.748 in the previous year. Of the latter sum, 693,183,660 was held in India, and £69,271,088 in England. The total charge for interest on debt in 1884-85 was £7,466,185. In the preceding statement of expenditure £4,137,065 of this total is charged under Interest on Debt (excl. Railways and Irrigation Works), £2,397,116 is charged under Railway Revenue Account, and £932,004 under Irrigation. THE OPIUM REVENUE.-The growth of the poppy in British India is strictly confined to the districts of Behar and Benares in Bengal, and its manufacture has been a Government monopoly for more than a hundred years. The cultivators undertake to deliver the whole of the produce at the contract price of Rs. 4'8 and Rs. 5 per seer (2 lbs.), and when the crop is ripe the juice is collected and sent to the Government Agencies at Ghazipur and Patna. Here it is dried to a certain consistency, and packed in chests containing about 130 lbs. each. It is then sent down to Calcutta, disposed of by auction at monthly sales, and exported. In the year ending 31st March, 1885, 46,698 chests were thus sold for £6,277,111, at a rate slightly exceeding Rs. 1,295 per chest. Deducting £2,960,939 for cost of cultivation and manufacture, the net profit from this Bengal "export" or "provision" opium was £3,316,172. In addition to this, 5,552 chests of Bengal opium were issued to the Excise Department to meet the consumption in India itself. The number of chests of Bengal opium in reserve for export on 31st March, 1885, was 55,790; 2,599 chests were also in store for the Excise Depart ment. A large quantity of opium, amounting in 1884-85 to 39,039 chests, is also exported from Bombay, the whole of which is grown in the Native States of Central India, and goes by the name of Malwa Opium, because that district supplies the greater part of it. A duty of Rs. 650, Rs. 675, or Rs. 700 per chest, according as the opium comes from Malwa, Ajmere, or Ahmedabad, is levied upon it when it enters British territory, and the receipts from this source in 1884-85 amounted to £2,539,358, which was almost entirely clear gain to the Government, the cost of collecting the duty being insignificant. The total net revenue from the two sources-Bengal and the Native States-was £5,849,829. Nearly the whole of this opium is exported to China, and according to a calculation of the British Inspector-General of Customs, is consumed by one million persons, or at the most o'33 per cent. of the population. This quantity of opium pays the Chinese Government about £1,920,000, and is sold to the consumer for 15,400,000, which is equal, according to the calculation above referred to, to the expenditure of £42,192 daily by 1,023,000 persons, or about 9'9 annas by each individual. GROSS AMOUNT OF THE REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE (excluding Capital Expenditure on Public Works not charged to Revenue) IN INDIA AND IN ENGLAND, SHOWING SURPLUS OR DEFICIENCY IN EACH OF THE UNDER-MENTIONED OFFICIAL YEARS. (Throughout this statement £1 represents 10 Rupees, or their equivalent, whether the transactions have taken place in England or in India.) OFFICIAL YEARS ended 31 March. EXPENDITURE. TOTAL. IN 1876.. 58,641,305 323,854 58,965,159 43,129,809 14,246,095 57,375,904 Total 46,265,498 16,794,424 63,059,922 17,754,638 14,159,187 3,595,451 17,025,736 16,350,899 | 674,837 20,024,892 18,145,415 1,879,477 16,821,568 17,208,014 for 10 665,668,311 10,334,320 676,002,631 509,693,369 168,528,093 678,221,462 155,974,942 158,193,773 9,873,118 ye 386,446 12,091,949 Net 2,218,831 15,511,496 13,922,241 1,589, 255 12,898,081 15,482,257 2,584,176 4,262,040 The British Empire in India-Imports and Exports. 391 TRADE OF INDIA IN 1885-86. The foreign trade continued to be depressed. It was, however, slightly larger than in 1884-85, amounting to Rs. 1'52 20 50 590, as compared with Rs. 1°52'11'60'171. But although more than 7 per cent. below the value of the trade in 1883-84, it was larger than the trade of any other year, and Rs. 58'38'00'000 more than in 1873-74- In the years from 1875-76 to 1884-85 imports of merchandise had risen Rs.18'40'00'000, and exports Rs. 26'80'co'000. The proportion per head of the population is, however, less than 6 rupees against 17 108. in the United Kingdom. The average annual excess of exports over imports in the last seven years has been 17'50 lacs. The import trade however is increasing, as it should, somewhat faster than the exports. The actual figures for 1885-86 are: imports of merchandise, 51'81 lacs; of treasure, 15'48 lacs; total 67 28 lacs: exports of merchandise, 84'92 lacs; of treasure, 111 lacs; total 83'80 lacs; making a grand total of 152 20 lacs. All imports are now free, excepting arms and ammunition, opium, liquors, and salt. It was thought that the entire removal of the duty on cotton manufactures might be detrimental to Indian manufactures, but it has not been so. On the contrary, the value of Indian cotton yarn and piece goods exported has increased from Rs. 74'09 593 in 1876 to Rs. 3'56 87'405 in 1885-86. The business is, however, said to be no longer profitable. The total values of the imports and exports respectively of merchandise for the several provinces of British India were as follows for the year ending March 31st, 1886:-Bombay, Rs. 22'01'43'302, Rs. Rs. 31°29'83 576; Bengal, Madras, Rs. 19'98 56 394, Rs. 33 11 20 692; 4 25 03 569, Rs. 8°26'44'123; British Burmah, Rs. 3'41'98 154, Rs. 6'78°03'690; Sind, Rs. 2'14'14'386, Rs. 4 37 26 320. The value of the treasure imported and exported was Rs. 16°58'60'384, of which Bombay contributed Rs. 13'38'21'432, and Calcutta Rs. 2°73°72°339. Imports of gold have declined in 1885-86 from Rs. 467 19 365 to Rs. 2'76°29'347; the net result for the last five years having been an import of 22 67 lacs, a sure sign of prosperity, because, not being used for coinage, it is an article of merchandise, and is almost entirely converted into ornament, in accordance with the Eastern method of investing savings. The net imports of silver in the last six years has been 38 12 lacs, of which seven-eighths came from England, Italy, and China. The bills and telegraphic transfers sold by the Secretary of State on India during the year amounted to Rs.13°53'25'000, realizing£10,292,692 (true sterling), the average rate being 18.6°254d. This sum represents a portion of the excess of exports from India over imports, as well as the cost of the home charges. To obviate the necessity for a double remittance of specie, an exchange is effected; the merchants purchase the Bills of the Council of India in London in sterling money, and receive the equivalent in rupees in India from the Government Treasuries at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The total number of vessels which entered and cleared at Indian ports from and to foreign countries in 1885-86 was 10,562, with a tonnage of 7,294,589, as compared with 10,338 vessels with a tonnage of 6,649,770 in 1884-85. The size of vessels trading to India is constantly increasing. The percentage of steam tonnage passing the Suez Canal further declined in 1886 from 65 to 64; 79'1 per cent. of the total tonnage of the year was British. The following statement exhibits the principal articles of the foreign trade of India, the figures being those of 1885-86 : Machinery The following is a list of the frontier provinces of British India and the foreign countries adjoining them with which they have trade relations: Sind.-Lus Bela, Khelat, Khorasan, Kandahar, Pishin, Girishk, Ghuzni, and Cabul to a small extent. Punjaub.-Sewestan, Tirah, Bajaur, Cashmere, Ladakh, Cabul, portion of Thibet. North-West Provinces & Oudh.-Thibet, Nepaul. Bengal.-Nepaul, Bhutan, and Sikkim. Assam.-Towang, Bhutan, Duffla and Aka Hills, Naga and Mishmi Hills, Manipur, Lushai Hills, and Hill Tipperah. Burmah.-China, Karennee, Shan States, Zimmay, and Siam. In 1885-86 the imports declined 6 per cent., while the exports increased 18 per cent., but almost the whole of this increase consisted of railway stores for the Sind-Peshin Railway. The export trade through Afghanistan is much checked by the restrictive policy adopted by the Russian Government towards British Indian trade. AREA AND POPULATION OF BRITISH INDIA ACCORDING TO CENSUS OF 1881. The province of Upper Burmah recently annexed is estimated to have an area of 140,000 square miles and a population of 3 millions. In India, including the Native States, there| were (1881) nearly 254 millions of inhabitants, 188 millions being Hindoos, and 50 millions Mohammedans. Of 130 million males, 51 millions are dependent on agricultural pursuits, 13 millions on various industries; 74 millions are labourers, and 2 millions are in domestic service. There are 714.759 villages, townships, &c. (544,856 being in British Territory, and 169,903 in the Native States), nearly half of these being villages with less than 200 inhabitants. The average number of inhabitants is 229 per square mile (varying between more than 442 in Bengal to less than 43 in British Burmah). There are 53 towns with a population of more than 50,000, the seven largest being-Bombay, 773,196; Calcutta, 816,503: Madras, 405,848; Lucknow, 261,303; Benares, 199,700; Delhi, 173,393; Patna, 170,654. The |
