122 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



In this table considerable confusion exists however and the value 

 of the statistics is discounted by very obvious errors in the state- 

 ment of the country of origin of the goods exported. From these 

 returns it is seen that prior to 1910--II a large proportion of the 

 Ceylon produce was sent to India for re-export to China, but in 

 almost all cases exporters have failed to classify properly the 

 goods shipped from India. Thus from 1901-02 to 1903 04, the 

 whole export was described as " Foreign produce," whereas froiii 

 1904-05 to 1909 10 inclusive the imported Ceylon produce has been 

 lumped with the home produce as "Indian produce " ; in the latter 

 period of six years 107,954 lb. weight was imported into India 

 from Ceylon, but the Customs tables show only 336 lb. of 

 foreign produce exported from India, an evident absurdity, seeing 

 that not an ounce of this material is consumed in India. The 

 missing 107,618 lb. have been undoubtedly included in the exports 

 of 206,628 lb. of so-called Indian produce shown by the Customs 

 tables. We are consequently unable to ascertain the actual 

 annual production and export of the Indian-cured product during 

 the years 1898 — 1910. Only from 1910 have we accurate annual 

 data as no Ceylon produce has been imported (for re-export) into 

 India since that year. Without the above explanation the 

 Customs returns prior to 1910 give an altogether misleading record 

 of the condition of this trade, one more instance of the unsatis- 

 factory nature of such statistics when not prepared and checked 

 by trade experts. 



The only useful result we can arrive at by analysis is to note 

 that the total exports (including re-exports) from India for the 

 twelve years from 1898 amounted to 371,324 lb. ; deducting the total 

 imports for this period of 225,227 lb. we get a balance, represent- 

 ing approximately the actual Indian home production of 146,097 lb. 

 giving an average of 12,175 lb- per annum for the twelve years in 

 question. Since 1910 the annual Indian export has diminished to 

 2,991 lb., a very great falling off. 



The knowledge of this great diminution in the production 

 coupled with information obtained in 1915 that the local merchants 

 were suspending their operations, owing partly to difficulties and 

 uncertainties induced by war conditions, and partly by alleged 

 reduction in the wholesale rates ruling in the Straits— Penang 

 being the port to which the local merchants usually ship their 

 goods — caused me to undertake an enquiry into the condition and 



