604 INDIA 



continues to stand first in respect of literacy and the United Provinces last. Among native 

 states Travancore and Baroda are conspicuous. 



Finance. In India financial equilibrium varies with the monsoon, upon which agri- 

 culture is mainly dependent. In 1908-9, following upon two bad seasons, which 

 culminated in famine throughout the United Provinces, there was a deficit of no less 

 than 3! millions entirely due to a fall in land revenue and in receipts from railways. 

 Succeeding years have been favourable, though in 1911 the desired rainfall did not fall 

 until as late as September. The consequence has been a succession of surpluses, amount- 

 ing to 606,641 in 1909-10, 3,936,287 in 1910-1, and 4,848,000 in 1911-2. In both the 

 last two years, however, no less than two millions of the surplus was due to an unexpect- 

 ed windfall from opium. In 1911-2, the net revenue reached the unprecedented total 

 of 56 millions, compared with 49 millions two years before. During the interval, the 

 only change in taxation was a new customs duty on silver, and increased duties on 

 imported liquors, tobacco and petroleum. It should however, be added that the ex- 

 cise duties on liquors and drugs have likewise been raised throughout the several 

 Provinces. As so large a portion of the recent surpluses has been derived from opium, 

 a source of revenue that will shortly disappear, they have not been applied to the reduc- 

 tion of taxation, but have been utilised partly in extraordinary grants for education, 

 sanitation, &c., and partly in reduction of debt. The, cost of the Royal visit (one 

 million) was entirely defrayed out of revenue, and it is anticipated that some part at 

 least of the expenditure on the new capital at Delhi will come from the same source. 



The Opium Question. The subject of opium demands special mention. By arrangement 

 with China, the Government of India undertook to reduce the quantity exported after 

 January 1908 by amounts annually increasing until the export should entirely cease after 

 ten years. Under a new agreement in 1911, the total cessation was to be accelerated if 

 China suppressed her own production of the drug, and a further limitation was placed on 

 the export to Chinese ports, such exports to be specially certified. As a result, the number 

 of chests exported was reduced from 61,900 in 1908 to 44,600 in 1911, of which only 30,600 

 were certified for admission to China. In the meantime, of the two Government factories 

 in the Ganges valley that at Patna has been closed, while the .area under poppy has been 

 reduced from about 500,000 to 200,000 acres, entirely in the United Provinces. A result 

 not foreseen is that the restriction on export led to an increased demand and a doubling of 

 the sale price. Thus is explained the windfall from opium which figures so conspicuously 

 in the surpluses of the last two years. Finally, it should be stated that, in conformity with 

 the international convention signed at the Hague in January 1911 the Indian Government 

 has announced its intention of introducing legislation to discourage opium smoking. It 

 is proposed to prohibit the practice absolutely in saloons or gatherings numbering more than 

 two persons, to reduce the amount of the drug which a person may lawfully possess, and to 

 increase the sale price to the public. 



Agriculture. The last three or four years have been characterised by favourable mon- 

 soons and consequently by wide-spread agricultural prosperity. If prices still range high, 

 this must be attributed to the foreign demand for such staples as cotton, wheat and oilseeds. 

 A notable example of prosperity is presented by the Canal Colonies in the Punjab, where 

 wheat for export is the chief crop and horse breeding is also encouraged. The colonists 

 have been allowed to acquire proprietary rights in their holdings, and the cooperative credit 

 movement is making rapid progress. It may be mentioned that as much as 3,000 per acre 

 has here been paid for market sites along the railway, that labour at harvest time fetches 

 Rs. 2 (2s. 8d.) a day, that sovereigns are common in circulation, and that in one year Lyall- 

 pur remitted 147,000 by money order to other districts. 



The United Provinces recovered with unexampled rapidity from the famine of 1908, ow- 

 ing as much to their previous prosperity as to the efficiency of relief opcrations ( . Bengal 

 and Bihar suffered somewhat in 1909 from a poor harvest. But the only real distress has 

 been in Bombay. Here the monsoon of 1911 failed almost entirely in Gujarat, including a 

 large area of Native States. No difficulty was experienced in providing work and food 

 for the destitute people, and private chanty was to some extent successful in saving the 

 cattle alive; for, as often happens, the drought caused a fodder famine. In 1912 the mon- 

 soon again failed in the Bombay Deccan, a tract particularly liable to drought. 



The most notable feature of recent years, apart from the activity of the Agricultural 

 Departments in the several Provinces, has been the steady growth of cooperative credit 

 societies. Some- of these are urban, for the benefit of artizans, &c.; but the great majority 

 are rural, numbering nearly 5,000 in 191 1, with a membership of 236,000 and a working capi- 

 tal of 710,000, of which 105,000 represents deposits by the members. The movement 

 seems to have been most successful in the United Provinces, Madras and the Punjab. In 



