GOSSYPIUM 



TAXATION 



THE COTTON PLANT 



Imports 

 Excised. 



Local 



Production 



Taxed. 



Power-loom 

 Goods Taxed. 



Net Duty 

 Collected. 



Trade in 



Haw 



Cotton. 



months later the bill was accordingly amended and certain cotton imports 

 were excised. The cotton goods and yarns imported into India are 

 mainly of the finer qualities, whereas those manufactured in India (chiefly 

 on account of the inferior quality of the local staple) are of the lower 

 grades. But with the medium-class goods, the foreign supply over- 

 lapped the local production, and hence, with a view to take away the 

 protective character of the customs duty, it was decided to impose an 

 excise duty of 5 per cent, on the medium qualities of yarn produced in 

 India. Technically this is expressed by saying that all Indian -produced 

 yarns above 20's were taxed. It was soon found, however, that this 

 endeavour to equalise the burden of taxation on the two great competing 

 sets of cotton manufacturers (Indian and Foreign) was not a success. In 

 1896 a further Act was accordingly passed by which cotton yarns were freed 

 from taxation and a uniform duty of 3 per cent, imposed on all woven 

 goods imported into India or manufactured by Indian power-loom mills, 

 the village hand-loom industry being exempted. In 1902, B. J. Padshah 

 wrote a Memorandum on the Profits of the Cotton Industry of India and 

 the Cotton Duties, to which the editor of The Times of India contributed ai 

 Introduction : these papers will richly reward perusal. They may be 

 accepted as setting forth present Indian commercial opinion. Padshah 

 hinges the whole of his critical and very able review on two conceptions 

 that he endeavours to disprove, viz. " that the average profits of the Mill 

 Industry are high " : " that the Cotton Duties would be really paid by 

 the consumer of cotton goods and not by the producer." The net duty 

 collected on the goods manufactured by the Indian mills for the four 

 years 1901-2 to 1904-5 was, 1901-2, Rs. 17,77,965 ; 1902-3, Us. 18,91,010 ; 

 1903-4, Rs. 20,95,149 ; and 1904-5, Rs. 24,06,976. 



[Cf. Buchanan-Hamilton, Journ. Mysore, etc., 1807, ii., 261-5 ; Montgomery 

 Martin, Hist. E. Ind., 1838, i.. 328-9, 341-51, 353-8, 546-9; ii., 558-62, 973-6 ; 

 iii., 322-4, 327-9 ; Admin. Repts. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 1886-1904 ; 

 Mukharji, Art Manuf. Ind., 1888, 315-31 ; Collin, Existing Arts and Indust. 

 Beng., 1890, 7-8 ; Ha veil on Indian Industries, the Fly-shuttle ; Chatterton, in 

 Ind. Text. Journ., 1899-1905 ; Max and Bertha Ferrars, Burma, 1900, 58-61 ; 

 Settl. Kept. Meiktila, 1900, 32-5 ; J. Sturrock, Man. S. Canara Dist., ii., 145-7 ; 

 Monographs, Cotton Manuf. : Banerjei, Bengal; Arnold, Burma ; Blennerhassett, 

 Cent. Prov. ; Sammon, Assam ; Silberrad, United Prov. ; Francis, Panjdb ; 

 Enthoven, Bombay ; Edgar Thurston, Madras ; numerous articles in the Indian 

 Press, more especially Ind. Text. Journ ; Talcherkar, Reels and Reeling in Indian 

 Mills, in Ind. Text. Journ., Feb 1901 ; Geo. Cecil, Cotton Mitts in India, in Text. 

 Mercury, 1901 ; Times of India, 1901-2 ; Madras Mail, 1901-2 ; Englishman, 

 1901 ; Pioneer, 1902-3 ; Watt, Ind. Art at Delhi, 1903, 236-89 ; Measurement of 

 Widths of Piece Goods, Beng. Chamber of Comm. Kept., 1904, 152-63 ; Short Reeling 

 of Yarns, 399-424 (including Kept, of Committee appointed by Government of 

 India to consider and propose measures for suppression of fraudulent short- 

 reeling) ; Combes in Soc. Arts, 1904, Hi., 734 ; Temple, Text. Mercury, 1904 ; Ind. 

 Agri. (many passages) ; Tozer, The Manuf. of Great Britain, in Journ. Soc. Arts, 

 1905 ; Imp. Gaz, iv., 262-5. ; Repts. of Bombay Mill-owners' Assoc. ; Board of 

 Trade Journ., 1905 ; The Textile Recorder, Feb 15, 1908, 302 ; etc., etc.] 



X. INDIAN TRADE IN RAW COTTON AND COTTON MANU- 

 FACTURES, BOTH LOCAL AND FOREIGN. 

 RA W COTTON. So much has already been said regarding the Indian 

 Cotton Trade that this account may be fittingly drawn to a close by a few 

 short paragraphs devoted to the more important sections under which 

 transactions are ordinarily conducted. The total area (according to the 

 Final Memorandum of the Commercial Intelligence Department for the 

 year 1906-7) occupied by cotton was 14,918,000 acres in 1904-5, with 



620 



