INDIAN TRAFFIC IN OIL-8EKI- 



OILS 



Tradu 



seed has ex|>anli-.l .liiriu- the past five yean* from a valuation of 36,999 

 i., I'.MN) i t,, 410,840 M, l'.'l :.. -.' D l l JU5-, and 866,0i 



l'.Mit-7. That is to say it has expan<l-<l inun being utterly insignificant 

 until now it holds the second place in quantity and the fourth in value of 

 all the oil-seeds. The bulk of cotton-seed exports go from Bombay to the 

 United KiiiL'l"iii. Although less in value, relatively, the expansion <> 

 tnitiir in oils, in tjhi and essential-oil seeds is no less interesting and 

 valuable. 



INTERNAL TRADE. 



But splendid though these results are, they show very possibly little 

 more than two-thirds of the actual value to the country, the remaining 

 thud representing the consumption of raw material or of the local manu- 

 la. tares therefrom. But while it is easy enough, from personal acquaint- 

 ance with the country, to hazard opinions that may be found fairly accurate, 

 it is often by no means possible to substantiate such by actual stati 

 returns. It has been found the only satisfactory course in dealing with 

 the above (foreign transactions) to take the declared values at the ports, 

 since in some cases the quantities may be in gallons, in others in cwt. or 

 in yards. On referring to the official returns of internal trade, as mani- 

 fested by the rail-borne traffic, the quantities only are given, and these are 

 expressed in cwt. No relation can, therefore, be worked out between the 

 railway goods traffic and the valuations of the exports and imports recorded 

 at the customs houses. Still, as they stand, the railway returns are in- 

 structive. Some of the more important materials and movements, as 

 learned from a study of these returns, may be here briefly reviewed. So 

 also, in the same way, a study of the transactions by sea coastwise gives 

 additional particulars of 'the inter-provincial exchanges and of local con- 

 sumption. These transactions are given in cwt., so that a comparison 

 with the railway returns is possible, but not with the foreign transactions 

 nor for years later than 1905-6. 



OIL-SEEDS. In the Agricultural Statistics the following are the head- 

 ings usually accepted, and under which alone areas of production are 

 recorded Linseed, Til, Rape and Mustard, and Others. In the returns 

 of Foreign Trade a more comprehensive series is given, namely Cotton, 

 Castor, Earth-nut, Linseed, Mahua (" Mowa " or " Mowra "), Mustard, 

 Poppy, Rape, Til, and Others. Lastly, in the published returns of rail- 

 borne traffic we find a third grouping, namely Linseed, Rape and 

 Mustard, Til, and All Kinds collectively, the last heading including 

 the three separate kinds as well as the Others of Agricultural and 

 Trade Statistics. With the exception of linseed and tU, no analysis 

 of the returns of oil-seeds is possible that would approximately exhibit 

 the relations of production to consumption. 



Area. The majority of the oil-seeds and oil-yielding materials enu- 

 merated in the opening paragraphs above are, however, regular agricul- 

 tural crops, and accordingly appear in official statistics in some position 

 or other. A few, such as the cocoanut, the mahua, the walnut, etc., are, 

 however, trees, and can hardly be classed as regular agricultural crops. 

 Another series afford oil-yielding seeds as a supplementary crop, such, for 

 example, as cotton, hemp, safflower, poppy, tea, etc. The others in 

 Agricultural Statistics would, therefore, not include these by-product oils, 

 but would consist of the minor oil-seeds proper, such as earth-nut. 

 .and castor. To the areas returned as oil-seeds would, therefore, have to be 



81* 



Internal 

 Trad.-. 



R*U ftDd Hirer. 



Oilseeds. 



Production and 



1 -- ;::.;' 



Area. 



Trav. 

 Supplementary. 



