Excise 

 Revenue. 



Pachwai. 



Country Beer. 



Customs 

 Revenue. 



Supposed 

 Monopoly. 



Other 

 Countries. 



Trade. 



Uses of Bice. 



THE RICE PLANT 



Panjab 1 mill, with 33 employees ; Bombay 1 mill, with 80 employees ; 

 Madras 11 mills, with 685 employees. 



Revenue Duty. In the Imperial Gazetteer (iv., 257-8) it is stated 

 that the "revenue derived from rice and millet beer amounted in 

 1902-3 to about 6 lakhs in Bengal and 11 lakhs in Burma ; elsewhere 

 it is inconsiderable. In Bengal, pachwai brewed from rice or millet is 

 consumed by aboriginal tribes, and by the lower orders in general, in 

 certain districts. It is valued both as a stimulant and as food. The 

 bulk of the revenue which it yields is derived from licenses for manu- 

 facture and retail sale, which are put up to annual auction, the number 

 and sites of the shops having been previously fixed. Licenses for the 

 home-brewing of pachwai for domestic purposes are granted in certain 

 districts to the headmen of villages inhabited by aboriginal races, on 

 payment of a fixed fee for each household. In Burma the Native beer 

 is brewed from rice. When consumed by certain hill tribes, mostly in 

 Upper Burma, it is exempted from taxation, otherwise the excise system 

 is similar to that in Bengal. It is almost as easy to brew this beer as to 

 make a pot of tea, and as the main ingredient is a staple article of food, 

 it is almost impossible to check private manufacture." In the Moral and 

 Material Progress of India the excise revenue from fermented local 

 liquors, amounted in 1905-6 to 113,234 in Bengal and to 151,402 in 

 Burma (see pp. 757, 760). The preparation of vinegar from rice is 

 almost peculiar to Burma (see p. 1111). As regards Customs Revenue, 

 rice and rice flour are the only articles on the export tariff schedule, the 

 duty on which is levied at the rate of 3 annas per rnaund of 82f- Ib. 

 The revenue thus obtained during the years 1900-6 amounted to the 

 following sums : In 1900-1, Rs. 84,89,433 ; 1901-2, Rs. 90,87,957 ; 

 1902-3, Rs. 1,26,06,624 ; 1903-4, Rs. 1,20,31,363 ; 1904-5, Rs. 1,31,75,772 ; 

 1905-6, Rs. 1,15,11,257 (767,417). The increase in recent years is 

 doubtless to some extent the direct expression of the economies effected 

 by the Burma milling industry. 



It was said some time ago that India held a practical monopoly of 

 the world's supply of rice and accordingly was justified in placing an 

 export duty on the quantities sent to foreign countries. The duty above 

 mentioned was first imposed in 1875, when oil, rice, indigo and lac were 

 subjected to an export duty. In 1880 the duties on the other articles 

 were remitted, and that on rice alone retained. But the exports of rice 

 from the Southern States of America, from Madagascar, from Cochin-China, 

 from Siam, from Japan, etc., have given a new conception of the trade. 

 In fact, it might almost be said that but for the economies effected by 

 Burmese milling, the exports would have by now been lost to India. 



TRADE. 



The foreign rice trade of India may be said to be very ancient. So 

 long age as 1503 Vertomannus (Travels, in Hakl. Voy., 1811, iv., 577) 

 made special mention of the exports from Mangalore. In present-day 

 traffic almost the entire supplies of the cereal sent to foreign countries are 

 drawn from Burma. It is employed as food, for distillation, and in the 

 manufacture of starch. " Formerly the bulk of the rice exported from 

 Burma consisted of ' cargo ' rice, of which five -sixths was unhusked 

 (or ' paddy ') and only one-sixth husked. Gradually, with the extension 

 of rice-mills, the proportion of cargo rice has diminished, this description 

 being replaced by husked and cleaned rice, to the great advantage of the 



840 



