TRITICUM 



FUMK Mll.l.^ VULOARB 



Trade 



of the foreign article. In a further paragraph, particular* will be found 

 of the imports and exports of flour, but it may be added that the 

 growth of the Indian flour traffic is one of the moat encouraging rtawitafe 

 UK li< at ions of the birth of industrial enterprise. So far, the export* 

 of Indian flour have gone to Indian Ocean ports, but the day i* per* 

 haps not far distant when the problem of the export* of clean vcrtu* 

 adulterated wheat may be solved, as already stated, by the export of 

 flour (see p. 1089). 



Flour Mills. According to the Financial and Commercial Statistic* Flour 

 (1906, 399) there were 42 mills, employing 3,016 persons in 1904, but the Milla. 

 statement is said to be defective. These were distributed thus : The 

 Panjab 21, with 1,281 employees ; Bengal 9, with 755 employee* ; Bombay 

 4, with 562 employees ; Unit noes 4, with 273 employees ; Madras 



2, with 58 employees ; Sind and the Central Provinces, 1 each, with 52 

 and 35 employees respectively. 



INDIAN TRADE IN WHEAT AND FLOUR. 



For many years it was an accepted belief that Indian wheat appeared Trade. 

 on the markets of Europe chiefly in order to supplement deficiencies. In 

 1899, the author of The Wheat Problem (Sir William Crookes) practically 

 excluded India from consideration in his study of the world's supply, on 

 the ground of the insignificance of the surplus available for export. In 

 a most emphatic manner that view has been disproved by recent returns. 

 In 1904, for example, India actually headed the list of countries that con- 

 tribute towards England's demands a circumstance that at once placed 

 it in an altogether new position, notwithstanding that the very next year 

 it fell far short of its record. But what it did one year may be repeated 

 and even exceeded. The explanation of this new state of affairs may 

 be learned from a study of the causes that have brought about India's 

 extended wheat production. Nearly 75 per cent, of the wheat grown 

 is raised in the Panjab and the United Provinces. And in these pro- 

 vinces vast tracts of fertile land have been brought under cultivation, 

 through the improved and increased canal and well irrigation accom- 

 plished by the Indian Government. Indeed fully half the wheat area 

 of the provinces named is ordinarily under irrigation wheat. Howard 

 (Note Prod, of Wheat, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1906, i., pt. iv., 399-401) 

 regards the irrigation wheat as securing the internal consumption and as 

 thus releasing a large proportion of the dry crop for export. The ex- 

 pansion of the irrigation wheat area is, therefore, a matter of superlative 

 importance to the British Empire, in addition to being of vital interest to vtuitoindb. 

 India itself. 



Prices of Wheat In India. These are expressed by the number of Prioea. 

 seers (= 2 Ib.) procurable for Rs. 1 (= la. 4d.). A higher figure, therefore, 

 denotes cheap wheat (more being obtainable), and a low figure dear wheat. 

 It is perhaps only necessary to select three centres, Calcutta, Bombay 

 and Delhi, to exemplify the fluctuations in price. During the twenty years 

 ending 1905, the cheapest wheat in Calcutta was in 1887, when 14-17 seen 

 (28-34 Ib.) were obtained for the rupee. So again the dearest wheat was 

 in 1897, when only 8 -05 seers were given. The quantities procurable for 

 the past four years were 1902, 10-68 seers ; 1903, 12'1 seers ; 1904, 11-12 

 seers ; and 1905, 10-67 seers. In Bombay, the record year for cheapness Bomb*?, 

 during the twenty years was in 1896, when wheat sold at 1 1*84 seers to the 

 rupee, and the dearest year 1900, 6-06 seers, while for the following years 



1101 



IT..:. Hm 



