INDIA. 



407 



pounds in 1883. Regarding the profits of the 

 industry, the net returns upon the capital em- 

 ployed during 1883, by thirty-nine companies 

 that struck balance-sheets for the year, were 

 307,971, or 2 per cent, on their capital ; 

 twenty-six companies that made a profit ob- 

 tained a return of 5 per cent, on their capital, 

 while eleven lost at the rate of 7 per cent, on 

 their capital. There are now fifty-three tea 

 companies registered in India. 



Paper-making. Paper-making on an exten- 

 sive scale has been inaugurated in India. There 

 are two mills in the neighborhood of Calcutta, 

 one in Lucknow, one in Gvvalior, and one in 

 Bombay, all worked by machinery and natives 

 with European overseers. Much of the Gov- 

 ernment paper is obtained of local manufact- 

 urers, and in August the Calcutta "English- 

 man," a daily of four large pages, was printed 

 on paper made at Barrackpore, on the banks of 

 the Ganges. The paper was equal to the im- 

 ported if not superior, and the cost considera- 

 bly lower. The cheapness of raw material, 

 and Bengalee labor at $3 a month, are consid- 

 erable items in questions of economy. In a 

 recent report Mr. J. E. O'Conor, of the Indian 

 Department of Commerce, thus criticises this 

 subject: 



It is a curious thin? that the Indian paper-mills 

 should confine themselves to making paper of the 

 coarsest kinds, using old gunny-bags for their mate- 

 rial, and seeking everywhere for fibrous materials fit 

 for their purpose, while the country sends rags and 

 other materials fit for good paper to England and the 

 United States. Last year the value of the exports of 

 this stuff was Es. 3.54.014. A considerable quantity 

 of paper could be made out of 97,208 hundreds-weight 

 of rags and other paper-making material?, sufficient, 

 at least, to make a very good beginning for a useful 

 industry, the development of which in this country is 

 so much desired. 



Wheat. The official report from Calcutta, 

 dated Jan. 16, 1885, said that, in the North- 

 western Provinces and Oude, the area under 

 cultivation with wheat had been increased no 

 less than 337,000 acres, the total area being es- 

 timated at 5,323,000 acres, against 5,106,000 in 

 1884. 



The export of wheat from India in 1882 was 

 15,000,000 hundred -weight; in 1883 it was 

 22,300,000 hundred-weight. 



The " Revenue and Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of India" issued in January, 1885, the 

 following report relating to the area under 

 cultivation in wheat, as well as crop prospects 

 at the time : 



The average area under wheat in India in ordinary 

 years, according to a recent estimate, is about 26,000,- 

 000 acres, and the average gross production is nearly 

 7,000,000 tons. Of this area 18.000,000 acres, or nine 

 thirteenths, lie in the four British provinces of the 

 Punjaub, the Northwestern Provinces and Oude, the 

 Central Provinces and Bombay. During the last year 

 a system of monthly forecasts of the condition and 

 prospects of the wheat-crop was tentatively started in 

 these four provinces, and reports for November and 

 December have now been received. In the Punjaub 

 the sowings are above the average and prospects are 

 considered excellent. The area under crop is esti- 



mated at 7,250,000 acres, the average area being 6,750,- 

 000 acres. In the Northwestern Provinces and Oude 

 the November forecast was exceptionally favorable. 

 An area of 5,500,000 acres had been sown, against an 

 average of 5,000,000 acres, the seed had germinated 

 well owing to the late October rains, 'and a bumper 

 crop was predicted. The December forecast, however, 

 is_ less favorable, as, owing to the entire absence of 

 winter rains, the young crop has suffered. In the 

 central provinces, owing to the early cessation of the 

 monsoon rains, a smaller area than usual has been 

 sown with wheat. The average area of recent rains 

 has been nearly 4,000,000 acres. This year the de- 

 crease ranges in the several districts from 5 to 10 per 

 cent. Present prospects are all that could he desired, 

 as, owing to recent rain, the crop is in excellent con- 

 dition. A special report from the Berars estimates 

 the present year's crop at 845,000 acres, or 5 per cent, 

 above the average, and says the crop is in good con- 

 dition. 



Irrigation. The rainfall during a period of 

 four months on the west slopes of the Neil- 

 gherries is about 400 inches, and on the mount- 

 ains east of Calcutta 600 inches. In the Car- 

 natic, the region south and west of Madras, 

 there are only about 40 inches altogether. This 

 falls principally in heavy bursts, often 10 or 

 12 inches in a night, thus giving half a year's 

 supply in two showers. In the Madras Presi- 

 dency alone there are 40,000 tanks for the 

 storage of water, many of which are from 10 

 to 25 miles in .circumference and from 10 to 60 

 feet deep. One of these reservoirs will con- 

 tain 100,000,000 cubic yards of water. Besides 

 these tanks there are many old irrigating canals 

 leading off from the rivers. These are supplied 

 by weirs built of immense stones across the 

 streams, the ingenious construction of which 

 by the natives has shown the British authori- 

 ties the best way of doing similar work on a 

 much larger scale across some of the largest 

 rivers. For many years the Indian Govern- 

 ment has been improving the ancient irrigating 

 works and perfecting new systems. In the 

 Tanjore district alone the returns to the Gov- 

 ernment from this policy have been enormous, 

 the revenue having increased 350,000 a year, 

 on an expenditure of 400,000. The system has 

 been extended to other parts of India, and all 

 the belts of land, comprising many millions of 

 acres, that have been reached by this grand 

 system of irrigation now present a marked con- 

 trast to the tracts of arid waste that met the 

 eye of the traveler a few years ago. 



Calcutta International Inhibition. One of the 

 reports on the American exhibit contained the 

 following passages. It bore the date of Jan. 

 15, 1884 : 



The space occupied by American manufacturers 

 is not extensive, nor is the display imposing. How- 

 ever, there is reason to hope that those who are repre- 

 sented will either directly or indirectly be compensated 

 for any expenditure incurred. There are manufactur- 

 ers in the United States who do not show their goods 

 at worlds' fairs for the mere purpose of extending their 

 foreign business, hut to demonstrate to unprejudiced 

 judges that the exhibits will not suffer by comparison 

 with those of any country. The value of the direct 

 imports from the United States to tins country dur- 

 ing the fiscal year 1882-' 83 amounted to Es. 93,43,420. 

 and of the exports direct from India to the United 



