370 



INDIA. 



French crop, were greater than in any similar 

 period since the beginning of the wheat trade in 

 1874,. and two thirds greater than during the 

 same part of the preceding year. In 1891 a de- 

 ficient rainfall in Madras caused a partial fam- 

 ine. More serious distress occurred in Upper 

 Burmah, where the failure of the monsoon, fol- 

 lowing on a series of lean years, drove the people 

 to eat the seed grain, sell their plow cattle, and 

 migrate in large numbers. The Commissioner 

 ordered relief works, especially the repairing of 

 the irrigation canals, which since the English 

 occupation have been allowed to become useless. 

 The Manchester cotton manufacturers brought 

 sufficient influence to bear on the British Govern- 

 ment to secure the abolition of the Indian import 

 duties on cotton goods when the development of 

 the mills of Bombay began to interfere with the 

 imports of Lancashire cottons into India. This 

 action of the Indian Government failed to crush 

 the new Indian industry, and therefore in 1891 an- 

 other attack was made upon it by the friends of 

 the powerful English milling interest in Parlia- 

 ment, who proposed that the principles approved 

 by the Berlin Labor Conference should be car- 

 ried out in Indian factories, although they suc- 

 cessfully obstructed the enactment of the laws 

 recommended by the Berlin Conference in Great 

 Britain, preventing the Government from ful- 

 filling an international engagement to which it 

 was distinctly pledged. The Indian' Govern- 

 ment appointed a commission to inquire into the 

 conditions of factory labor. A new factory act 

 was passed which satisfied some of the demands 

 of the British competitors by raising the age of 

 children who may be employed from seven to nine 

 and the adult age from twelve to fourteen, restrict- 

 ing the labor of women to eleven hours, and re- 

 quiring complete rest on Sunday, unless a holiday 

 occurs within three days. The efforts that have 

 been made to create a demand in Europe for 

 Indian art work have not been very successful. 

 The project of having an official assay of silver- 

 ware to satisfy the requirements of English pur- 

 chasers is regarded by the Indian authorities as 

 desirable only if it be made optional. Obliga- 

 tory hall-marking would destroy the industry in- 

 tended to be benefited, as the system of family 

 labor by which the art is preserved precludes the 

 use of silver of uniform fineness. The art of 

 silk weaving in Assam and other parts of India, 

 wood carving, and other arts have become or are 

 becoming extinct, only a few families are still 

 engaged in ivory carving, inlaying metal work, 

 or making the pictured silk of Moorshedabad. 

 The filigree work of Dacca and Cuttack and 

 other jewelry work alone maintains its high 

 standard in Bengal. 



Commerce. The sea-borne foreign trade of 

 India for the year ending March 31, 1890, con- 

 sisted of Rx 86,656,990 of imports, and Rx 105,- 

 367,720 of exports of merchandise and treasure on 

 both Government and private account. The im- 

 ports of merchandise amounted to Rx 69,197,489, 

 and of treasure to Rx 17,459.501 ; the exports of 

 merchandise to Rx 103,460,398, and of treasure 

 to Rx 1,907,392. Excluding Government stores 

 and treasvire, the imports of merchandise were 

 Rx 66,560,120. and of treasure Rx 17,459,301, 

 making a total of Rx 84,019,421 : and the ex- 

 ports of domestic and foreign merchandise were 



Rx 103,096,862, and of treasure Rx 1.841,920, 

 a total of Rx 105,238,782. The domestic exports 

 amounted to Rx 99,101.054. Of the imports on 

 private account, Rx 26,314,803 were imported in- 

 to Bengal, Rx 42,292,342 into Bombay, Rx 3.503- 

 989 into Sindh, Rx 6,457,425 into Madras, and Rx 

 5,457,752 into Burmah. The exports from Ben- 

 gal amounted to Rx 39,806,476 ; from Bombav, 

 Rx 40,976,131 ; from Sindh, Rx 5,072,433 ; from 

 Madras, Rx 11,594,508 ; from Burmah, Rx 7,- 

 781,542. The imports of specie and bullion, 

 both private and Government, consisted of Rx 

 12,388,474 of silver and Rx 5,066,030 of gold, and 

 the exports consisted of Rx 1,450,598 of silver 

 and Rx 455,724 of gold. The distribution of 

 the foreign trade is shown in the following table, 

 giving the values of the imports of merchandise 

 from the principal countries and British colonies 

 in 1890, and of the exports of Indian products 

 to each of them, in tens of rupees : 



The values of the different classes of imports 

 of merchandise on private account and of ox- 

 ports of Indian produce, in tens of rupees, for 

 the year ending March 31, 1890, are given in the 

 following table : 



The imports of cotton manufactures were Rx 

 29.874,050 in value, and the exports Rx 6,745,- 

 259 ; exports of raw cotton, Rx 18.669,934 : ex- 

 ports of oil seeds and other seeds, Rx 10,620,693 ; 

 exports of opium, Rx 10.115,936 ; exports of rice, 

 Rx 10.110,482; exports of wheat. Rx 5,792,377; 

 exports of raw jute, Rx 8,639,861 ; exports of 

 jute manufactures. Rx 2,791,242; exports of tea, 

 ,Rx 5,277,650 ; exports of hides and skins, Rx 4,- 

 524,260 ; exports of indigo, Rx 3,863,084 ; exports 

 of coffee, Rx 1,489,872; exports of wool, Rx 1,- 

 086,069 ; imports of raw and manufactured silk, 

 Rx 2,845,159 ; exports of raw silk and cocoons, 

 Rx 639,545; exports of silk manufactures, Rx 



