INDIA. 



301 



ipg valued at Rx 5,501,600 and exports at Rx 4,640,- 

 400. The value of the coasting trade, excluding 

 Government stores and treasure, was Rx 68,701,- 

 877 for imports and exports. The trade with 

 Afghanistan has fallen away in consequence of 

 the restrictions imposed by the Ameer, who has 

 forbidden the export of horses and the import of 

 salt and created Government monopolies of several 

 important articles. 



The indigo plantations, the most important of 

 which are in Behar, the most densely populated 

 province of India, are threatened with the com- 

 petition of artificially produced indigo, which is 

 now made in Germany more cheaply than the 

 natural indigo can be grown. The use of cheap 

 chemical substitutes already interfered with the 

 expansion of indigo cultivation before German 

 chemists invented the process of manufacturing 

 synthetic indigo on a commercial basis. The 

 planters still hope to be able to compete with the 

 German product by increasing the yield and im- 

 proving the methods of preparation. The planters 

 have applied to the Government for pecuniary aid 

 to help them resuscitate the cultivation of sugar, 

 which was once carried on by Europeans before 

 they turned to indigo, and which might once more 

 become profitable with modern methods and ma- 

 chinery, at least as an auxiliary or alternative 

 crop. The food crops of India, except in famine 

 years, are superabundant for the meager require- 

 ments of the population, and usually there is a 

 large surplus for export. The variableness of rain- 

 fall causes great fluctuations from year to year in 

 the quantities of the different agricultural prod- 

 ucts that are exported. Wheat is grown in almost 

 every province, yet the main production is in the 

 northern half, while two thirds of the cotton crop 

 is raised in the southern half of India, though this 

 plant also is cultivated everywhere. Rice is pro- 

 duced in Burmah, eastern Bengal, and Madras far 

 in excess of the needs of those provinces. Maize 

 is the staple food in many of the districts of 

 central and southern India lately stricken with 

 famine, and millet is the staff of life for a ma- 

 jority of the population of the empire. Nine 

 tenths of the flax crop is grown in the Northwest 

 Provinces, the Central Provinces, and Bengal. In 

 1900 the failure of rain over a great part of India 

 caused a great deficiency in staple export crops, 

 such as wheat, cotton, and oil seeds, but stocks 

 remained for export from the abundant harvest 

 of 1898. The imports for the year ending March 

 31, 1900, excluding treasure and Government 

 stores, amounted to Rx 70,712,000, exceeding the 

 total for 1899 and falling but little short of the 

 average for the five years previous. The mer- 

 chandise exports for private account, although less 

 than in 1899, exceeded the average for the quin- 

 quennial period ending with 1898, amounting to 

 the total of Rx 105,714,000. not including Rx 

 3,293,000 of re-exports. The exports of 1899 were 

 swollen by abnormal shipments of rice and wheat, 

 whereas in 1900 large quantities of food grains 

 were diverted to the famine-stricken provinces. 

 No less than 40 per cent, of the total imports con- 

 sisted of cotton manufactures, nearly all of which 

 came from England. The opium exports have in- 

 creased in the last two years, owing to the adul- 

 teration of the Chinese drug and the increased pur- 

 chasing power of the Chinese people, but it is 

 probable that the downward tendency of opium 

 exports is only temporarily suspended. The in- 

 creased exports of raw hides and skins, of which 

 two fifths went to the United States, bears witness 

 to the heavy mortality among cattle consequent 

 upon famine. The exports of raw cotton to Eu- 

 rope were less than in previous years, while the 



Japanese requirements were larger. The area 

 under cotton, jute, and oil seeds was smaller 

 owing to the superior claims of food crops in con- 

 sequence of the last famine, and short supplies 

 entailed higher prices, which were further en- 

 hanced by the crop failures of 1899-1900. The 

 sugar imports from Germany have been replaced 

 oy the product of Mauritius, China, Java, and the 

 Straits Settlements as the result of countervailing 

 duties against bounty-fed sugar, and the imports 

 from Austria from the same cause have declined. 

 The imports of metals and metal manufactures 

 declined, especially copper on account of its high 

 price and machinery in consequence of the de- 

 pression in the manufacturing industries of Bom- 

 bay. The imports of petroleum, which came from 

 the United States before 1894 and since then from 

 Russia, were smaller in 1900, but still of great 

 magnitude notwithstanding the development of 

 the oil wells of Burmah. The exports of tea rose 

 to 175,000,000 pounds in 1900, having doubled in 

 twelve years. Of the total 90 per cent, went to 

 England, constituting 50 per cent, of the English 

 imports of tea. New plantings have begun to 

 yield, increasing the annual production. 



The chief effect of the unparalleled drought of 

 1900 on the foreign commerce of the financial year 

 1900 was to stimulate exports and to a certain 

 extent imports. In 1901 there will be little to ex- 

 port of the staple products. The crop of oil seeds, 

 usually worth Rx 27,000,000, failed utterly; the 

 cotton crop, of the average value of Rx 18,000,000, 

 amounted to not more than Rx 7,500,000; the 

 wheat crop, in normal years worth Rx 36,000,000, 

 was reduced to Rx 15,000,000. The loss of nine 

 tenths of the cattle entails diminished production 

 for years to come. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 during 1898-'99 at the ports of British India was 

 4,915, of 4,583,186 tons, of which 2,365, of 3,770,391 

 tons, were British; 775, of 108,641 tons, were Brit- 

 ish Indian; 1,181, of 66.305 tons, were native; and 

 594, of 637,849 tons, were foreign. The number 

 cleared was 4,771, of 4,532,460 tons, of which 2,317, 

 of 3,697,915 tons, were British; 762, of 108,062 tons, 

 were British Indian; 1,121, of 66,728 tons, were 

 native; and 571, of 659,755 tons, were foreign. 

 Of the vessels entered 662, of 1,628,559 tons, were 

 steamers that passed through the Suez Canal, and 

 of those cleared 1,004, of 2,341,220 tons. The num- 

 ber of vessels entered with cargoes in the inter- 

 portal trade was 100,865, of 11,097,652 tons; 

 cleared, 91,861, of 11,210,614 tons. The number of 

 vessels built in India during 1898-'99 was 67, of 

 3,409 tons; the number first registered, 105, of 

 7,668 tons. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. The 

 length of railroads in operation in India on March 

 3l, 1899, was 22,491 miles, having increased from 

 18,500 miles in 1894, 15,242 miles in 1889, and 10,- 

 828 miles in 1884. Of the total length 11,078 

 miles were Government lines operated by com- 

 panies, 5,566 miles were Government lines operated 

 by the Government, 2,588 miles were lines of guar- 

 anteed companies, 1,102 miles were assisted lines, 

 922 miles were lines belonging to native states 

 worked by companies, 146 miles were lines of the 

 native states worked by the Indian Government, 

 1,016 miles were lines owned and operated by 

 native states, and 73 miles were foreign lines. The 

 total capital outlay was Rx 297,424,318 at the end 

 of 1898, including unfinished lines and surveys, 

 and of this Rx 174,868,574 was on the state rail- 

 ways, Rx 41.164,344 on state lines leased to com- 

 panies, Rx 51,272,732 on guaranteed railways, Rx 

 13,636,605 on the lines of assisted companies, Rx 

 13,941,746 on the railways of the native states, 





