380 



INDIA. 



980 of exports; of Madras, Rx 6,745,010 of im- 

 ports and Rx 11,468,961 of exports; of Bombay, 

 Rx 40,972,117 of imports and Rx 33,262,251 of ex- 

 ports; of Sind, Rx 5,011,137 of imports and Rx 

 4,621,218 of exports. 



The imports of live animals in 1898 were Rx 

 227,631 in value, and exports Rx 141,422; imports 

 of articles of food and drink Rx 10,740,816, and 

 exports Rx 25,068,456; imports of hardware and 

 cutlery Rx 1,477,811, and exports Rx 18,070; im- 

 ports of metals Rx 6,189,912, and exports Rx 

 120,595; imports of machinery Rx 2,861,108, and 

 exports Rx 119; imports of railroad material Rx 

 2,876,451, and exports Rx 4,561; imports of chem- 

 icals, drugs, etc., Rx 2,060,544, and exports Rx 

 10,366,802; imports of oils Rx 4,148,566, and ex- 

 ports Rx 651,675; imports of raw materials Rx 

 2,828,688, and exports Rx 37,101,481; imports of 

 textile yarns and fabrics Rx 28,950,314, and ex- 

 ports Rx 14,433,400; imports of clothing Rx 1,226,- 

 629, and exports Rx 164,136; imports of all other 

 articles Rx 5,833,650, and exports Rx 5,715,384. 

 The principal imports of private merchandise 

 were cotton manufactures for Rx 26,395,008, 

 metals, hardware, and cutlery for Rx 7,667,722, 

 sugar for Rx 4,784,479, oils for Rx 4,146,566, rail- 

 road plant and rolling stock for Rx 2,876,451, 

 machinery and mill plant for Rx 2,861,108, silk 

 and silk manufactures for Rx 1,819,032, provi- 

 sions for Rx 1,705,721, liquors for Rx 1,588,494, 

 drugs and chemicals for Rx 1,292,938, woolen 

 goods for Rx 1,148,427, salt for Rx 868,718, dyes 

 and tans for Rx 767,606, spices for Rx 744,773, 

 grain and pulse for Rx 610,792, glass for Rx 576,- 

 671, coal for Rx 537,352, umbrellas for Rx 335,- 

 374, and paper for Rx 332,047. The principal 

 exports of private merchandise, the produce of 

 India, were rice for Rx 11,705,842, raw jute for 

 Rx 10,129,992, raw cotton for Rx 8,871,313, seeds 

 (mainly oil seeds) for Rx 8,594,100, hides and 

 skins for Rx 8,317,534, cotton manufactures for 

 Rx 8,151,338, tea for Rx 8,058,623, opium for Rx 

 6,097,563, jute manufactures for Rx 5,930,856, in- 

 digo for Rx 3,057,402, coffee for Rx 1,519,130, 

 wool for Rx 1,356,537, wheat for Rx 1,341,151, 

 timber for Rx 1,079,061, lac for Rx 1,070,920, oils 

 for Rx 651,675, provisions for Rx 531,667, raw 

 silk and cocoons for Rx 514,850, dyes and tans 

 for Rx 482,047, spices for Rx 471,628, saltpeter 

 for Rx 398,745, sugar for Rx 292,453, wool manu- 

 factures for Rx 223,899, and silk manufactures 

 for Rx 126,041. Of the rice exports Rx 6,950,861 

 came from Burmah, Rx 3,001,664 from Bengal, 

 Rx 1,277,260 from Madras, and the rest from 

 Bombay and Sind. Of the wheat exports Rx 

 1,091,284 came from Sind and the rest mainly 

 from Bombay. Of the exports of opium Rx 3,893,- 

 956 came from Bengal and Rx 2,203,607 from 

 Bombay. Of indigo Rx 1,755,104 came from Ben- 

 gal, Rx 1,066,445 from Madras, and the rest from 

 Bombay and Sind. Of the cotton Rx 6,321,196 

 came from Bombay, and the rest from Sind, 

 Madras, and Bengal, except a small quantity from 

 Burmah. Of seeds Rx 4,671,395 came from Bom- 

 bay, Rx 2,964,179 from Bengal, and the rest from 

 Sind and Madras. On rice Rx 723,731 export 

 duties were paid in 1897. The import duties 

 amounted to Rx 6,302,983, of which salt produced 

 Rx 2,556,073. Of the total imports in 1898 the 

 value of Rx 57,820,879 came through the Suez 

 Canal, and of the exports Rx 57,186,788 in value 

 passed through the canal. The share of Cal- 

 cutta in the import and export trade of 1898 was 

 Rx 71.994,608; that of Bombay, Rx 52,063,062; 

 that of Rangoon, Rx 12,346,725; that of Madras, 

 Rx 10,161,018; that of Karachi, Rx 9,228,432. The 

 coasting trade amounted in 1898 to Rx 75,859,238 



for imports and exports combined, exclusive of 

 Government stores and Government treasure. 



The values of the merchandise imports from 

 and exports of Indian produce to the various 

 countries in 1898 were as follow: 



The overland trade, which is not included in 

 the statistics already given, is considerable, and 

 is growing in importance. The value of the im- 

 ports of merchandise by the land frontiers in 

 1898 was returned as Rx 5,022,500, and that of 

 the exports by land as Rx 9,101,400. The largest 

 trade is with Nepaul, amounting to Rx 1,914,200 

 of imports and Rx 1,491,400 of exports, after 

 which come Kashmir, with Rx 769,700 of imports 

 and Rx 560,100 of exports, and then the Shan 

 States, Kandahar, Kabul, Bajaur, China, Tibet, 

 Karenni, Zimme, Khelat, Lus Bela, Sewestan, 

 Ladakh, and Siam. 



The foreign trade of India in 1899 showed a 

 remarkable recovery from the depression of the 

 preceding two years. The exports, including 

 treasure, exceeded Rx 120,000,000, the largest 

 figure ever attained, and the imports amounted 

 to Rx 90,000,000, which had only been twice ex- 

 ceeded. The surplus of Rx 30,000,000 had only 

 been exceeded in three previous years. The net 

 imports of treasure were Rx 10,484,192, of which 

 Rx 6,500,000 represented gold, the highest amount 

 of this metal ever absorbed by India in a year. 



A bill imposing a duty on bounty-fed sugar 

 imported into India was introduced in the Legis- 

 lative Council on March 10, 1899. The sugar 

 industry of India, in which 2,000,000 people are 

 engaged, and which has yielded a crop worth 

 20,000,000, has declined in consequence of the 

 unrestricted importation of beet sugar from Eu- 

 rope, which has been sold at a lower price than 

 the normal cost of production of the Indian cane 

 sugar. The Legislative Council unanimously 

 passed the bill on March 20. In the British House 

 of Commons a motion calling upon the Imperial 

 Government to disallow the act was lost by a 

 majority of 293 to 152. Numerous refineries had 

 already been closed, and the area of production re* 

 duced 9 per cent, in the two years immediately pre- 

 ceding the recent increase of the bounties in France 

 and Germany, which threatened to have a still 

 more disastrous effect on the industry. Imports 

 of beet sugar into India increased between 1895 

 and 1898 from 250,000 to 8,000,000 hundredweight 

 as the result of doubling the bounties in 1896. 

 Mauritius had felt the effect of the action of the 

 Continental governments even more severely than 

 the sugar-growing districts of Madras, northern 

 India, and Bengal. The bill was framed on the 

 lines of the United States tariff act of July, 1897, 

 imposing a countervailing duty on sugar, coming 



