CHAPTER XII 



PRICES 



Outside the reports of the British Government, there 

 are very few records in which to trace the economic 

 history of India. I conceive that a diligent search 

 might possibly reveal some useful records kept by 

 large landowners or the managers of their estates, but 

 my own inquiries upon this point have hitherto been 

 fruitless. There is, however, one order of economic 

 facts, with regard to which very complete records 

 have been kept, and that is with regard to prices. 

 The money-lenders and grain-dealers of India keep 

 elaborate and minute accounts of their transactions, 

 and the account-books of the firm are often preserved 

 for two or three generations. My friend and former 

 pupil, Maulvi Alaul Hasan Sahib, Deputy Collector, has 

 sent me a record of prices extracted from the account- 

 books of a grain-dealer in Pilibhit, which goes back to 

 the year 1812. The settlement officers of an earlier 

 generation usually consulted the books of the grain- 

 dealers in order to ascertain the average value of 

 agricultural produce in the district under settlement, 

 and these price-lists are often incorporated in their 

 reports. 



The duty of recording prices is nowadays under- 

 taken by the Statistical Department of the Govern- 

 ment of India, and every year the Director-General 

 of Statistics publishes in Calcutta a volume called 



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