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number of transactions. This is a wholesome change, for, 

 as has been pertinently observed, the advantages of trade can 

 no more be measured by the gains of individual traders than 

 the advantages of learning by the salaries of schoolmasters. 

 The gains of traders represent the sacrifice incurred for 

 securing the advantages of trade, and the less the sacrifice 

 and the more the volume of trade, the greater the advantage 

 to the general community. 



Among the learned professions, the official classes have 

 also increased in numbers, owing especially to the increased 

 activity of Local Fund administration. Barristers, vakils and 

 other legal practitioners are rising into importance. Accord- 

 ing to the income-tax returns the income assessed, that is, of 

 legal practitioners who get not less than Rs. 500 per annum 

 is about 26 lakhs of rupees. 1,034 persons get an income of 

 nearly 10 lakhs of rupees and 267 persons an income of 16 lakhs 

 of rupees. Of the latter, 47 persons, with an income of about 

 6 lakhs, reside in the Presidency town, and 220 persons, 

 with an income of 10 lakhs, reside in the mofussil stations. 



63. Among the artizan classes, the decline of hand-loom 

 weavers has already been referred to. 

 All handicrafts patronized by native 

 courts, such as painting, manufacture of articles of luxury, 

 pith-work, &c., have disappeared with those courts. This 

 change is due not so much to the competition of European 

 manufactures as to revolution in taste. The decline of indig- 

 enous arts is certainly a matter for regret, but it is a small 

 factor in the present economic condition of the country. As 

 regards cotton hand-loom manufactures, Mr. T. N. Muk- 

 harji, in his Art Manufactures of India, says : " Notwith- 

 standing the extent of their present production, cotton 

 manufactures in the old style are in their last gasp. The 

 few small pieces of wood and bamboo tied with shreds of 

 twine and thread, which the weaver calls his loom, and 

 which he can as easily make himself as buy from his 

 neighbour, the village carpenter, can no more compete with 

 the powerful machinery than a village cart of Western 

 Bengal can run a race with the ' Flvino; Scotchman.' Yet 

 the wonder is that cotton fabrics can still be manufactured 

 with the old primitive loom all over the country. In one 

 sense, it is a misfortune that it should be so ; for it shows 

 the low value of human labour in India. Machinery, with all 

 its modern improvements, seems to contend in vain with a 

 moribund industry, that must linger on as long as the 

 worker in itf has nothing more to do than to produce from 



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