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in tbe Madras Presidency, -while it is 1 in 14 in England, and this to 

 some extent affords an indication of the number of wealthy persons 

 needing personal services in the two countries. 



3. The great decrease observable in the mercantile men and general 

 dealers, item 5, is attributed to erroneous classification. The figures 

 for 1881 include — mercantile men 78,268, and other general dealers 

 107,902. The first head comprises 46,041 merchants, 21,544 money- 

 lenders and money-changers and 3,707 brokers. The number of mer- 

 chants is absurdly overstated, as there are only 16,000 merchants in 

 England, the most commercial country in the world. 



4. The increase in the number of persons engaged in connection 

 with land, item 7, is merely nominal, as the figures of 1881 evidently 

 include agricultural laborers shown under the liead " Laborers and 

 others (branch of labor undefined)" in the Census of 1871. 



5. The decrease in the number of "Persons working and daaling 

 in textile fabrics and dress," item 10, is the remit of the declining 

 cond.tion of the weaving industry owing to the competition of the 

 Manchester cotton goods and also, latterly, to some extent of the 

 machine-made goods from Bombay. The imports of cotton twist, 

 whicl amounted to 4 millions of pounds in 1855-56, increased to 13 

 millions in 1870-71 and they are now (1887-88) 21| millions. The 

 imports of piece-goods increased from 825,406 pieces and 311,815 

 yard:? in 1855-56 to 94,600,201 yards and 11,469* dozens in 1870-71 

 and to 139,360,368 yards and 1,150,450 pieces in 1887-88. While the 

 weaving trade is a poor industry, it affords employment to a large 

 number of persons, probably half a million males as the women and 

 children of weavers' families all work in the looms. That this is not a 

 profitable industry may be inferred from the fact that among the 

 weaving castes only 3 in every 1,000 of the males are returned as sub- 

 sisting by "property." In 1871, the Board of Eevenue instituted 

 inquiries into the state of the weaving industry in this Presidency and 

 the results are given in their Proceedings, dated 28th June 1871, 

 No. 2605. The conclusion then arrived at was that the weaving 

 industry was in a fairly healthy condition. The number of looms at 

 work (279,220) showed an increase of nearly 42 per cent, as compared 

 with the number of looms at work between 1856-57 and 1860-61 and 

 on which the moturpha tax was levied, but the returns for the earlier 

 period were imperfect and not to be relied on. The Board estimated 

 the real increase at between 20 and 25 per cent, and attributed this 

 result mainly to the abolition of the vexatious and inquisitorial 

 moturpha tax. The total quantity of twist worked up into cloth was 

 taken at 31| million pounds, of which 11| millions, or 36^ per cent., 

 was imported and the rest country-made. 



Another inquiry was instituted in 1889 by the Board of Eevenue 

 on a reference from the Government of India calling for " fairly accu- 

 rate statistics of the area and probable outturn of cotton " in the 

 Madras Presidency, and the results are embodied in the Proceedings of 

 the Board of Eevenue, No. 39, dated 12th February 1890, Eevenue 

 Settlement, Land Eecords and Agriculture. The average area under 

 the cotton crop was ascertained to be If million acres, and the probable 

 annual outturn was fixed at 87f million pounds, or at 50 pounds of 



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