Vol. VI, No. 3.] The Rupee and Indian Prices. 113 



[N.S.] 



must have grown apace. We have, indeed, no authentic 

 figures for population prior to the first census of 1872. From 

 that year up to the last census in 1901 the population has in- 

 creased enormously, in fact by no less than 88 millions, though 

 the increase has been at a diminishing rate. The figures for 

 the s uccessive censuses are given below : 



1872 .. 206,162,360. 



1881 . . 253,896,330. 



1891 .. 287,314,671. 



1901 .. 294,361,056. 



There were, then, in 1901 nearly 90 million more mouths 

 to feed than there were in 1872. This is a most significant 

 fact considered in relation to the demand for food grains. But 

 what about the supply ? 



Our information on crops is principally derived from two 

 sources, (1) the 'Agricultural Statistics of India', and (2) 'Area 

 and Yield,' The latter publication has now been incorporated 

 in the former as Table No. 9. The value of the 'Agricultural 

 Statistics ' for years prior to 1890-91 must be to some extent 

 discounted by the fact that it has been several times modified 

 and recast, though since that year, when the figures for the 

 great rice-growing areas of Bengal were first included in the 

 series, there has been no substantial change. The 'Area and 

 Yield ' statistics date from 1891-92. The figures in this publica- 

 tion are really a condensation of final estimates, and are 

 necessarily only approximate. For our present purpose the 

 principal importance of the figures exists in the light they 

 throw on the conditions of supply of the rice crop. 



It is to be noted that the figures in ' Area and Yield ' for the 

 rice crop relate only to the great rice-growing Provinces — Bengal, 

 Eastern Bengal and Assam, Lower Burma, and Madras, whereas 

 the figures for area in the summary attached to Vol. I of the 

 ' Agricultural Statistics of India ' relate to the whole of British 

 India. 1 Now while the figures for Bengal (including for conveni- 

 ence since 1905-06 the Districts of Eastern Bengal but not Assam) 

 exhibit a very slight increase since 1891-92, the increase is more 

 readily discernible in the case of the other Provinces. Again, 

 so far as Bengal is concerned, the figures for output do not 

 exhibit such a clear increase as the figures for area. In fact the 

 average output for Bengal rice for the four years, 1892-93 to 

 1895-96, works out at about 9^ cwt. per acre, while the aver- 

 age output for the four years, 1903-04 to 1906-07 is 8 cwt. per 



acre. 



But we have no figures for output except for the above- 

 mentioned Provinces. We may, however, adopt a rule-of-thumb 



w 



1 Vol. II is for Native State*. The figures are more open to ques- 

 tion than those for British India. 



