1853.] Contributions to the Statistics of Bengal. 387 



Contributions to the Statistics of Bengal, — Income, Expenditure and 

 Food. — By J. E. Bedfobd, Usq. Bengal Medical Staff. 



The relation between income and expenditure existing in any 

 given community, affords a fair index to the soundness of its condi- 

 tion, and general prosperity. If the average rate of labour be such 

 as to provide all able-bodied men and their families with a suffi- 

 ciency of food, clothing and shelter, it must be conceded that such a 

 population is in the possession of some of the primary, if not most 

 important, elements of happiness, as applicable to a certain stage of 

 civilization. 



It has been, and is, the custom to represent the peasant-inhabitant 

 of Bengal as weighed down by the pressure of land taxation to a. 

 point at which he can barely support life. That great suffering 

 occasionally arises from the local deficiency of the staple article of 

 food, must be conceded, but such is due to imperfect means of 

 intercommunication, rather than inability to meet its average cost. 

 As far as my own experience goes, the average income of the Bengal 

 peasantry, by which term I desire to express, small landed proprie- 

 tors, day-labourers, and the general mass of the people, suffices for 

 all the necessary outlay of their position. It is an incontrovertible 

 fact that debt largely prevails, but this would appear to be due 

 rather to the enormous rate of interest which is taken and the 

 comparatively excessive sums lavished on occasional ceremonies, than 

 upon any actual necessity, in regard to the necessaries of life. 



Desirous of attempting some analysis of the condition of the peo- 

 ple, I constructed the following Table when in charge of the Civil 

 Station of Chittagong. The subjects of inquiry were, patients attend- 

 ing the Dispensary. Their ailments were first attended to, and the 

 facts tabulated below, obtained by inquiry immediately afterwards, 

 through the zealous assistance of Babu Buddinath Brimo, the Sub- 

 Assistant Surgeon. 



They are not offered as absolute truths. Those who have had 

 any practical experience of the great difficulty of making statistical 

 inquiries in Bengal, will fully understand how far they may deviate 

 from correctness. But examining the facts here noted seriatim, 



