314 



XIV. 



THE STATISTICAL SURVEY OP INDIA. 



The last decade lias witnessed the completion of an important 

 undertaking in regard to our statistical knowledge of India, for 

 the statistical survey commenced under the auspices of Lord Mayo, 

 and placed under the supervision of Mr. (now Sir "William Wilson) 

 Hunter, was brought to a successful conclusion. It was the 

 first systematic project cf the sort, and at the same time, through 

 local co-operation, it was exhaustive. A brief review of the 

 previous efforts in the same direction, condensed mainly from 

 Sir W. W. Hunter's account, as given in the preface to the 

 " Imperial Gazetteer," is here desirable. 



So far back as 1807 the Court of Directors of the East India 

 Company wrote to their representatives in Bengal " that a 

 " statistical survey of the country would be attended Avith much 

 " utility, we therefore recommend proper steps to be taken for the 

 " execution of the same. 



The first attempt to make a statistical survey of Bengal dates 

 from 1769, four years after the province came into the hands of 

 the East India Company. 



During the present century the Company issued a series of 

 instructions for a systematic investigation into the resources of 

 their dominions, the latest orders being three years before the 

 administration of India passed from the Company to the Crown. 

 During the ten years which followed the transfer of power, a new 

 set of efforts was made, the chief being the inquiries in the Central 

 Provinces, under the direction of Sir Richard Temple. At last, 

 in 1867, the Government of India, under instructions from the 

 Secretary of State, ordered an account to be drawn up for each of 

 the twelve great provinces of India. 



The provincial administrations struck out widely divergent lines 

 for this scheme. It was just as if (Mr. Hunter remarked) a 

 command had been issued from some central power for a statistical 

 survey of all Europe, and each nation set about its execution on a 



