Miscellaneous. 



536 



[December 1909. 



point to any law of compensation prob- 

 ably operative in respect of all crops. 



We append two statements showing 

 the estimated outturn, the price and the 

 value of each of these crops in the last 

 years :— 



Statement I. 

 1907-08. 



at the price level of the earlier year. 

 We find these values to be as follows : — 



Crop and Season. 



Total 

 estimated 

 outturn. 



Average whole- 

 sale rate. 



Cotton 1907-08 



bales 



Jute 1907 bales. 

 Wheat 1906-07 



tons 



Kice 1907-08 tons ! 

 Linseed 1906-17 



tonsj 



Kape & mustard 

 1906-07 tons! 

 Sesamum 1907-08 J 

 tons 



Groundnut 1907-; 

 08 tens 

 Tea 1907 lbs 



3,122,000 

 9,817,800 

 8,491,700 

 18,960,565 



425,200 

 1,053,100 



250,300 



352,500 

 218,020,398 



Us. 



Per 10 maunds 

 187-91 = 93'95 

 per bale. 

 74-05 =37-02 

 per bale. 

 SI -29 =93'34 

 per ton. 

 45-2 =123-03 

 per ton 

 51-19 =139-34 

 per ton 

 54-92 =149-49 

 per ton 

 76 '4 =207-96 

 per ton 

 *15t"7 per ton 

 4-67 per lb 



Total .. 



Total value. 



Rs. 



25,33,27,510 



30,35,01,045 



79,25,93,030 



2,33,28,01,738 



5,92,47,' 19 



15,74,30,278 



5,82,91,412 



5,45,31,750 

 10,33, 5U.100 



4,21,50,76,882 



Declared value. 



Statement II, 

 1908-09. 



Cotton 1908-09 

 bales 



Jute 1918 bales 

 Wheat 1907- 1 



tons 

 Rice 1908-09 



tons 



linseed 1907-08 

 tons 



Rape& mustard 



1907- 08 tons 

 Sesamum 1?08 



09 tons 

 ♦Groundnut 



1908- 09 tons 



Tea 1908 



lbs 



a c 



~- 3 



o 

 H 



3,043,000 

 6,310,800 

 6,104,200 

 19,945,490 

 163,500 

 688,000 

 492,900 

 442,000 

 247,476 324 



Rs. 



Per 10 maunds 

 188-17 =94-08 



per bale. 

 53-15 =26-57 



per bale. 

 37-53 =102-16 



per ton. 

 49-22 =133-98 



per ton. 

 52-74 =143-56 



per ton. 

 58-53 =159-32 



per ton. . 

 78-87 =214-08 



per ton, 

 *151-6 per ton. 



■3646 per lb. 



Total ... 



Rs. 



34,27,51,655 

 10,77,09,510 

 62,35,84,684 

 2,67,22,33,72:- 

 2,34,71,779 

 10,96,11,238 

 10,58,17,813 

 0,70,07,200 

 9,02,29,86!- 

 4,20,24,17,469 



A -21 



Hi 



in tn > 



a <a £ 

 £ <b a. 



° cl~ 



Per 

 cent. 

 + 16-8 



—53-8 



—21-3 



+14-6 



-60-3 



—30 4 



-f8-lo 



+22-9 



-12-7 



—0-3 



Declared value. 



It will be ^een that the total value 

 in 1908-09 was Rs.4,20,24, 17,469 (about 

 £280,161,000) and fell short of the value 

 in 1907-08 by only 3 per cent. This 

 by itself tells little. It is necessary to 

 show how far the element of price enter- 

 ed into this decline. To do so we must 

 establish in each case what would have 

 been the value of the reduced outturn 



@ Rs. 93-95 

 37-02 

 93'34 

 123-03 

 139-34 

 149-49 

 207-96 

 154-7 



Cotton 

 Jute 

 Wheat 

 Rice 

 Linseed 



31,22,59,850 

 23,36,25,816 

 56,97,66,028 

 2,45,38,03,634 

 2,27,82,090 



0-4167 Tea 



Rape & mustard 10,28,49,120 

 Sesamum ... 10,25,03,484 

 Groundnut ... 6,83,77,400 



10,31,23,384 

 3,99,91,80,806 



This sum of Rs. 3,99,91 ,80,806 (£266,612,000) 

 is less by Rs. 20,32,36,653 (£13,549,110-2) 

 than the value of the same volume 

 of commodities at the prices actually 

 obtained for it as shown in State- 

 ment II. This difference represents 

 about 4'84 per cent, of earlier year's 

 value, and marks the amount of decline 

 that would have arisen from shrinkage 

 of outturn alone if there had been no 

 change of price. Bnt the actual loss of 

 value was only 0'3 per cent ; so, de- 

 ducting this from 4 -84 per cent, it ap- 

 pears that the rise in prices recouped 

 the shrinkage of outturn to the extent 

 of more than 4*5 per cent. 



When the reader looks more closely 

 into the figures it will at once occur 

 to him that the extraordinary decline in 

 the price of jute in spite of a contrac- 

 tion in the output was due to condi- 

 tions extraneous to that crop and tends 

 to vitiate the calculation. But in the 

 first place it must be remembered that 

 the contraction in the demand for jute 

 goods was accentuated by the shortage 

 of crops in India, so that in this sense 

 the decline in price is cogent to our 

 enquiry. In the second place there are 

 on the list several other commodities 

 (e. g., rice) in which a large expansion 

 in outturn was accompanied by a sub- 

 stantial rise in price. And as it is 

 dangerous to trim statistical problems 

 by eliminating all items that in any 

 way clash with the hypothesis we have 

 set ourselves to illustrate, we prefer 

 to leave the foregoing figures to speak 

 for themselves. The point established 

 by them is that in respect of those 

 Indian prices for which statistics are 

 available a quantitative contraction of 

 nearly five per cent, was almost com- 

 pletely recouped by the attendant rise 

 in prices. 



