December, 1909.] 



543 



Miscellaneous. 



"This may become a problem for the 

 whole world before another centuiy has 

 passed. It is doubtful whether the food- 

 supply is keeping pace with the steady 

 growth of population, and an unfor- 

 tunate coincidence of bad crops in many 

 localities would already create a serious 

 shortage. Some great countries have 

 ceased to be able to feed themselves. In 

 the British Islands this stage was reach- 

 ed many years age, and in 1907 they im- 

 ported grain and flour alone to the value 

 of nearly 75| millions sterling and meat 

 costing nearly 52 millions. Germany is 

 becoming more and more dependent 

 upon imported food. The United States, 

 once great exporters, are dropping out of 



The Wheat Market 

 and may have to trust in the future to 

 Canada, where great fertile tracts have 

 not yet felt the plough. 



" In Eastern countries the Chinese and 

 the Japanese being excellent cultivators 

 probably extract nearly the full value 

 from their soils, and the home demands 

 of the latter are increasing. India not 

 only feeds herself except in such an 

 important item as sugar, but derives a 

 large source of income froni the produce 

 of the land. It is supremely important 

 that this position should be maintained, 

 and that, while continuing to feed her 

 people and endeavouring to reduce the 

 imports of staples that can be grown 

 on her soil she should not lose her export 

 trade. How important that trade is I 

 wish to explain. You have perhaps 

 been told that before the advent of the 

 British Rule, India had an immense 

 trade which has since disappeared. I am 

 sure you understand, however, that the 

 trade of those halcyon days was a baga- 

 telle in value compared with that which 

 India now enjoys. Excluding Govern- 

 ment stores, India exported merchandise 

 to the amount of about 115^ millions 

 sterling in 1907-08. This was a record 

 year both for exports and imports, and 

 in 1908-09 the former fell to about 99| 

 millions owing to a deficiency of crops. 

 Now the point which I want you to 

 remember is that of these 99| millions 

 very nearly 73 millions were paid to 

 India for the produce of the land. It 

 may well be that you do not realise this 

 important aspect of agriculture from 

 which the Deccan does not largely profit, 

 but it needs no imagination to grasp the 

 fact that the realization of nearly 73 

 millions sterling in an indifferent year 

 must have an immensely beneficial 

 effect upon the economies of India as a 

 whole. And this benefit is derived 

 wholly from agriculture. Much has 

 been written about the need for the 

 promotion of industries which, it has 



beeu stated, Government desire3 to 

 check. I need not tell you that such 

 statements are baseless. Government is 

 doing all it can to encourage industries, 

 but if I have made my meaning clear 

 you will understand that a sudden ex- 

 pansion of manufacturing industries on 

 a large scale would be disadvantageous. 

 There is already a shortage of labour in 

 some localities, and the population of 

 this Presidency is not at present capable 

 of supplying a large additional surplus 

 to work in factories without depleting 

 the numbers required for the vital 

 necessities of agriculture and for great 

 public works. The food supply must 

 be maintained and will have to be 

 increased, 



The Foreign Trade 



derived from the land must not be lost. 

 The density of the population in some 

 parts of India is greater than with us, 

 but even in these parts a rapid transfer 

 of a large number of country dwellers 

 to town life, such as has happened in 

 industrialized countries, would be an 

 evil since the restrictions and regula- 

 tions to which European town dwellers 

 submit would be bitterly resented by 

 the people. In the United States the 

 dwellers in towns numbered 3 per cent, 

 of the population after the Civil War. 

 Forty years later 33 per cent, were living 

 in cities of over 8,000 peoole. In England 

 and Wales the town population increased 

 from 50 per cent, to 77 percent, in fifty 

 yeans. If far less changes than these 

 took place in India the effects would be 

 serious and the factory Colony outside 

 the city, of which the Poona paper mills 

 supply a good example, points to a way 

 of avoiding the evils of overcrowding. 

 Meanwhile, factory industries as a whole 

 continue to develop by a process of 

 natural evolution subject to the fluctu- 

 ations which affect all countries. The 

 cotton mills have increased from 74 in 

 1883-1884 to 227 in 1907-1908, and jute mills 

 from 23 to 50 in the same period. Spin- 

 dles have increased in a far higher pro- 

 portion. Statements as to the decay of 

 trade and industry are refuted by the 

 smallest study of the facts. 



" In India, as in all countries, the 

 character of trade and of industries has 

 changed, but the Government of both is 

 remarkable, and it is the steady advance, 

 especially in the latter, which affects 

 the social life of the people that we 

 must seek to promote. A very useful 

 line of manufacturing progress for this 

 Presidency at the present time is to be 

 sought in the encouragement of hand 

 industries, such as weaving which would 

 not only bring prosperity to an here- 

 ditary class but might enable the earn- 



