174 
THFL TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[SePTFMDER I, 1888 
regulated by the cost of carriage between thiB 
country and Europe, and by the comparative cheap- 
ness of production in India. The comparative value 
of. silver in the East and West has also been an 
important factor. When Indian commodities were 
conveyed across Asia by caravan, only such articles 
as would bear a large addition to their cost could 
be exported and accordingly we find that gems and 
drugs were the principal if not the only, Indian 
products which found their way to the markets 
of the West. In later days, when the journey 
was made partly by sea by way of the Persian 
Gulf and afterwards by the Red Sea, the articles 
exported from India grew in bulk and multiplied 
in variety. Subsequent to the expedition of Vasco 
da Ga ma, the adoption of the Cape route gave a 
great stimulus to Indian export trade, and the 
comparative cheapness of this route opened out 
the hand manufactures of India to Europe. In the 
h^'wo-L^' the introduction of railways in India, 
tne incieabw ^ f st eam. shipping, and the cut- 
ting of the Suez Canal, o_„„ui„j e T J ■ . 
for the first time in Europear Tm^ e i I t ndia - to a P/ ear 
of raw materials upon an enormous 1 a % a P rod <L cer 
old trade in precious hand-made articles riab^ „• 
place to a vast exportation of fibres and food sturiav ° 
and a competition has resulted between Europe" 
and India, which Sir William Hunter describes as 
"the competition between the productive powers 
of the tropics and of the temperate zones." 
In 1834, the exports from India were valued at 
94 millions sterling, which increased during the 
following twenty years to an average of 20 mil- 
lions for the five years ending 1854. Du- 
ring the next twenty years, the introduction of 
railways, the development of steam-shipping via 
the Cape, and the opening of the Suez Canal en- 
abled a vast development of Indian export trade 
to take place, and for the five years ending 1874, 
we find that the exports of Indian merchandise 
averaged annually 57 millions sterling. The full 
influence of Indian railways, of steam navigation, 
and of the Suez Canal was, however, more fully felt 
during the following ten years, and in 1884 the 
exports of merchandize reached the enormous total 
of 88 millions sterling. The revolution in Indian 
shipping, caused by the opening of the Suez Canal, 
has resulted in a considerable decrease in the 
number of vessels, an enormous increase in their 
size and carrying-capacity, and a vast expansion in 
the amount of business done by steam vessels, while 
there is still enough business of another class to 
enable sailing ships to hold their own. The increase 
in shipping could not, however, have taken place 
had it not been that the development of railways 
in India enabled staples to be brought to the 
sea which could never have been brought 
down by the rivers. The populations along the 
course of the great navigable channels of India 
are so dense, that the quantity of food stuffs re- 
quij^d for their own consumption leaves but a 
comparatively small surplus available for expor- 
tation; moreover, the great rivers tap but a 
very small proportion of the Indian provinces: 
while the. railways open up vast tracts of country 
for which there were previously no outlets for the 
products of the soil. The introduction of railways 
into India has, therefore, materially asristed the 
development of Indian export trade, and the dim- 
inishing cost of railway working will tend to further 
increase that development: In the last fifteen years, 
the system of Indian railway finance and construc- 
tion has undergone radical change, and the old 
guaranteed system of 5 per cent, has given place 
' 1 1 the system of State Lines and "Assisted" Lines 
with a guarai :ce of not much over 3 per cent. The 
cost oi working has also been fftrgaiyredaaecloy 
the adoption of Indian coal as fuel where wood 
or fuel brought from England, was formerly used 
and at the present time a new fuel seems to be 
developing in Eome parts of the Empire. On the 
Sukkur line experiments made last year showed 
the average cost of working per 100 miles to be R3H 
with local petroleum as against about It55 with coal. 
The significance ol the reduced cost of working 
Indian railways is too grave to be I'glitly dismisteu, 
when its importance as a factor in fhe cost of transit 
between India and Europe is considered, and, with 
further economy in this direction, there can be 
no doubt that it will be possible U> lay down Indian 
staples in the English market at prices which Will 
defy competition. 
The growth of India's export trade has not been 
unattended with suffering to some portion of her 
population. When a new food-producing area is 
opened up by a railway, local prices rise, and the 
husbandman grows rich but the artisan and the 
landless labourer have to pay more for their daily 
food, and until an economic adjustment iseffected 
by a rise of wages, which sooner or later follows 
the introduction of a railway, a certain amount of 
suffering is entailed upon these classes. The new 
industrial era has also impaired or ruined many 
of the old cities and ancient marts of India, and 
tneiy-f, j lag b een a growth of new mercantile towns, 
develop ied ^iniy Dv the growth of railways which 
have eflec ^ ed a 8e ries of displacements in the cen- 
tres of tracrci p< nave so far Deen dwelling upon 
the cost of tra 1 : ngit hetween India and Europe, and 
the ways in whicj- h reductions of this cost have been 
effected 5 but this . cost is h owe ver, but one 
factor in the Indo W : ' uropean trade. The cost of 
production is an equalf-;, i mpor tant factor, and, in 
considering this point, 1U behoxea U3 t0 see what 
commodities India can p*, duce more cheaply than 
other countries. The first f . ; ndustry that will occur 
to most minds will be the \ agneu i tura i industry, 
for, while Indian cultivators f { ^ ck tne advantages 
which science and capital beBtctjp vv upon the British 
farmer, it must be apparent thai t in Imiia Mature 
does very much more for the husb s andman than she 
does in England. An equal ant 1 , ount of human 
labour produces, with the aid of s un and r; .infall, 
a larger value of saleable produce. >£ ue 0 | 
production is less, the cost of living Fj fl j ess arjd tfie 
rates of wages are naturally and i?£ 0 rmaily less. 
Another point in favour of Indian af m-iculture is 
that the agriculturist enjoys low rents'* and fixity of 
tenure, and the result of the latter cond. 1 ^jtion is that 
the husbandman has what may be calleoAj an heredi- 
tary knowledge of his fields, and the ne%t result is 
that the food staples and seed crops of c India are 
produced at a much lower cost than in u England. 
The abolition of internal Customs and th a | e g rea ter 
facilities of land and sea carriage have largely L ass j. j ed 
to swell the growth of the Indian export ti 11 adei andj 
we will briefly trace the history of the £j" 
ment of the three great Indian staples — wh? n P e Sa / 
seeds, and rice. The former export duty or j fl 
checked the exportation of that staple, sve noi^ 
1873, the quantity exported was 1J milliof the <„,"■ 
while, since the abolition of the duty, the q Avsntity 
has increased to 21 million cwts., and, dywing to 
the construction of railways in new grainir-produc- 
ing areas, a considerable increase may b^jj looked 
for. In fact, the cost of production is ,' v so low, 
that the ultimate dimensions of the Indian wheat 
trade are chiefly a question of possible, reductions 
in cost of carriage. Up to 1875 the txtports 1 1 oil- 
seeds have averaged about 4 million 'cwts.. but in 
that year they were freed from duty, ; '<" r <i, by 1885, 
the quantity exported had grown *<<o 18 million 
cwts. The rice trade has not sh; ewn such con- 
siderable increase as the two former staples, but 
