94 [April, 1902.] 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
Vol. VIII. No. 88. 
£253,000, including special grant of £167,000 for minor irrigation works ; 
railways ,£294,000, due to interest charges ; other public works, £848,000 ; 
army services, £1,535,000, no allowance being made for continued absence of 
troops ; minor increases, £2 3 1,000. These increases make up a total of 
£4,673,000. Against this sum must be set decreases of £388,000 on the 
mint and £40,000 interest, making the net increase in expenditure £4,244,000. 
There is, therefore, a surplus of ,£838,000, after taking into account a net 
decrease of £2, 585,000 in provincial surpluses and deficits, as compared 
with the revised estimate. The estimated capital outlay of 9,809,000 is made 
up as follows: — Railways and irrigation works, £8,152,000; deposits and 
advances, £979,000 ; net advances by Imperial Government and provincial 
governments, £341,000 ; and payment of Council Bills, £16,837,000, against 
drawings by the Secretary of State, £16,500,000. On the capital receipt 
side appear the items : — Imperial surplus, £838,000 ; amount to be raised 
through railway companies for State railways £2,200,000, and to be raised 
and deposited by railway companies, £1,613,000 ; permanent debt increase 
£1,041,000, including £1,000,000 to be raised in India ; addition to 
unfunded debt, £543,000 ; remittances, net, £562,000 : reduction of 
combined cash balances in India and England, £3,011,000; closing 
balances on March 31st, 1903, in India £10,832,000, in England £4,05 1,000. 
The railway programme includes the expenditure of £3,672,000 on open 
lines, £2,432,000 on lines under construction, £832,000 on lines recently 
begun, and £398,000 on those to be begun during the next cold weather — 
total, £7,334,000. The special grants include £1,321,000 for the assistance 
of the agricultural classes and remission of arrears of land assessments, 
£738,000 being the immediate charge during the next financial year ; 
£167,000 for minor irrigation; works ; £267,000 for education; £213,000 
for public works ; and £120,000 for sanitary and administrative provincial 
requirements. In all the above figures the pound sterling has been taken as 
equivalent to 15 rupees. 
The variations which have occurred in the securities of certain Indian 
railway companies are shown in Lhe following table : — 
Bengal and North Western 
Bengal-Nagpur Gua. 4 per cent. 
Bombay, Baroda & Cent. India 
Indian Midland 4 per cent. 
Madras Grntd. 5 per cent. 
South Indian 4^ per cent.'Deb. 
Southern Mahratta 3^ per cent. 
29th Jan. 
26th Feb. 
27th Mar. 
i 3°- r 34 
1 3 1 ~*35 
i 3 0 -i 34 
105-109 
103—107 
103-107 
!S5-i65 
157-163 
156-161 
104-108 
103-107 
103—107 
136-140 
1 33~ I 37 
132-136 
137-142 
138-143 
138-143 
106-109 
106-109 
106-109 
Foreign Countries. — The following is our 
usual table of 
exchanges ; 
29th Jan. 
25 th Feb. 
2 7th Mar. 
Paris, cheques 
25b 1 2 Jc, 
25b 15JC. 
25b 17-k. 
Berlin, sight 
20m. 44|pf. 
20m. 48pf. 
20m. 469b 
Vienna, sight 
2 3 ^ r - 93 1 
2qkr. oo| 
24kr. oii 
Amsterdam, sight 
1 2 fl. 13! 
1 2 fl. 14-^ 
i2fl. 15 
Madrid, sight 
33 PS- So 
34 PS- 
34 ps. 87 
Lisbon, sight 
4od. 
4 ° I d. 
41-^d. 
St. Petersburg, 3 months 
93 r - 90 
94 r * 05 
94 r * 05 
Bombay, T.T. 
is. 44UI. 
is. 4 T \d. 
is. 4d. 
Calcutta, T.T. 
IS. 
is. 4 r Vd. 
is. 4d. 
Hong Kong, T.T. 
is. iod. 
is. 9|-d. 
is. 9|d. 
Shanghai, T.T. . 
2S. 6|d. 
2s. s|d. 
2s. sd. 
♦ 
AGRICULTURAL RETROSPECT. 
United Kingdom. — Substantial progress was made during March 
with spring work. Tillage operations were continued with but little interrup- 
tion, and the seeding of spring corn was completed in good time. The 
growing crops made steady progress. A continued improvement was seen 
in Lhe young wheat and also in winter barley, whilst pastures and grass lands 
had, by Easter, fully regained their verdure. The lambing season has so far 
proved a most favourable one, though there has been some difficulty as to 
keep. It is to be hoped, therefore, that there will be no recurrence of 
severe weather to check the spring forage crops. 
A trustworthy guide to the scale-insects of this country has long been 
needed, and there has now appeared the first volume of Mr. Robert 
Newstead’s Monograph of the Coccidat of the British Isles , issued by the 
Ray Society. This volume deals only with the sub-family JJiaspiuce ; the 
remainder will occupy the second volume, together with a bibliography. 
The volume is valuable not only from the scientific standpoint, owing to its 
detailed discussion of individual species, but equally from the economic 
point of view on account of the eminently practicable methods which are 
described for the suppression of scale infestation. The chief natural 
enemies of scales are other insects and also birds. The story of the victory 
obtained by the fruit-growers of California over the fluted scale by the 
acclimatization from Australia of an insect — a ladybird — that preys upon it, 
lias often been told. Of natural enemies of scale in this country the author 
directs special attention to the titmice, notably the blue tit, and he bases his 
evidence upon repeated examinations of the contents of the stomachs- of 
these birds. The chief artificial methods of coping with scale-attack are 
fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas and spraying with various insecticidal 
solutions, the modes of preparing which are described. Special methods 
arc indicated for the suppression of root-feeding species. 
Colonies. — Under the presidency of Dr. Morris, the Imperial Com- 
missioner of Agriculture, the fourth West Indian Agricultural Conference was 
held at Barbados on January 4 and 6 last. In his presidential address, 
Dr. Morris passed in review the various industries of the islands, from sugar 
to bee-keeping and onion-growing. With regard to the question of central 
factories, he expressed the hope that in some of the smaller sugar islands 
it had approached a stage when the details may be submitted to the con- 
sideration of the planting community. In Barbados the opinion is not 
unanimous that central factories would materially improve the condition of 
all classes of the community. It is only proposed to introduce factories 
gradually, but so long as nothing is done it is difficult to look forward with 
any degree of comfort to the future of the sugar industry of the island. 
Papers on various subjects were read and discussed, sugar, naturally, taking 
the foremost place. There were communications on sugar-cane experiments 
in Barbados, Antigua, St. Ivitts, Trinidad, and British Guiana. In Guiana an 
important feature has been the trials of canes on an estate scale, in addition 
to the necessary small plots. Reliable facts have just been obtained with 
regard to many industrial questions which cannot be satisfactorily answered 
from small plot experiments alone. In a paper on the Jamaica sugar industry, 
it was stated that under specially favourable conditions, canes could be 
produced at six shillings per ton. At the Conference Dinner, Sir Frederic 
Hodgson, the Governor of Barbados, speaking of the sugar industry of that 
island, stated “ while bounties affect us very considerably, yet apart from 
bounties a great deal could be done by ourselves in placing our industry in 
a better state. If we are to hold our own in the struggle for existence, 
it is absolutely necessary that we should have factories which are equipped 
with the latest machinery and all modern appliances.” Mr. Sydney Olivier 
pointed out some important differences between Barbados and Jamaica. 
The former seems to be cultivated on a complete system, but “in Jamaica 
we have a large peasant population still widely maintaining an almost 
African system of agriculture. The African system is not to make two 
blades of grass grow where one grew before, but to cut down and destroy 
by burning large areas of forest growth to grow a few yams or tanniers, or a 
little ginger. We have to grapple with this primeval habit. We have to 
transform a system of wasteful agriculture into a modern system which must 
be productive of better results.” It is fully realised by the officials of the 
Imperial Agricultural Department, that a strenuous attempt must be made 
to raise the general standard of intelligence amongst all classes : and it is 
in contemplation shortly to commence the publication of a fortnightly paper, 
the Agricultural News, containing hints and advice in regard to all points of 
interest in the islands. 
Agriculturists in Queensland have entered upon the present year with 
hopeful prospects. According to the Queensland Agricultural Journal \ the 
official organ of the State Department of Agriculture, the year 1902 has 
opened with great promise. The wheat harvest has been a record for 
Queensland. With reduced railway rates and fair prices for wheat and 
barley, with genial rains and absence of pests, the outlook for the year is full 
of hope. The yield of sugar has been most satisfactory, and the young 
cane gives evidence of vigorous growth, foreshadowing a large return by the 
end of the year. Fruit culture is extending in all parts of the State. Coffee- 
and rice-growing are making rapid strides in the North and South respectively, 
and in a very few years Queensland will be quite able to supply its own 
requirements of these two staples. Regret is expressed that cotton-growing 
should not again have been added to the industries of the State, as there 
seems to be no reason why this should not pay as well as wheat, maize, and 
other crops mainly cultivated by the farmers. If locally-grown cotton could 
be obtained in sufficient quantities to keep a mill going, an incentive would 
be provided to re-establish the manufacture of cotton goods in Ipswich. 
The dairy industry is expanding year by year, and is no longer conducted in 
the slip-shod fashion that formerly prevailed. Factories and creameries have 
sprung up on all sides. Cold storage is provided on at least two of the coast 
steamers, and Queensland butter more than holds its own in the British 
markets, as is evidenced by a comparison of the product of Denmark and 
that of the Australian States. 4 'he opportunity afforded to intending settlers 
by the throwing open of the rich lands repurchased from the squatters has 
been so freely availed of that these lands, devoted not long since to the 
raising of sheep and cattle, now constitute the homes of hundreds of thriving 
farmers. There is, of course, the other side of the picture, sufficiently indi- 
cated in Lhe following words : — “We would that we could congratulate the 
Western pasloralisls on a final break-up of the disastrous drought which has 
wrought such dire ruin in many parts of Queensland. Lhihappily, the 
wished-for consummation has not yet come to pass ; and even when luxuriant 
grass and herbs once more cover the plains of the Warrego and elsewhere in 
the West, a long time must elapse before the flocks and herds are made up to 
their original numbers.” 
India. — From the final general report on the cotton crop of India, 
issued at Calcutta by the Statistical Department, it appears that, although the 
crop has proved deficient in Bombay, Madras, and the Nizam’s Territory, 
the production is so satisfactory in most other Provinces that the total is 
expected to be but little below an average, and is estimated at fully 
two million bales. The area planted with wheat in Bengal this year is 
estimated at only 1,404,700 acres, a total considerably below the normal 
area. It is explained that the falling off is due to the want of rain at 
sowing time. The Director of Land Records and Agriculture reports that 
