Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/782

758 758 INDIA [COMMERCE. machinery and mill-work, and manufactured silk. It will thus be seen that, with the single exception of Manchester foods, no articles of European manufacture are in demand for native consumption, but only for the needs of the civi lized administration, and no raw produce, except copper, iron, and salt. Cotton Considering that England s export trade with India thus goods, mainly depends upon piece-goods, it is curious to recollect the history of cotton manufacture. In the beginning of the 17th century the industry had not been introduced into England, and whatever demand there was for cotton in that country was satisfied by circuitous importations from India itself, where cotton-weaving is an immemorial industry. In 1641 &quot; Manchester cottons,&quot; in imitation of Indian calicoes and chintzes, were still made of wool. Cotton is said to have been first manufactured in England in 1676. To foster the nascent industry, a succession of statutes were passed prohibiting the wear of imported cottons ; and it was not until after the inventions of Ark- wright and others and the application of steam as a motive power had secured to Manchester the advantage of cheap production that these protective measures were entirely removed. In the present century Lancashire has rapidly distanced her instructors. During the five years 1840-45 the annual import of cotton manufactures into India aver aged a little over 3,000,000 sterling. In each subse quent quinquennial period there has been a steady in crease, until in the year 1877-78 the import reached the unprecedented total of 20,000,000 sterling, or an increase of more than sixfold in less than forty years. Treasure. The importation of treasure is perhaps still more extra ordinary, when we bear in mind that it is not consumed in the using, but remains permanently in the country. Dur ing the same period of forty years the net import of trea sure, deducting export, has reached the enormous aggregate of just 319 millions sterling, or more than 1, 6s. 6d. per head of the 240 million inhabitants of the peninsula. Of course, by far the larger portion of this was silver, but the figures for gold are by no means inconsiderable. Dur ing the ten years ending with 1875, when the normal value of silver in terms of gold was but little disturbed, the total net imports of treasure into India amounted to just 99 millions ; of this total 62J millions were in silver and 36-| millions in gold, the proportion of the latter metal being thus considerably more than one-third of the whole. On separating the re-exports from the imports, the attraction of gold to India appears yet more marked. Of the total imports of gold only 7 per cent, was re-exported, while for silver the corresponding proportion was 19 per cent. Roughly speaking, it may be concluded that India then absorbed about 3,000,000 sterling of gold a year. The supply is drawn chiefly from China, Ceylon, Great Britain, and Australia. The depreciation of silver that has since taken place has caused an enormous increase in the import of silver and a corresponding increase in the export of gold. The figures since 1876 do not show the normal state of things. But even in 1877-78, when the value of silver was at its lowest, though India drew upon its hoards of gold for export to the amount of more than 1 million sterling, it yet imported more than l- millions, showing a net import of half a million of gold. It has been estimated that the gold circulation of India amounts to about 1,620,000 gold motar*, as compared with 158,000,000 of_ silver and 2,960,000 of copper, In addition, 10 million sovereigns are said to be hoarded in India, mainly in the Bombay presidency, where the impression of St George and the Dragon is valued on religious grounds. Exports. When we turn to the exports, the changes that have taken place in relative magnitude demand notice. In 1877-78 raw cotton for the first time for many years falls into the second place, being surpassed by the aggregate total of food grains ; oil-seeds show as a formidable competitor to cotton ; jute surpasses indigo, and tea comes close behind ; while cotton manu factures are nearly as valuable as coffee. The imports of sugar, in value though not in quantity, exceed the exports ; the trade in raw silk is about equally balanced ; while spices, once the glory of Eastern trade, were exported to the value of only 226,515, as compared with imports more valuable and also twofold larger. The export of raw cotton has been subject to excessive variations. & At the close of the last century cotton was sent to England in c &amp;lt;&amp;gt; , small quantities, chiefly the produce of the Central Provinces, col lected at Mirzapur and shipped at Calcutta, or the produce of Guzerat, despatched from Surat. In the year 1805 the total export of cotton from Surat was valued at 108,000 ; in the same year the English returns show only 2000 bales of East Indian cotton imported into Great Britain. But this figure was far below the average, for by 1810 the corresponding number of bales had risen to 79,000, to sink again to 2000 in 1813, and to rise to 248,000 in 1818. Bombay did not begin to participate in this trade until 1825, but has now acquired the practical monopoly, since the railway has diverted to the west the produce of the Central Provinces. In 1834, when the commerce of India was first thrown open, 33,000,000 lb were exported. Analysing the exports of cotton during the forty years since 1840, we find that in the first quinquennial period they averaged 2g millions sterling in value, and did not rise perceptibly until 1858, when they first touched 4 millions. From that date the increase was steady, even before the American exports were cut off by war in 1861. India then made the most of her opportunity, though quantity and quality did not keep pace with the augmented price. The highest figures of value was attained with 37 millions sterling in 1865, and the highest figure of quantity with 803,000,000 lb in 1866. Thenceforth the decline has been constant, though somewhat irregu lar, the lowest figures both of quantity and value being those of 1878-79. The most recent feature of the trade is the comparatively small amount shipped to the United Kingdom, and the even distri bution of the rest among Continental ports. The export of raw cotton in 1878-79 amounted to 7,914,091, and of twist and cotton goods to 2,581,823. Second in.importance to cotton as a raw material of British manu- J facture comes jute, the trade in which is a creation of less than thirty years. At the time of the London Exhibition of 1851 jute fibre was practically untried and unknown, while attention was even then actively drawn to rhea or China grass, which remains to the present day unmanageable by any cheap process. From time immemorial jute has been grown in the swamps of Eastern Bengal, and has been woven into coarse fabrics for bags and even clothing. As early as 1795 Dr Roxburgh called attention to the commercial value of the plant, which he grew in the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta and named &quot;jute,&quot; after the language of his Orissa gardeners, the Ben gali word being pat or Tcoshta. In 1828-29 the total exports of jute were only 364 cwts. , valued at 62. From that date the trade steadily grew, until in the quinquennial period ending 1847-48 the exports averaged 234,055 cwts. The Crimean war, which cut oil the supplies of Russian flax and hemp from the Forfarshire weavers, made the reputation of jute. Taking quinquennial periods, the ex port of jute rose from an average of 969,724 cwts. in 1858-63 to 2,628,100 cwts. in 1863-68 and 4,858,162 cwts. in 1868-73. The highest figures reached were in the year 1872-73, with 7,080,912 cwts., valued at 4,142,548. The export of raw jute in 1878-79 reached 3,800,426, and of manufactured jute 1,098,434. The export of grain, as already noticed, is now in the aggregate larger than that of cotton. The two chief items are rice and wheat. Ri Rice is exported from British Burmah, from Bengal, and from wl Madras. From the point of view of the English produce market. rice means only Burmese rice, which is annually exported to the large amount of about 12 million cwts., valued at 3 millions ster ling. In the Indian tables this is all entered as consigned to the United Kingdom, though, as a matter of fact, the rice fleets from Burmah only call for orders at Falmouth, and are thence diverted to various English or Continental ports. India has a practical mono poly of the European market. An export duty is levied on rice in India at the rate of 3 dnnds per maund, or about 6d. per cwt. A similar duty on wheat was repealed in 1875, and that trade has since conspicuously advanced. In 1874-75 the export of wheat was about 1 million cwts. Forthwith it increased year by year, until in 1877-78 it exceeded 6$ million cwts., valued at nearly 3 millions sterling. In the following year the quantity fell away to almost nothing, owing to the general failure of the harvest in the produc ing districts. The Punjab is the principal wheat-growing tract in India, but hitherto the chief supplies have come from the North- Western Provinces and Oudh, being collected at Cawnpur and thence despatched by rail to Calcutta. The total export of grains in 1879 was valued at 9,802,363. Oil-seeds, also, were freed in 1875, the duty previous to that date Oil having been 3 pel cent, ad valorem. Ten years before, the average