Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/203

 RAE 195 distance from the latter or in its immediate vicinity. Finally the costs will differ according to the bricks employed ; cæteris paribus, a well con- structed with the common thin brick, will cost more than one built with the thick or furobi' brick. One point, it seems to me, it is most import- ant to consider in the valuation of wells, and that is whether they have been sunk down to the spring or múslá' or not. For it is evident, that whatever may have been the respective costs of (say) two wells of equal dimensions, the one fed by a spring will be more valuable than the other, which only holds water by filtration; for the latter will be quickly exhausted when worked for purposes of irrigation, so that the actual cost of con- struction of a well does not always represent its real agricultural value." Taqavi advances and land improvements.-Taqavi advances are made by Government at a low rate of interest, 6 per cent., to defray the cost of agricultural improvements. During the seven years (1868-74,) 127 wells and 16 embankments were constructed at a cost of Rs. 29,250, an average expenditure of Rs. 4,170 per annum, and an increase to the irrigating facilities of the district of 18 wells. In addition to these, however, 65 wells at a cost of Rs. 11,825 were made during the years 1873-74 at the private expense of the owners. We may say, then, that 50 wells per annum are made, watering perhaps 600 acres, and at a cost of Rs. 10,000. The rent-roll of the district amounts to about Rs. 27,00,000; it does not seem sufficient that the people only invest to of the incomes drawn from the land upon its permanent improvement. Prices and famine prices.—The general subject of prices need hardly be touched upon. They have risen, but there are no exact statistics exhibi- ting to what extent. The return of prices called for by the Secretary of State from 1861 to 1870 is subjoined. It is however very incorrect. Paddy is entered at 314 sers in Šultanpur for the ten years, it cannot therefore have averaged 21} sers per rupee in Rae Bareli, the adjoin- ing district. Wheat is entered at 17 sers per rupee, and in Sultanpur at 217.; the latter seems correct. On further testing the return by individual years, there seems still more reason to doubt its accuracy. In 1869, the year of scarcity, the average price of wheat is entered at 104sers per rupee; but on taking the monthly returns from the official Gazette, the average from July to November, the season of highest prices, comes to 114 sers per rupee, and the year's average would be nearly 13 sers. Another and more trustworthy table prepared for the settlement department gives the price of wheat for the seven years (1856-1862) as averaging 26 sers per rupee, gram 291, rice 231. According to this return arhar, peas, and barley-being 25, 26, and 22 sers per rupee respectively--are the cheapest grains; the maizes are not as abundant or so cheap as in northern Oudh. Annual averages are however very deceptive. In 1873 for instance, the average price of arhar was 203 sers for the rupee, but during the last four months of the year it was about 15 sers, and there was considerable scarcity. This retur does not include the cheapest grains-kodo, mindwa, and sánwán, the latter of which at any rate is very extensively grown in the district. The earliest fields of sánwán ripen about the 5th April, and from