Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/673

 INDIAN FUEL PROBLEM different uses, "domestic consumption" is easily first. The demand under this head will naturally vary with the numerical strength o! the population, the economic strength and the standards o! living o! the several clases, (as dictating the different wants that tuel has to satisfy), the presence o! inducements and facilities for practising fuel-economy, tion of the population and the geographical distribu- according to climate. Any estimate of the total domestic consumption of fuel for all Iudia, at present, murat necessarily be imperfect, as no scientific survey of such consumption has been. mac]e, taking account of all the features Nevertheless, in view of the varied range of climates, the absence of any coal-fields Bengal an(] in Burma physical large or variety oil-areas respectively), features, the wide of crops. the (as in West the moderate area of forests and the comparatively low standard of living of the population of the province, which make it fairly representative of India. I have carefully examined th expenditure of fuel in my own house as well as in several other families, and have also collected data from a large number of friends, who had made similar enquiries, at my instance, for different classes of the population in different parts of the Presidency, and I give below as samples the results of some of these observations: -- I As a standard of oomparison _it is worth remsrobe. '.ru.. that in 1911, aeoordin to the figures given by Professor H. 8. Jevons ("T Brtult C'oa Trade", pp. 748-7) the roverose daily eosl consumption per head tn England was over g811, mentioned above, even for small areas. such estimates are being constantly made, roughly, it is true, by Forest Officers, in order to gauge the local demand for fuel. I venture to submit that any esimate. framed on fairly careful observations made for different sections of the people, in different parts of the Madras Presi- dency, may tentatively be accepted as the standard,