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f«0»MTT OV
kVTf tCltWTiA vaMTiC^
POVERTY AND UN-BRITISH RULE IN INDIA
\
DADABHAI NAOROJI
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., Lim.
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1901
CONTENTS.
»t*.
The Poverty of India.
Total Production of India, 2— Calcutta Statistical Committee, Agricultural Tables, ^ — F||ii|/^y,a£_ittt gtati"ti7*i ^ — ^^^ Statistics should be Compiled, 4 — Central Provinces, Food Produce, etc., 4 — Punjab, Do., 5 — North-West PK)vinces, Do., 8 — Bengal, Do., ja — Madras, Do., 15— Bombay, Do^^ 17 — Oudh, Do., 2g-tSummary^3 -Other Items of India's Wealth, 24^ncome per "^eadT^a^— ^e^essafy Consumption, ag^ost ot Su^istence^g^— Subsistence
— Other Items of India's Wealth, 24^ncome per head7^2'^ — ^^e^essafy Consumption, ag^Uost of^Su^ste^ ""
-f^T hBild, g5-fc¥roportion oi Childrin^o AdultsT^to— Production ,^ Compared with cos^ot Living. ^i-^DeficJtjjf In^orts Compared L with Exports, 32-^The Drain to England^^3-^Increa8e of thj;> ^'l'>rarV"3ip- Small Amount ot Imports from England, 36-^India^ _Tribute,^_36-f=TCe' Elements ot the DrainT 38 — Official Upinion of the Drain, 38 — Bengal, 38 — Bombay, 43 — Madras, 47 — Pun- jab, 48 -7- North -West Provinces, 49-— Central Provinces, 50— India, 50 — Condition of England under a similar Drain, 51 — Drain throi!ghrtnvesFmenF'7)n6ngiish Capital, 54 — The Moral Drain, 56 — Pressure of Taxation, 58 — A Fair Comparison with other Nations, 59 — Not True Free Trade, 61 — Prices, 62 — Causes of High Prices, 63 — Fluctuation in Price of Cotton, 64 — Price of Cofifee, 65— of Indigo, 65— of Rice, 66— of Silk, 67— of Sugar, 67 — of Linseed, 68 — of Rapeseed, 68— of Wool, 68— of Indian Tea, 68 — Causes of Local Rise in Prices, 69 — Normal Decrease in Prices under British Rule, 72 — Average Prices, 79 — Higher Prices due to Scarcity, 80— due to Famine, 81 — ^Wages, 82 — ^in Bengal, 82 — ^m Bombay, 83 — ^in Punjab, 84 — ^in Central Provinces, 84 — Bullion, 85 — Export of Bullion, 89— Non-fulfilment of Solemn Promises, 90 — Macaulay on Employment of Native Indians, 91 — The Duke of Argyll's Promises. 94 — Suspension of the Nine Scholarships, 100— The Uncovenanted Service, 103 — The Engineer- ing Service, 105 — Madras, no — Roorkee Engineering College, in — Bengal, 114 — ^The Native Medical Service, 116— Telegraph and Forest Services, 123— Reply to Criticisms on The Poverty of India, 126.
The Condition op India.
Prefatory Note, 145— Letter to the Marquis of Hartington,
283571
IV CONTENTS.
147— Administration Report of Punjab, 1876-7, 148— Memoran- dum and Criticism of India Office Figures and Statistics, 178 — Railways, 193— Foreign Trade, 196— The Moral Poverty of India, ^ 203.
Sir M. E. Grant Duff's Views about India, 231. Poverty of India, 233 — ^Trade Statistics of India, 251.
Speeches in the House of Commons.
East India Revenue Account, 275 — Amendment to the Address, 294.
Royal Commission on the Administration of Expenditure in India.
Letters to Lord Welby: No. 1,307; No. 2, 321; No. 3, 322 — Production and Distribution, 323 — ^Crops under Cultivation, 327 — Letters to Lord Welby: No. 4, 343; No. 5, 365; No. 6, 380— Appendix : «• Indian Affairs " (Times, Oct. 5, 1896), 395 — Letter to Lord Welby, No. 7, 398 — Summary, 458 — Appendix : Simultaneous Examinations, 466— Correspondence with the War Office, 487 — Correspondence with the Admiralty, 505 — Expenditure on Wars beyond the Frontier, 522 — Cost of the Forward Policy, 526^Indian Currency, 529 — No. i, Statement submitted to the Indian Currency Committee of 1898, 530 — Indian Exchange, 548 — ^The Currency Question, 560 — No. 2, Statement submitted to the. Indian Currency Committee of 1898, 563 — The State and Government of India under its Native Rulers, 577 — Further Opinions on the Subject of Native Rulers and British Rule, 614.
A Selection from Addresses.
No. I, Address at Manchester, 627 — No. 2, The Condition of India (Westbourne Park Chapel), 636 — No. 3, "India must be Bled *• (United Methodist Free Church, Walthamstow), 643— No. 4, Address at Plumstead, 648 — Nx>. 5i The Indian Famine (Kenning- ton), 654.
INTRODUCTION.
••BRITAIN'S SOLEMN PLEDGES." Act op Parliament. 1833 (India) : —
**That no Nadve of the said territories, nor any natural-bom snbjeet of His Majesty resident therein, shall by reason only of his relijrion, place of birth, descent, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, omce, or employment under the said
IP^'^y- [The Company's duties were translerred to the Crown.]
The Qubbn*s Proclamation of 1858:—
*' We hold ourseWes bound to the Natives of our Indian territories by the same obliga- tions of duty wbich bind us to all our other subjects, and these obligations, by the blessing of Alml^ty God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously fulfil.
*' And it is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their education, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge.
** When, by the blessing of Providence, Internal tranquiiUty shall be restored, it is our earnest desire to stimulate .... and to administer its government for the benefit of all our subjects resident therein. In their prosperity will be our strength, in their content- ment our security, and in their gratitude our best reward. And may the God of all power pant to us and to those in authority under us strength to carry out these our wishes for the good of our people.**
Lord LVtton (the Viceroy), on the assumption of the title of Empress, ist January, 1877, at the Delhi Assemblage : — '* But you, the Natives of India, whatever your race and whatever your creed, have a recognised claim to share largely with your Kngllsh fellow-subjects, according to your capacity for the task, in the administration of the country you inhabit. This claim is founded in the highest justice. It has been repeatedly affirmed by British and Indhm statesmen and by the legislation of the Imperial Parliament. It Is recognised by the Government of India as binding on iu honour, and consistent with all the aims of iu poUcy."
Lord Lytton (the Viceroy), as Chancellor of the Calcutta University, March, 1877 : — "The ProcUmatlon of the Queen contains solemn pledges, spontaneously given, and Ibonded upon the highest justice.'^
JuBiLBB.of 1887. The Queen-Empress, in reply to the Jubilee Address of Congratulation of the Bombay Municipal Corporation : — " Allusion is made to the Proclamation issued on the occasion of my assumption of the direct government of India as the charter of the liberties of the Princes ana Peoples of India. It has always been end will be continued to be my earnest desire that the princi- ples of that Proclamation should be unswervingly maintained."
In order to give briefly some indication of the scope and object of this book, I make some introductory remarks.
The title of the book is ** Poverty and Un-British Rule IN India," ».«., the present system of government is destructive and despotic to the Indians and un-British and suicidal to Britain. On the other hand, a truly British course can and will certainly be vastly beneficent both to Britain and India.
Before dealing with the above evil qualities of the present system of government I would first give a very brief sketch of the benefits which India has derived from British con-
Vlll INTRODUCTION.
than counUrbalanced by evUs inuparable from the system of a remote f Of eign dominion "^
Commonsense will suggest this to any thoughtful mind. These evils have ever since gone on increasing, and more and more counterbalancing the increased produce of the country, making now the evil of the '' bleeding " and impoverishing drain by the foreign dominion nearly or above ;^3o,ooo,ooo a year in a variety of subtle ways and shapes ; while about the beginning of the last century the drain was declared to be ^3,000,000 a year — ^and with private remittances, was sup- posed to be near ;f 5,000,000 — or one-sixth of what it is at present. If the profits of exports and freight and insurance, ^ which are not accounted for in the official statisticis, be con- 'sidered, the present drain will be nearer forty than thirty millions ; speaking roughly on the old basis of the value of gold at two shillings per rupee.
Mr. Montgomery Martin, after examining the records in the India House of a minute survey made in 1807-1814 of the condition of some provinces of Bengal and Behar, said in 1835 in his '' Eastern India ": — '< It is impossible to avoid remark- ing two facts as peculiarly striking — first the richness of the country surveyed, and second, the poverty of its inhabitants. .... The annual drain of ;^3,ooo,ooo on British India has amounted in thirty years, at 12 per cent, (the usual Indian rate) compound interest to the enormous sum of ;^723,90o,ooo
sterling So constant and accumulating a drain, even
in England, would soon impoverish her. How severe then must be its effects on India when the wage of a labourer is from twopence to threepence a day." He also calculates the result of the drain of ;f 5,000,000 a year. What then must be or can be the effect of the unceasing drain which has now grown to the enormous amount of some ;^30,ooo,ooo a year, if not famines and plagues, destruction and impoverishment I
Mill's "History of India" (Vol. VI, p. 671; "India Reform Tract " II, p. 3) says : " It is an exhausting drain upon the resources of the country, the issue of which is replaced by no refiex ; it is an extraction of the life blood from the veins of national industry which no subsequent introduction of nourishment is furnished to restore."
Sir George Wingate has said (1859} : " Taxes spent in the
^ The italics are all mine, except when stated otherwise.
INTRODUCTION. IX
country from which they are raised are totally diflFerent in their effect from taxes raised in one country and spent in another. In the former case the taxes collected from the population • • • are again returned to the industrious classes. • • • • But the case is wholly different when the taxes are not
spent in the country from which they are raised They
constitute • • • • an absolute loss and extinction of the whole amount withdrawn from the taxed country • • • . might as
well be thrown into the sea Such is the nature of
the tribute we have so long exacted from India
From this explanation some faint conception may be formed
of the cruel, crushing effect of the tribute upon India
The Indian tribute, whether weighed in the scales of justice or viewed in the light of our own interest, will be found to be at variance with humanity, with common sense, and with the received maxims of economic science " (" A Few Words on Our Financial Relation with India." J^ondon: Richardson Bros., 1859).
Lord Salisbury, as Secretary of State for India, in a Minute (26/4/1875) said— [C. 3086— i— (1884, P- i44)] •—
" The injury is exaggerated in the case of India, where so much of the revenue is exported without a direct equivalent. As India must be bled the lancet should be directed to the parts where the blood is congested or at least sufficient, not to those" (the agricultural people) "which are already feeble from the want of it r
This was said twenty-six years ago, and those who were considered as having sufficient blood are also being brought lower and lower. The "want of blood" among the agri- cultural population is getting so complete that famines and plagues like the present are fast bleeding the masses to death.
Lord Lawrence, Lord Cromer, Sir Auckland Colvin, Sir David Barbour, and others have declared the extreme poverty of India.
But the drain is not all. All the wars by which the British Indian Empire is built up have not only been fought mainly with Indian blood, but every farthing of expenditure (with insignificant exceptions) incurred in all wars and pro- ceedings within and beyond the frontiers of India by which the Empire has been built up and maintained up to the
X INTRODUCTION.
present day has been exacted from the Indian people. Britain has spent nothing.
There is the great injustice that every expenditure in- curred even for British interest is charged to India. Under the recommendation of the late *' Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure and Apportionment " the British Govern- ment has done a very small justice in refunding about ;^25o,ooo a year. Even for such trifle of justice we are thankful, and hope that this may lead to further justice. But it is necessary for us to have the help of the recognition and voice of the British public to ensure this.
The utter exhaustion and destruction from all these causes is terrific, and cannot but produce the present famines, plagues, etc. What would Britain's condition be under a ^milar fate ? Let her ask herself that question. The Anglo- Indians always shirk that question, never face it. Their selfishness makes them blind and deaf to it.
Despotism.
I need only say that the people of India have not the slightest voice in the expenditure of the revenue, and there- fore in the good government of the country. The powers of the Government being absolutely arbitrary and despotic, and the Government being alien and bleeding, the eflfect is very exhausting and destructive indeed.
Sir William Hunter has truly said : —
*<I cannot believe that a people numbering one-dxth of the whole inhabitants of the globe, and whose aspirations have been nourished from their earliest youth on the strong food of English liberty, can be permanently denied a voice in the government of their country. I do not believe that races .... into whom we have instilled the maxim of * no taxa- tion without representation' as a fundamental right of a people, can be permanently excluded from a share in the management of their finances."
Un-British and Suicidal to Britain. A committee of five members of the Coimcil of the Secretary of State for India have declared the British Government to be " exposed to the charge of keeping pro- mise to the ear and breaking it to the hope" (Report^ 20th January, i860).
INTRODUCTION. XI
Lord L3rtton, as Viceroy of India, in a Minute referred to in the despatch of the Government of India of 2nd May, 1878, said: "No sooner was the Act (1833) passed than the Government began to devise means for practically evading
the fulfilment of it We have had to choose between
prohibiting them and cheating them, and we have chosen the least straightforward course • • • • are all so many deliberate and transparent subterfuges for stultifying the Act and
reducing it to a dead letter I do not hesitate to say that
both the Government of England and of India appear to me up to the present moment unable to answer satisfactorily the charge of having taken every means in their power of breaking to the heart the words of promise they had uttered to the ear." (First Report of the Indian National Congress.) The Duke of Argyll has said : " We have not fulfilled our duty or the promises and engagements which we have made.'* {Hansard f 11/3/1869.)
Lord Salisbury, in reply to Lord Northbrook's pleading for the fulfilment of British solemn pledges, said it was all " political hypocrisy." {Hansard^ 9/4/1883.)
Suicidal to Britain.
Sir John Malcolm says : " We are not warranted by the history of India, nor indeed by that of any other nation in the worldy in reckoning upon the possibility of preserving an Em- pire of such a magnitude by a system which excludes, as ours does, the Natives from every station of high rank and honour- able ambition. ... If we do not use the knowledge which we impart it will be employed against us. . . . If these plans are not associated with the creation of duties that will employ the minds which we enlighten, we shall only prepare elements that will hasten the destruction of our Empire. The moral evil to us does not thus stand alone. It carries with it its Nemesis, the seeds of the destruction of the Empire itself."
Mr. John Bright: "I say a Government like that has some fatal defect which at some not distant time must bring disaster and humiliation to the Government and to the people on whose behalf it rules." (Speech in the Manchester Town Hall, 11/12/1877.)
The Duke of Devonshire pointed out that «* it is not wise to educate the people of India, to introduce among them your civilisation and your progress and your literature and at the
XU INTRODUCTION.
same time to tell them they shall never have any chance of taking any part or share in the administration of the affairs of their country exupt by their getting rid in the first instance of their European riders.'' — {Hansard^ 23/8/1883.)
Lord Randolph Churchill, as Secretary of State for India, has ssdd in a letter to the Treasury : —
"The position of India in relation to taxation and the sources of public revenue is very peculiar, not merely from the habits of the people and their strong aversion to change, which is more specially exhibited to new forms of taxation, but likewise from the character of the Government which is in the hands of foreigners who hold all the principal administrative offices^ and form so large a part of the army. The impatience of the new taxation, which will have to be borne wholly as a consequence of the foreign rult imposed on the country^ and virtually to meet additions to charges arising outside of the country, would con- stitute a political danger, the real magnitude of which it is to be feared is not at all appreciated by persons who have no knowledge of or concern in the Government of India, but which those responsible for that Government have long re- garded as of the most serious order,'' ^
Lord George Hamilton candidly admits : — " Our Govern- ment never will be popular in India.'* Again, " our Govern- ment never can be popular in India." — {Times, 16/6/1899.)
How can it be otherwise ? If the present un-British and suicidal system of government continues, commonsense tells us that such a system "can never" and "will never" be popular. And if so such a deplorable system cannot but perish ; as Lord Salisbury truly says, " Injustice will bring the highest on earth to ruin." Macaulay has said, "The heaviest of all yokes is the yoke of the stranger." And if the British rule remains, as it is at present, a heavy yoke of the stranger and the despot, instead of being a ttue British rule and a friendly partner, it is doomed to perish. Evil is not, and never will be, eternal.
True British Rule.
True British rule will vastly benefit both Britain and India. My whole object in all my writings is to impress upon the British People, that instead of a disastrous explosion
1 «' Parliamentary Retttm " [C. 4868], 1886.
INTRODUCTION. Xill
of the British Indian Empire, as must be the result of the present dishonourable un-British system of government, there is a great and glorious future for Britain and India to an extent unconceivable at present, if the British people will awaken to their duty, will be true to their British instincts of fair play and justice, and will insist upon the " faithful and conscientious fulfilment" of all their great and solemn promises and pledges.
Mr. John Bright has truly said : *' The good of England must come through the channels of the good of India. There are but two modes of gaining anything by our connexion with India. The one is by plundering the people of India and the other by trading with them. I prefer to do it by trading with them. But in order that England may become rich by trading with India, India itself must become rich." Cannot British authorities see their way to such intelligent selfishness? Hitherto England has to some extent made^ herself rich by plundering India in diverse subtle and ingenious ways. But what I desire and maintain is that England can become far richer by dealing justly and honourably with India, and thereby England will not only be a blessing to India and itself, but will be a lesson and a blessing to mankind.
Macaulay, in his great speech of 1833, said: '* I have no fears. The path of duty is plain before us ; and it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of national honour. .... To have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have so ruled them as to have made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of citizens would indeed be a title to glory all our own. The sceptre may pass away from us. Unforeseen accidents may derange our most profound schemes of policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are triumphs which are followed by no reverses. There is an empire exempt from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are the pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism ; that empire is the imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our laws."
Sir William Hunter, after referring to the good work done by the Company, said: ''But the good work thus commenced has assumed such dimensions under the Queen's government of India that it can no longer be carried on, or even supervised^
XIV INTRODUCTION.
by' imported labour from England except at a cost which
India cannot sustain Forty years hereafter we
should have bad an Indian Ireland multiplied fifty fold on
our hands You cannot work with imported labour as
cheaply as you can with Native labour, and I regard the more extended employment of the Natives not only as an act of justice but as a financial necessity." '* The appointment of a few Natives annually to the Covenanted Civil Service
will not solve the problem If we are to govern the
Indian people efficiently and cheaply we must govern them by means of themselves and pay for the administration at the market rates of Native labour." (** England's Work in India," pp. 118-9.)
The Duke of Devonshire has said : *' If the country is to be better governed that can only be done by the employment of the best and most intelligent of the Natives in the Service."
Events are moving now at lightning pace, and it is difficult to say what tomorrow may bring, as forces evil or beneficent when once set in motion will move with accelerated speed to their natural results — evil out of evil, good out of good.
In the " faithful and conscientious fulfilment " of solemn pledges, India expects and demands that the British Sover- eign, People, Parliament, and Government, should make honest efforts towards what the Bishop of Bombay described as the aspirations and necessities of India — *' Self-government under British paramountcy " or true British citizenship.
This book contains a selection from my papers written from time to time as occasion arose, and I think giving them in the same order here will be the most intelligible form for a subject which is so complicated and whose important points are so much intermixed with each other.
POVERTY OF INDIA.
Papers
READ BEFORE THE BOMBAY BRANCH OF THE EAST INDU ASSOCIATION OF LONDON
IN 1876.
POVERTY OF INDIA.
While pointing out in these notes one of the unfavourable results of the present system of British administration, I do not for a moment mean to ignore the very bright side of British rule, and the many blessings of law and order which ; it has conferred on India. On the latter subject I have already expressed my sentiments on several occasions.
My object at present is to show in greater detail what I have already stated before, that, under the present system of administration, India is sufifering seriously in several ways,; and is sinking in poverty. In my humble opinion, this is the question, or rather the most serious question, of the day. Whether I am right or wrong will be for you to judge, after hearing what I have to say. If I am right, I shall have dis- charged a duty as a loyal subject to urge upon our rulers to remedy this most serious evil. If, on the other hand, I am shown to be wrong, none will rejoice more than myself ; and I shall have equally done a duty, as a wrong feeling of a serious character will be removed.
These notes were written two to three years ago.* I lay them before you as they are. If necessary, I shall consider hereafter any modification that the light of subsequent events may suggest, either in confirmation or refutation of the views expressed in them. There will be a few repetitions from my former papers, but they are necessary in order to make these notes complete. I have endeavoured to avail myself as much as possible of the weight of official or other great authorities,
^ These notes in their original draft were placed before the Select Committee on Indian Finance in 1873. They were taken, but not pub- lished with the Report, as they did not suit the views of the Chairman (Mr. Ayrton). and I was led to suppose, also of Sir Grant Dufif, who was then the Under-Secretary of State for India.
B
2 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
and facts from official records ; hence I shall have more quotations than might be thought suitable in an address before an audience ; and my notes may prove dull, but I only hope they may be found of some importance to atone for such dullness. I may propose here that any discussion upon the notes may be deferred till they are all read, and my whole argument placed before you, or otherwise there will be con- fusion in the discussions.
Total Production of India.
In July, 1870, I made a rough estimate, in my paper on ** The Wants and Means of India,*' placed before the East India Association, as follows : —
" The whole produce of India is from its land. The gross land-tax is put down for 1870-71 a little above ;^2 1,000,000. Now, I suppose I shall be within the mark if I say that Government takes for this land-tax, on an average, one-eighth of the gross produce, if not more. This gives for the gross production of the country, say, about ;^i68,ooo,ooo ; add to this — gross opium revenue about ;f 7,000,000; gross salt revenue, ;f 6,000,000; gross forest, ;f 600,000. The total, thus, of the raw produce of the country amounts to under ;^i82,ooo,ooo— to be on the safe side, let us say ;f 200,000,000, to include the produce of half a million tons of coal, of aHena- tion lands, or anything else there may be. Now, the popu- lation of the whole of British India is nearly 150,000,000 ; giving, therefore, less than 27s. a head for the annual support of the whole people."
I then further raised the production from ;f 200,000,000 to ^"300,000,000, to include the value of manufacturing indus- tries, excise on spirits, and a large margin for any omissions, making 40s. a head for the gross production of India as a high estimate.
Since then I have endeavoured to work out the same problem directly, as far as the official data I could get enabled me to do so.
Calcutta Statistical Committee. — Agricultural Tables.
Parliament requires a yearly report of the moral and material progress of India ; and a Statistical Committee is formed at Calcutta to supply the necessary information. This Committee has prescribed certain tables to be filled
THE POVERTY OF INDIA, 3
up by the different Governments in their administration reports.
The Central Provinces and Burmah reports are the only two complete in their agricultural tables as far as practicable. Four others (Madras, North- West Provinces, Punjab, and Oudh) give them imperfectly. Bengal and Bombay gave the least, or none, up to 1869-70. For what I could not get from the reports I applied to the India Office, which naturally replied they could not give what they did not get from India. It will be seen, therefore, that I have been obliged to work out the production under much difficulty. Not only is the quantity of information insufficient, but the quality even of such as is given is defective. For instance, in the tables of prices of produce in the different districts of the Central Provinces, in order to get an average the prices are added up together, and the total is divided by the number of the districts. This principle is generally adopted by the returns made by all the Governments with respect to average of produce or prices. The principle, however, is altogether fallacious. In taking the average of prices, the quantities of produce sold at the different prices are altogether lost sight of. In the same way, in taking the average produce per acre, the extent of land yielding different quantities is overlooked.
Fallacy of its Statistics.
The result, therefore, is wrong, and all arguments and conclusions based upon such averages are worthless. Taking the instance of the Central Provinces in the administration report of 1867-8, the average price of rice is made out to be Rs. 2-12-7 per maund, when in reality the correct average will be only Rs. 1-8 per maund. Again, the table for the pro- duce of rice per acre gives the average as 579 lbs., when in reality it is 759 lbs. Now, what can be the worth of con- clusions drawn from these wrong averages? These averages are not only worthless, but mischievous. It is a pity that, with large Government establishments, more accurate and complete information should not be given. I sincerely trust that future reports will not only work averages upon correct principles, but also work out the total production of their respective provinces. Then only we shall know the actual condition of the mass of the people. All *< I thinks" and <*my opinions " are of no use on important subjects. The whole
B 2
4 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
foundation of all administration, financial and general, and of the actual condition of people, rests upon this one fact — the produce of the country, the ultimate result of all capital, labour and land. With imperfect materials at command, and not possessed of the means to employ a staff to work out all the details as they ought to be, I can only give approximate results.
How Statistics should be Compiled.
On the question of taking proper averages and supplying complete information, I addressed a letter, in February, 1871, to the India Office, which I have reason to believe has been forwarded to the Governments in India. I hope that some attention will be paid to the matter. As a specimen of the correct principle of averages, I have worked out table A of the averages of price and produce of some of the principal productions of the Central Provinces. From this will be seen that the correct average price for rice is Rs. 1-8, instead of Rs. 2-12-7, as stated above ; also that the correct average of produce is 759, and not 579 lbs. of rice per acre. I have explained, in the following calculations for the different pro- vinces, the mode I have adopted for each. Though working with insufficient and defective materials, and without the means and time to work out^details, I have endeavoured to calculate above the mark, so that, whatever my error, it will be found on the safe side, of estimating a higher produce than the reality.
The principle of my calculations is briefly this. I have taken the largest one or two kinds of produce of a province to represent all its produce, as it would be too much labour for me to work out every produce, great and small. I have taken the whole cultivated area of each district, the produce per acre, and the price of the produce ; and simple multipli- cation and addition will give you both the quantity and value of the total produce. From it, also, you can get the correct average of produce per acre and of prices for the whole province, as in this way you have all the necessary elements taken into account.
Central Provinces.
The total area of cultivated land (Table 2 of Fiscal Report, 1867-8 — ^an average good season year) is 12,378,215 acres. The
THE POVERTY OP INDIA. 5
price of produce per acre, as worked out in Table A for the important articles rice, wheat, other food-grains, oil-seeds, and cotton is Rs. 11-13-5 — say Rs. 12.* The total value of agricultural produce will be acres 12,378,215 x Rs, 12 = Rs. 14)85,38,580. To this is to be added the produce of Sumbulpore; but the acreage of that district is not given. Making some allowance for it, I increased the produce to, say, Rs. 16,00,00,000, or ;^i6,ooo,ooo, for a population of 9,000,000. I have lately met with an unexpected confirmation of my views. The Times of India Summary of 6th June, 1873, takes from the Englishman some particulars from Mr. Pedder's reply to the Viceroy's circular on local funds. Mr. Pedder makes out, as the value of produce in the Nagpore district, about Rs. 8 per acre, and my estimate of the whole of the Central Provinces is Rs. 12 per acre. I do not know whether Mr. Pedder has avoided the wrong principles of averages — whether he calculates for an average good season, and whether any allowance is made for bad seasons.
Punjab.
The administration report of 1867-8 gives all the necessary agricultural tables, except one, viz.y the produce per acre of the different kinds of crops. I take this year (1867-8) as a better season, and with a larger extent of cultivation than that of 1868-9.
The chief crops are wheat and other inferior grains — the former nearly 20, and the latter 50 per cent., of the whole cultivation. The price of wheat is higher than that of other inferior grains ; and as I take the prices of first-class wheat, I think the average price of the produce of one acre of wheat, applied to the whole cultivated acreage, will be very much above the actual value of the production, and my estimate will be much higher than it ought to be.
1 The Table A is too large for insertion. Summary.
Acres.
Rs.
Rice
. 2,938,328
4.18.43.575
Wheat .
• 3.313.677
3.51.77.956
Other Food Grains .
• 4.197.516
4.70.63.760
OU Seeds
697.100
1,04.42,854
Cotton
643,390
50,28,838
Total .
. 11,790.011
13.95.56.983
Average, Rs. 11-13-5 per
acre.
6 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
As the administration reports of both 1867-8 and 1868-9 do not give the produce of crops per acre, I ascertain it from other sources.
In the administration report of the Punjab for the year 1850-51 (published in 1854 ^y t^® Court of Directors), drawn up by Mr. (now Sir Richard) Temple, a detailed table, dated Jullundhur, 25th October, 185 1, gives the produce per acre. The table gives fourteen instances of first-class lands, which, by the rough process of adding up and dividing by the number of instances, gives 14^ maunds = 1,160 lbs. (a maund equals 82 lbs. — Report 1855-6); for the second class from eight instances, I find the average 13^^ maunds, or 1,107 lbs. ; and for the third class from six instances, I find 11 maunds, or 902 lbs. From this table I have taken all at 10 maunds or upwards as representing irrigated land, and the second class, representing the bulk of it, as producing 1,100 lbs. per acre. For un- irrigated land I have not sufficient data. I adopt 600 lbs. per acre, for reasons I have stated under heading " North- west Provinces.'*
After I had made my following calculations on the above basis, I was favoured with a loan from the Record Depart- ment of the India Office of the administration report for 1869-70. The produce per acre is given in this report, but the average is taken on the objectionable principle of adding up the produce of all districts and dividing by the number of districts, without reference to the extent of cultivation in each district. According to this, the average of the produce of wheat per acre of all the districts is given in the report as only 624 lbs. The highest produce in three districts included in this average is 1,044, 1,066, and 1,000 lbs. ; so that my assumption of 1,100 lbs. per acre for all irrigated land is much above the mark. Again, even making allowance for the drought of the years 1868-9 and 1869-70, my assumption, of 600 lbs. of wheat per acre of all unirrigated land only, is also above the mark.
I take the calculated area of 1867-8, which is also the largest of the three years 1867-8, 1868-9, 1869-70; and I take prices for 1867-8, that having been an average good season. The prices of 1868-9 and 1869-70 are scarcity-prices. The year 1867-8 is a fair test for the produce of the Punjab in an average favourable season.
The report for 1867-8 does not give prices of produce for
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. ^
all districts separately, but only of a few important towns, vfV., Delhi, Umballa, Lahore, Sealkote, Mooltan, and Peshawur (page ciii.); and as I take these prices to represent not only those of the whole of the districts of these towns, but of all the districts of the Punjab, I evidently assume a much higher price than actually must have been the case. My results, therefore, will be aflfected in a double way (wx., firstly, in taking first-class wheat to represent all pro- duce; and secondly, in taking the prices in the principal towns to represent all Punjab) ; and will show then the total value of the production of all Punjab much higher than the reality. I therefore think I shall not be unfair in deducting lo per cent, as some correction of this double error; and even then I shall be above the mark. The prices given in the report for 1867-8 are as follows (in E. J. Statement, showing the prices of produce in the Punjab for the year 1867-8) : —
Price in Seers for One Rupee,
41
s<
<
Delhi . . Umballa , Lahore . . Sealkote . Mooltan , Peshawur .
2 If
^5 25 34 i5
24J
20
20
20
20
I7i
22
20j
22
22
16 20i
25
20J
I? 16
»5
21J
2li 20J 20i
The Seer
is 2 lbs.
I take the above averages of the towns to represent their whole districts, and then the average of the six districts to represent the whole of the Punjab in the following calculation (wheat first sort is taken to represent all produce) : —
Districts.
Irrigated Land.
Produce per Acre.
Total Produce.
For Re. I.
Total Value.
Delhi . . . r -
Acres.
200,955
96,328
447.295 394.227 505.750 249,144
lbs.
1,100
ft
i»
>}
lbs. 221,050,500 105,960,800 492,024,500 433.649.700 556,325,000 274,058,400
lbs. 43 43 41
&
41
Rs.
51,40,709
24,64,204
1,20,00,597
1,05,76,821
1,76,61,111
66,84,351
Umhalla. . Lahore . . Sealkote . . . Mooltan . . . Peshawar . <
Total ,
•
1.893.699
—
—
5»45»27,793
8
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
The average value of produce per acre of the irrigated land of the six districts will, therefore, be Rs. 28-7-9.
I now apply this to all irrigated land of the Punjab.
Total irrigated acres are 6,147,038, which, at Rs. 28-7-9 per acre, will give Rs. 17,69,73,224 as the total value of the produce of irrigated land of the Punjab for 1867-8.
I now calculate the value of the produce of unirrigated land (wheat first sort is taken to represent all produce) : —
Districts.
Unirrigated Land.
Produce per acre.
Total Produce.
For Re. I.
Total Value.
Delhi . . . Umballa . . Lahore . . Sealkote . . Mooltan . . Peshawur. .
Acres. 307,690 856,701 557»882
425.440 118,684 456.661
lbs. 600
1.
.»
.9 )> 9*
lbs. 184,614,000 514,020,600 334,729,200 255,264,000 71,210,400 273,996,600
lbs.
43
43
41
41
3ii
41
Rs.
42.93.348
1.19.53.967 81,64,126
62,25,951 22,60.647
66,82,843
Total .
2.723,058
....
....
••
3,95,80,882
The average value of produce of one acre of unirrigated land of the six districts is Rs. 14-5-3. Applying this to the unirrigated land of the whole of the Punjab, the result will be as follows: — Total unirrigated acres 14,810,697, at Rs. 14-5-3 per acre, will give Rs. 21,51,99,427 as the value of the produce of all unirrigated land of the Punjab for 1867-8.
Adding up the value of the produce of irrigated and un- irrigated land, the total will be Rs. 39,21,72,651. From this I deduct 10 per cent, for reasons stated above, which will leave 1^8.35,29,54,800 for a population of 17,593,946, or say ^36,000,000 for a population of 17,500,000.
North-West Provinces.
I take the figures of 1867-8, being an average good season. The subsequent ones, 1868-9 and 1869-70, have been bad.
The administration report does not give the distribution of
chief crops, but I find in the Statistical Reporter of the Indian
Economist (page 136) of 15th March, 1871, a table of the crops
for 1868-9. From this it will be seen that, out of a total of about
22,ocjo,ooo acres, rice, jowari, bajri, wheat, and barley make up —
Rice 2,479,874
Jowari and Bajri . • 4,302,890 Wheat and Barley . . 7.257,873
Acres 14,040,637 or nearly |
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
As I cannot get the prices of all the above kinds of pro- duce, except wheat and barley, if I take wheat to represent all, I shall be above the mark.
In the administration report of 1868-9 there is a table given of prices of wheat and barley. I take the prices for the months of April, May, and June as those of the good season of 1867-8. The subsequent prices are affected by drought. I should have preferred to take the prices for January to June, 1868 ; but the table does not give the earlier months. These prices are of some of the chief markets only, so that, taking the prices to represent the whole of the respective districts, and then taking the average of these few districts to represent the whole of the North-West Provinces, the result will be much higher ; so, as in the case of the Punjab, I deduct 10 per C3nt. as some correction for these errors of excess.
The prices given in the report of 1868-9, pages 29, 30, are as follows: — "The following taljle gives the prices at the close of each month for the year in the chief markets of the provinces. The figures denote seers and chittacks.
Wh»at.
Districts.
My Remarks.
April.
May. 1 June.
Average.
s.
c.
8.
c. s. c.
s.
c.
lb. oz.
Saharunpore
22
6 25
14 25 14
24
II
49 6
The report does
not say which
seer this is.
Meerut . .
26
0
27
0 27 8
26
13
53 10
Formerly i §eer is given equal to
Moradabad .
26
ID
25
10 24 0
25
8}
51 I
2-057 lbs.
(Parliamentary
Bareilly . .
25
10
27
8
25 0
26
0
52 0
Return No. 29 of 1862, page 5.) I take this seer=
Muttra . .
24
0
•••«
24 0
24
0
48 0
2 lb. 16 chittacks ^ 1 seer.
Agra . . .
23
o\ 23
0' 24 0
23
5
46 10
The report also
1
does not say
Cawnpore .
23
0
23
0 22 0
1
22
II
45 6
whether these quantities were
Allahabad .
18
4
18
0 17 0
17
12
35 8
got for one rupee, but it evi-
Mirzapore .
18
0
18
0 17 0
17
loj
35 6
dently appears to be meant so.
Benares • .
17
5
18
5 18 0
17
15I
35 14
It
lO THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
The administration reports give no table of produce per acre of different crops. I adopt the same scale as given in the case of the Punjab, for the following additional reasons: — ^Captain Harvey Tuket's estimate in the year 1840, from 2,000 experiments, of which 512 were for wheat, made by the Government of the North-West Provinces, gives the average produce of wheat per acre at 1,046 lbs. The late Mr. Thorn- ton, formerly Secretary to that Government, has recorded that, judging from his own experience, he should say that 1,200 lbs. per acre was a high average for irrigated land, and 700 lbs. for that of which a considerable portion is dry.' Mr. Maconochi, in his recent settlements of Oonah (Oudh), gives for irrigated land —
ist class 21 bushels = 1,218 lbs. (at 58 lbs. per bushel.) 2nd „ 16 „ = 928 „ 3rd „ 9 », = 522 „ and for unirrigated land —
I St class II bushels = 638 lbs. 2nd M 9 »» = 522 „ 3rd » 7 »> = 406 „
Taking second class as representing the bulk, the average for irrigated land may be considered as 928 lbs., and for un- irrigated 522 lbs. From all the above particulars it will be seen that the estimate I have adopted, of 1,100 lbs. per acre for irrigated and 600 lbs. for unirrigated land, is something above a fair average. A Settlement OfiScer of the North- West Provinces, in a letter to the Indian Economist of 15th February, 1871 ("Agricultural Gazette," page 171) sums up all that is known to him on the subject of the produce of wheat per acre in those Provinces. It will be too long an extract to insert here ; but, making allowance for the " mis- chievous fallacy " of all official documents alluded to by this writer, about which I have already complained to the India Office, and which vitiates averages for a number of years or places, I think the average I have adopted above is some- thing more than a reasonable one. When administration reports will give, as they ought, correct particulars for each
> The " Agricultural Gazette of India " of the Indian Economist, 15th l^ust. 1870, No. I.
> See also Parliamentary Return No. 999 of 1853, page 471.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
II
district every year, accurate estimates of the actual produce of the Provinces could be easily made. I give the calcula- tions below. The table of cultivated land, given at page 45 of the appendix to the administration report of 1867-8, does not give the irrigated and unirrigated extent of land separately for the Moradabad, Tarrae, Mynpoorie, Banda and Ghazipore districts.
I find that the totals of irrigated and unirrigated land bear nearly the proportion of two-fifths and three-fifths respectively of the whole total cultivated land. I assign the same pro- portion to the above districts in the absence of actual particulars.
Wheat.
Districts.
Irrigated
Produce
Total
For
Total
Land.
per Acre.
Produce.
I Re.
Value.
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs. ozs.
Rs.
Sahamnpoi
•e . 160,058
1,100
176,063,800
49 6
35.65,849
Meenit . .
• 577.346
It
635,080,600
53 10
1,17,26,444
Moradabad
. 806,930
„
787,623,000
51 I
1,73,83,069
Bareilly. .
. 344,662
„
379,128,200
52 I
72,82,174
Mattra . .
. 332,542
,1
365,796,200
48 0
89,22,837
Agra . .
. 434,166
,•
477,582,600
46 10
1,02,43,058
Cawnpore .
• 397*396
,,
437.135,600
45 6
96,33,842
Allahabad
• 345,624
,1
380,186,400
35 8
1,07,09,476
Mirzapore
. 198,823
,,
218,705,300
35 6
61,82,481
Benares.
. . 238,971
,,
262,868,100
35 14
75,01,549
Total
• . 3,836,518
...
...
9,31.50,779
The average value of the produce of one acre will be Rs. 24-2-8.
Applying the average of the above districts to the whole of the irrigated area of the North -West Pro- vincesy the result Wl be — acres 10,045,050 x Rs. 24-2-8 = Rs. 24,38,93,814.
In a similar manner, the total value of the produce of unirrigated land, as represented by wheat, will be as follows : —
12
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
Districts.
lunirri^ated Land
Prod ace per Aero,
Total Produce. '
For I Re.
Total Value,
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
Ibi. 0£3.
Bs.
Saharunpoi
■e - 631,302
600
372,829*2*^
47 6
75,50,960
Meerut •
► - 453i6g4
Tf
272,2l6.4C»
53 10
50,76,288
Moradab^d
^ 484.158
tt
290,494,800
51 I
56,88,992
Bareilly ,
. . 7^3,283
It
460,957,800
52 I
88,53,920
Muttra , .
■ - 406,153
»t
245,691.800
48 0
50,76,912
Agra . .
' * 574*97&
ft
224,985,600
46 10
48,25,424
C awn pore
^ .! 436,636
»f
261,981,600
45 6
57*731696
Allahabad
■ -\ 644^594
ft
586,756,400
35 8
t, 08,94*544
Mir^apore
. . 614,658
»t
368,794,800
35 G
1,04,25,280
Benares.
. . zozfiiS
t1
121,690,300
35 14
33,92.064
Total .
- 5*007,352
■ ■■
*f 1
«•*
6,75.58,080
The average value of wheat per acre of uDirrigated land is, therefore, Rs. 13-4-9.
Applying this average to the whole unirrigated land of the North- West Provinces, we get — acres 14,132,111 x Rs. 13-4-9 = Rs. 19,06,42,177. The grand total of the value of the produce of irrigated and unirrigated land will be —
Irrigated . Unirrigated
10,045,050 acres 14,132,111 „
Total . 24,177,161
Rs. 24,38,93,814 „ 19,06,42,177
•• 43.45.35.991
Deducting 10 per cent, for reasons stated above, the remainder will be Rs. 39,10,82,392 for a population of 30,086,898, or say ;f 40,000,000 for a population of 30,000,000.
Bengal.
The administration reports till 1869-70 give no informa- tion required by the Statistical Committee, except the area of districts in square miles and acres (report 1869-70). For information for cultivated area, distribution, produce of crops, and prices, I have to look out elsewhere, or make a rough estimate.
First with regard to the extent of cultivated land, I adopt the following plan as the best I can. The total area of the North- West Provinces is about 50,000,000 acres, of which
THE POVERTY OP INDIA. 1 3
about 25,000,000 are cultivated. The population of those Provinces is, by the late census of 1865, ^bout 30,000,000, so we have the total area 5 acres to 3 persons, and of cultivated area five-sixths of an acre per head. Now, assuming Bengal to be at least as thickly populated as the North- West Provinces, and the total area, as given in the administration report of 1869 - 70 (appendix, page xxi), being about 105,000,000 acres, the population of Bengal will be about 63,000,000 ; and I am encouraged to adopt this figure instead of 36,000,000 of the report of 1869-70, as the Englishman of 25th June, 1872, states that the census of Bengal, as far as the figures are made up, leads to an estimate of about 65,000,000. Again, as in the North- West Provinces, I allow five-sixths of an acre of cultivated land per head, and take, therefore, 54,000,000 acres of cultivated land for a population of 65,000,000.
With regard to produce, coarse rice is the chief produce of Bengal, and in taking it to represent the whole* produce, I shall be near enough the mark. For the produce of rice per acre, I take a table given in the report of the Indigo Commission (Parliamentary Return No. 72,1 of 1861, page 292), in which produce of paddy per beegah is given for a number of districts. The rough average, without reference to the quantity of land in each district, comes to about nine raaunds per beegah.
The maund I take is the Indian maund of 82 lbs. The quantity of produce per beegah given in the table is evidently for rice in husk; for, though not so stated, this would be apparent by comparing the money values of these quantities given in the same table, with the prices for i860 given in the table at page 291.
The beegah I find explained, at page Ixi of the same return, at about one-third of an acre. Thacker*s Bengal Directory for 1872, page- 2, gives the following table for " Bengal square or land measure " : —
I chittack = 45 square feet or 5 square yards. 16 „ = I cottah = 720 sqr. ft. or 80 sqr. yds. 20 cottah = I beegah = 14,400 „ or 1,600 „
Thus gives a little more than 3 beegahs to an acre.
Mr. Cowasjee Eduljee, the manager of the Port Canning rice mills and lands, thinks, that for an average of all lands,
14 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
or say for standard land, seven maunds of paddy per beegah will be a very fair calculation. I take eight maunds. Mr. Cowasjee further says, as the out-turn of his mills, that paddy yields 55 per cent, of rice at the outside.
For the price of rice I take the season 1867-8. I take the rough average of the weekly prices given in the Calcutta Gazette for the months of January to March, 1868, as fairly representing the effect of the season of 1867-8. Thi^ average is taken by simply adding up the prices and dividing by the number of districts, and not on the correct principle of taking the quantities of the produce of each district into account (as in specimen table A I have given for the Central Provinces). The average, therefore, which I have adopted, must be much 4iigher than the actual one, and will require some reasonable deduction. I shall deduct only 10 per cent, as some correc- tion for this, and to make up for any error in the produce per acre. Besides, the prices given in the Gazette are retail prices, and are therefore higher than the prices all over the country ; so my deduction of 10 per cent, will be but a very small correction for all the errors of my rough calculation. I cannot get the extent of cultivated land for each district. I give below the calculations. Since writing these notes, I have seen the late census report, which gives the population as 66,856,859, or say 67,000,000. The approximate area of cultivated land will be, say, five-sixths of 67,000,000 or 56,000,000 acres. The produce per acre, taken as 24 maunds paddy per acre, will give about 13 maunds of clean rice, or 1,066 lbs., say 1,100 lbs. The total produce of 56,000,000 acres will be 616,000,000 lbs., which, at 58 lbs. per rupee (as obtained by the rough average of the weekly prices of the three months of January, February, and March, 1868), will give Rs. 1,06,00,00,000, or ;^i 06,000,000. Deducting 10 per cent, will give ;^95,400,ooo, or say ;^96,ooo,ooo, for a popula- tion of 67,000,000. This will amply cover the higher price of some of the articles, such as silk, indigo, cost price of opium, tea, etc., or any double crops, etc. The percentage of these products is a small one ; the total value for all these will be under 10 per cent, of the whole produce, while the average of price I have taken for rice as representing the whole produce of the Presidency will be found much above the actuals. On the whole, I cannot help thinking that the total value of all productions of the Bengal Presidency will be
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I5
found much under, than above, my estimate. It is very desirable, however, to get a correct result, and the Statistical Committee or Agricultural Department should give it.
Madras.
I take the administration report of 1868-9 as I have not been able to get an opportunity of studying that of 1867-8. Besides, as prices have not much altered, the later report is the better. I am obliged to ascertain the produce per acre from other sources : the report does not give the information. I take paddy to represent the produce of wet, and cumboo for dry land, as they form the bulk of the produce of the country.
Mr. H. Newill, the Director of Settlements for South Arcot, in his letter of 27th August, 1859 (Selections of the Madras Government, No. 14, of 1869, Appendix Y, from page 142), gives an elaborate table of produce per acre of the principal grains, as ascertained by a large number of experi- ments and general enquiry ; and the result of his investiga- tions gives, for the different classes of soils, the following produce, from which 5 per cent, is to be deducted for numerous ridges for regulating irrigation channels, exterior boundaries, etc. : —
Produce of Wet Land per acre for ^^Good Crop'' first grade Land —
Description of SoUs.
I 2 3 4 5 6
7
8
9 28
Deducting 5 per cent, for ridges, etc., 30 — ij = 28^ H. C.
For second grade land, deduct 15 per cent., which will give 24J H. C. For third grade deduct 20 per cent., which will give 22'8 H. C. For bad seasons Mr. Newill deducts 10 per cent, more, which I do not; so that the produce calculated by me is for "good crop," or in " good season," as in all other cases. Taking second grade as the bulk of the land, I take 24^ H. C. as the average of all wet land.
Value assigned for
Good Crops per Acre
H. C. (Bazar Huris
Cullum).
Description ot Soils.
Value assigned for
Good Crops per Acre
H. C. (Bazar Huris
Cullum).
45
10
30
40
II
25
35
12
20
30 28 40
15)
18 15
35 30
Average
. . . 30
1 6 THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
For dry land for cumboo (page 150), Mr. Newill gives the produce per acre as follows : —
Descriptions of Soil.
H.C.
Descrlptioni of Soils.
H.C.
'^SIL^"
H.C.
I
21
6
17
II
12
2
18
I
15
12
xo
3
'2
13
13
ID
4
16
9
12
14
9
5
H
10
H
15
Average . • say 14
8
i3il H.C.
The next thing necessary is to ascertain the correct average price. I take the average price as given in the administration report (calculated on the wrong principle re- ferred to by me before), bearing in mind that the correct average, as worked out according to specimen table A, would be very likely found lower. Again, taking the rough average of first and second-class paddy, the price comes to Rs. 180 per garce ; and as second-class paddy must be the bulk of the produce, the correct average price in this respect also must be lower. In taking, therefore, Rs. 180 per garce, some reasonable allowance will have to be made. I shall make it only 10 per cent, for all kinds of excess. It is too much work for me to calculate as in table A.
Wet land under cultivation (except South Canara and Malabar, where areas under cultivation are not given), is, for 1868 9, 2,957,748 acres at 24J H. C. produce per acre (and 133J H. C. = I garce*) will give 511,490 garces, which, at Rs. 180 per garce, will give Rs. 9,68,53,500— the total value of the produce of wet land.
Dry cultivated land (except South Canara and Malabar) is 13,560,329 acres, and with produce at 14 H. C. per acre (and 133 H. C. = i garce), will give 1,427,403 garces. I take the rough average price as given in the table— Rs. 188 per garce — in the administration report of 1868-9. This will be an over-estimate, as quantities in each district are not taken into account. The total value will be — 1,427,403 garces at Rs. 188 = Rs. 26,83,51,764. Total produce of wet and dry lands will be Rs. 36,52,05,264 ; adding 10 per cent.
1 24 Madras measures = i Hurls Cullum. 1 33 J Hurls Cullum := i Madras Garce. (Selection of the Madras Government, No. XIV. of 1869, page 16.)
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I7
for South Canara and Malabar, the total for all the Madras Presidency will be a little above Rs. 400,000,000. From this is to be allowed 10 per cent, as a correction for errors of high averages, which will leave, say, ;^36,ooo,ooo for a population of 26,539,052 (Parliamentary Return No. *°iflo*), or say 26,500,000.
Bombay. The season 1867-8 was a favourable one (Bombay ad- ministration report, 1867-8, page 59) ; that for 1868-9 un- favourable (report for 1868-9, P^g® 65). I take the former to ascertain the produce of a fair good season. I am sorry that the administration reports give no agricultural information. I therefore take the necessary particulars from other sources. The Revenue Commissioner's reports for 1867-8 give the total area under cultivation for the Northern Division at 5,129,754 acres and 1,263,139 beegahs, in which are included for grass and fallow-land 611,198 acres and 226,708 beegahs. The actual cultivated land will, after deducting this, be 4,518,556 acres, and 1,036,431 beegahs = 609,842 acres, or total acres, 5,128,398. Out of this, bajri, jowari, rice, and cotton make up nearly two-thirds, or above 60 per cent., as
follows : —
Acres. Beegahs. Bajri .... 985,427 56,857
^wari .... 676,377 224,210
ce 616,802 94,306
Cotton .... 519,058 319*572
2,797,664 694,945 = 408,791 acres,
or total acres 3,206,455.
Similarly for the Southern Division, out of the total acres, 13,985,892, jowari, bajri, rice, and cotton make up above 60 per cent, as follows : —
Acres.
Jowari 4i9o6,o73
Bajri 2,715,719
Rice 504,015
Cotton 704,629
8,830,436
I take, therefore, these four articles to represent the produce of the whole Presidency, though this will give a higher estimate. Neither the administration nor the^Revenue Commissioner's reports give produce per acre or prices. I take these two items as follows. From selections of the
c
x8
THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
Bombay Government, Nos. lo and ii of 1853, I get the following estimate of produce : —
Produce per Acre in Pouitds.
Selections.
Districts
Reported
upon.
Jowari
with
Kuthole.
Sathi,
or Coarse
Rice.
Kupas, or nncieaned Cotton. 1
Remarks.
No.
i
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
X.
15
Prant of Hu- 8ore— Morassa &
\
Cleaned Cotton as per experi- ments made un-
Bayar Per- gunnah in
1 680
700 1,020 Jowa- ri in fallow land.
1,020
der order of Mr. Saunders, Resi-
Ahmeda-
dent of Hydera-
bad Col-
bad, in Basseia
lectorate ..
^
district of Berar
—average of 8
106
Dnskroee Pergunnah—
acres giving 31 J lbs. of clean Cot-
Greatest ..
1,700
1,500
1,360
410
ton and 83^ lbs.
Least . .
270
210
410
200
of Seed. (Agri^ cultural Gazette of
XI.
15
Dholka—
India of 2istA}ig,
Greatest ..
1,700
1,500
1,360
410
1871, page 3.)
Least . .
270
210
410
200
This would give 82 lbs. for 305
Rough aver-
lbs. of kupas.
age .. .
924
856
912
305
The above averages belong to a fertile part of the Northern Division, so that if I put down 900 lbs. for bajri, jowari, and rice per acre, and 80 lbs. of cotton for the whole of that Division, I shall be making a high estimate.
The next thing to settle is the prices. I take them from the Government Gazette weekly prices for the months of January to May, 1868, as fairly representing the effect of the average favourable season of 1867-8. These are retail prices of the chief markets of the respective districts, and it will be necessary to deduct 10 per cent, to make a fair average for the whole of the Division. For cotton I take the export prices from the Prices Current of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce for January to May, 1868. This gives an average of Rs. 181 per candy. The export prices I have taken repre- sent more than the average value of the whole crop of the
THB POVERTY OP INDIA. IQ
Presidency, as the above average is for Fair Dhollera and Bhownuggur, which necessarily give a higher figure than the average of all the different varieties. Again, the bulk of the cotton is not "fair," but "mid-fair"; so, to make a fair allowance for all these circumstances, I take the price for 1867-8 as Rs. 170 per candy of 784 lbs.
The Southern Division. — As a whole, this Division is not as fertile as the Northern. I shall take, however, only 50 lbs. less for bajri, jowari, and rice ; and for cotton I take 60 lbs. per acre — a high average for the whole of the Division ; for Mr. J. B. Smith, M.P., in his paper of 1857 ^^^^ before the Society of Arts, quotes Mr. Vary, the then late Superintendent of Government Cotton Experiments in Sattara and Sholapore, to the effect that " 40 lbs. of clean cotton per acre is con- sidered a fair crop." For rice, I take Rutnagherry as exceptional in its produce. If I give 1,700 lbs. per acre for the whole district, it will be a high average.^ I take the prices from the Government Gazette in the same way as for the Northern Division, and a similar reduction of 10 per cent, will have to be made. I give below a table worked out in the manner described above : —
^ The Statistical Reporter of the Indian Economist of 22nd January, 1872, gives a table, on official authority, of the total produce of the Bombay Presidency. The figures given for Rutnagherry are evidently wrong. For X13.296 acres the produce of rice is given as 10.110,964 maunds of 82 lbs., which will be above 7,200 lbs. per acre. The best land may produce as much as 3.000, but 7.200 lbs. is simply out of the question. In the Pardy settlement {Indian Economist of 15th July' 1871, page 330. an acre of rice " in embanked land receiving full supply of water for a crop of rice," is put down as producing 3.400 lbs. Even in Bengal and Burmah— rice-pro- ducing countries — there is no such production as 7,000 lbs. per acre. For the rest of the Presidency (excepting Canara), the total produce is given as follows : —
Rics — Produce, maunds
Acres. of 82 lbs.
822,218 9ii97>7Z3> giving an average of 917 lbs.
Jowari and Bajri— Produce, maunds
Acres. of 82 lbs.
9,476.687 44*557i6oo, giving an average of 385 lbs.
Now, the year 1869-70 is reported to have been an average favourable season, in which case my adopting 900 lbs. for the Northern and 850 for the Southern Division for all grams, is very much higher than the real average. For cotton the figures are: acres, 1.937.375 ; maunds, 3.264,464, giving an average of i 68 maunds, or 136 lbs. It is not stated whether this is cleaned or seed cotton. Anyway, this cannot be correct. It is. how: ever, remarked by the official who supplies these statistics : " The figures in Table III., giving the weight of produce, are not, it is feared, very reliable, but now that attention is being given to the subject they will become more so every year." I earnestly hope that it will be so ; correct statistics of this kind are extremely important.
C 2
20
THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
Bajri,
Cultivated Area.
Total Produce
Price
Collectorates.
(at 900 lbs.
per
Total Value.
per Acre).
I Re.
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
Ahmedabad . .
129,365*
116,428,500
33-6
34.65.134
Kaira . . . .
150,841
135.756,900
30*0
45.25,230
Surat . . . .
27,217
24.495.300
25-5
9,60,600
Khandeish . .
711.447
640,302,300
27-6
2,31.99.359
Tanna. . . .
....
Total. .
1,018,870
3.21,50,323
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
Poona . . . .
834.323
709,176,250
347
2,04,37.356
Admednuggur .
1,152,316
979,468,600
34*3
2,85,55.936
Kulladghee . .
240,165
204,140,250
64-4'
31,69,880
Rutnagherry. .
Belgaum . . .
76,228
64.793.800
59*2
10,94,489
Dharwar . . .
14,108
11,991,800
69*0
1.73.795
Sattara . . .
398,573
338,787,050
52*9
64,04,292
Total . .
2,715,715
....
5,98,35.748
Jowari.
Collectorates.
Cultivated Area.
Total Produce (at 900 lbs. per Acre).
Price
per
I Re.
Total Value.
Ahmedabad . . Kaira . . . . Surat . . . . Khandeish . . Tanna. . . .
Acres. 119.679 44,536 178,839 465.198 10
lbs.
107,711,100
40,082,400
160,955,100
418,678,200
9,000
lbs. 42-4
42-4 27-1
26-8
Rs.
25.40,356
9.45.339
59.39.302
1.03,63,322
336
Total. .
808,262
1,97,88,655
Poona . . . . Ahmednuggur . Kulladghee . . Rutnagherry. . Belgaum . . . Dharwar . . . Sattara . . .
1,487,816
852,232
1,162,582
426,542 511.389 465.509
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
1,264,643,600
724.397.200
988,194,700
362,560,700 434,680,650 395,682,650
49*5 45-6 70*0
*66-o 83-8 52-6
2,55.48,355 1,58,85,903 1,41,17,060
54.93.344 51,87,120 75,22,487
Total . .
4,qo6,070
7,37^^4.269
1 Gujerat, in Northern Division ; the cultivated area is given partly in acres and partly in be^ahs. The beegahs are converted into acres, as 17 beegahs =■ i acre.
* Bhagalkote price is taken.
THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
21
Rice.
Collectorates.
Cultivated Area.
Total Produce
(at 900 lbs. per
Acre.)
2nd Sort.
price per
I Re.
Total Value.
Ahmedabad Kaira. . .
Acres.
31.902
51.443 108,348
12,081 468,499
lbs. 28,711,800 46,298,700 97.513.200 10,872,900 421,649,100
lbs. 14-0
12*2 1 1 '27 201 20*l'
Rs. 20,50,843
37,94.975 86,52,458 5,40,940* 2,09,77.567
Sarat . . .
Khandeish . Tanna . .
Total. .
672,273
605,045.700
...
3,60,16,783
Poona . . . . Ahmednuggur. . Kulladghee. . . Rntnagheny . .
Belgaam . . . Dharwar . . . Sattara . . . .
108,643
28,922
5.496
130,403
70,889 91,840 67,820
(850 lbs. per
Acre.)
92,346.550
24.583.700
4,671,600
221,685,100
(1,700 lbs. per
Acre.)
60,255,650
78,064,000
57,647,000
22'2 12-3 20*9 27-0
29*0 27-1 22-4
41.59.754
19,98,674
2,23,521
82,10,559
20,77,781 28,80,590 25,73.527
Total,
504.013
539.253.600
...
2,27.24,406
Cotton,
Collectorates.
Cultivated Area.
Produce per Acre.
Total Produce.
Price
per
Candy.
Total Value.
Ahmedabad . Kaira . . .
Acres.
lbs.
lbs.
Rs.
Rs.
Surat . . . Khandeish . Tanna . . .
707.041
80
56,563,280
170
1,22,64.997
Poona • . . Ahmednuggur KuUadghee . Rutna^erry . Belgaum . . Dharwar . . Sattara. . .
^
-704.629
60
42,277.740
170
91.67.367
> Average of Tanna and Alibaug.
' Price at Dboolia being not given, I have taken the same with Tanna.
22 the poverty of india.
Summary.
Northern Dimsion. Acres. Rs. Rs. Rs.
Bajri . 1,018,870 3»2ii5o»323 Jowari. 808,262 1,97,88,655 Rice . 672,273 3*60,16,783
8,79,55,761—10 per cent. = 7,91,60,185
Cotton 707,041 1,22,64,997
Total . 3,206,446 Rs. 9,14,25,182
Average per acre . . . Rs. 28*51
Southern Division. Acres. Rs. Rs. Rs.
Bajri . 2,715,715 5*98,35.748 Jowari. 4,906,070 7,37.54.269 Rice . 504,013 2,21,24,406
i5,57,i4,423"-iopercent.=i4,oi,42,98i
Cotton 704,629 91,67,367
Total . 8,830,427 Rs. 14,93,10,348
Average per acre . . . . Rs. 17.
Total Cultivated Area,
Acres. Rs.
Northern Division . 5,128,221 at Rs. 28'5i = 14,62,05,580 Southern „ . 13,985,892 „ 17 =23,77,60,164
Total . . • Rs. 38,39.65.744
This gives for the whole of the Bombay Presidency the total value as Rs. 38,39,65,744, or say ;^40,ooo,ooo for a population of 1 1 ,000,000.
About two or three months ago I came across an unexpected confirmation of my calculations. I was able to get from my friend, Mr. Nowrojee Furdoonjee, a few notes from Colonel Prescott's reports on the settlement of Akleshwar Taluka — I suppose an average Gujerat taluka. Colonel Prescott has made the value of gross produce (excluding straw) about Rs. 24 per acre. Why, my estimate for the whole of the Northern Division is above Rs. 28 per acre.
OUDH.
The administration report does not give the agricultural tables, but they are given in the revenue report. Wheat
THB POVBRTY OF INDIA.
33
forms the most important produce in Oudh, as in the North- West Provinces. I take it to represent the whole produce. In the revenue report ending 30th September, 1868, the average produce per acre is given at 892 lbs. — say 900 lbs. Now, in Oudhy irrigated land is nearly within 10 per cent, of unirrigated land. I shall give the above produce per acre for both, as the table also gives this as the average of all land. The year 1867-8 was somewhat below an average good season, and the prices, therefore, higher than they would be for an average good season year. I take them, however, as they are. The average for wheat, first quality, is given at Rs. 1-9-7 P^^ maund of 80 lbs., and for second quality Rs. 1-8-4 — ^^^ average will be about Rs. 1-9. As a small correction for the prices being of an inferior season, the average being on the usual wrong principle, and the second quality being the largest quantity, I shall deduct only 10 per cent. The total cultivated area is 12,486 square miles, or 7,991,040 acres. The total produce, at 900 lbs. of wheat per acre, will be 7,191,936,000 lbs. ; and the total value, at the rate of Rs. 1-9 per maund of 80 lbs., will be Rs. 14,04,67,500. This, less 10 per cent., will be Rs. 12,64,20,750, or say ;f 13,000,000, for a population of 9,500,000.
Summary.
Provinces.
Value of the
Produce of
Cultivated
Land.
Population.
Produce per head.
Central Provinces • .
Punjab
North- West Provinces .
Bengal
Madras
Bombay
Oadh
16,000,000 36,000,000 40,000,000 96,000,000 36,000,000 40,000,000 13,000,000
9,000,000 17,500,000 30,000,000 67,000,000 26,500,000 11,000,000
9,500,000
Rs. 18 ax 14
14
Total . .
277,000,000
170,500,000
Such is the produce of India for a good season year, in which any second crops will be fully included. I have not taken the produce of grazing-land, or straw, or kurby, though the cattle required for cultivation and stock need not only all
24 THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
these grazing-lands, but also a portion of the produce of the cultivated land, such as some grains, fodder, and other pro- duce. From the above total of ;f 277,000,000 it is necessary to deduct for seed for next year, say, only 6 per cent., that is, allowing sixteen-fold for produce of the land. The balance will be about ;^26p,ooo,ooo as the produce of cultivation, during a good season, for human use and consumption for a year. If the Government of India would calculate this production correctly, it would find the total a good deal under the above figures.
Other Items of India's Wealth.
I have next to add for annual produce of stock for con- sumption, annual value of manufacturing industry, net opium revenue, cost of production of salt, coals, and mines, and profits of foreign commerce.
Salt, opium, coal, and profits of commerce will be about ;^i 7,000,000. For annual price of manufacturing industry or stock, I have not come across full particulars. The manu- facturing industry in the Punjab— where there are some valuable industries, such as shawls, silks, etc., to the total estimated value of the ** annual out-turns of all works" — ^is put down as about ;^3,774,ooo. From this we deduct the value of the raw produce; and if I allow this value to be doubled by all the manufactures, I shall be making a good allowance. Say, then, that the value of the industry is about ;^2,ooo,ooo, including the price of wool ; the manufactures of other parts of India are not quite as valuable. Therefore, for the population of all British India, which is about ten times that of the Punjab, if I take ;^i 5,000,000 for the value of manufacturing industry, I shall not be far from the mark. The total for Central Provinces for 1870-1 for all manufactures is about ;f 1,850,000. There are no very valuable industries; allow, therefore, ;^85o,ooo for the value of the industry for a population of 9,000,000. In this proportion, the total value for India will be about, say, .;^i 7,000,000. For the annual produce of stock, and fish for human consumption, as milk or meat, I can hardly get sufficient data to work upon. I hope Government will give the particulars more fully, so that the annual production of stock for consumption, either as milk or meat, may be known. I set it down as ^^15,000,000 as a guess only.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
25
All this will make up a total of about ;^307,ooo,ooo. I add for any contingencies another ;^30,ooo,ooo, making at the utmost ;f 340,000,000 for a population of 170,000,000, or 40s. a head for an average good season. I have no doubt that, if the Statistical Department worked out the whole correctly and fully, they would find the total less. Again, when further allowance is made for bad seasons, I cannot help thinking that the result will be nearer 30s. than 40s. a head. One thing is evident — that I am not guilty of any under-estimate of produce.
Income per Head. Adding this additional ;f 63, 000,000 in proportion of popu- lation, that is to say 7s. 5d. per head, the total production per head of each province will be as follows : — Central Pro- vinces, 43s. 5d. ; Punjab, 49s. 5d. ; N. W. Provinces, 35s. 5d.; Bengal, 37s. 5d. ; Madras, 35s. 5d. ; Bombay, 79s. jd. ; Oudh, 35s. 5d. — Average, 40s.
Necessary Consumption.
I now consider what is necessary for the bare wants of a human being, to keep him in ordinary good health and decency.
I have calculated production chiefly for the year 1867-8. I shall take the same year for ascertaining the necessary consumption.
Surgeon S. B. Partridge, Government Medical Inspector of Emigrants, in a statement dated Calcutta, 26th March, 1870,^ proposes the following as a scale of diet to supply the necessary ingredients of nourishment for the emigrant coolies during their voyage, living in a state of quietude : —
Rice Diet €or One Man.
For Flour Diet
ozs.
Rice ....... 2o*o
Dhal 6*o
Preserved Mutton . . 2*5
Vegetables 4*27
Ghee . I'o
Mustard Oil ... . 0*5
Salt ro
Total . . . 35*27
ozs.
Flour i6'o
Dhal 4'o
Preserved Mutton ... 2*5
Vegetables 4*27
Ghee 1*5
Mustard Oil 0*5
Salt J-o
Total . . . 2977
> The InHan Economist of 15th October, 1870. Statistical Reporter,
26
THB POVERTY OP INDIA.
The administration report of Bengal for 1 870-1 gives in appendix 11 Dt. the following ''scale of provision for ships carrying Indian emigrants to British and foreign colonies west of the Cape of Good Hope."
^^ Daily Allowance to each statute Adult [Children above two and under ten years of age to receive half rations.'y*
Class.
Articles.
Remarks.
Grain
Rice . Flour ,
Oil .
Meats, &c.
Vegetables
Curry Stuff, &c. ^
Narcotic . |
for rice- eaters, for flour- eaters, for rice- eaters, for flour- \ eaters . Mustard Oil • .
oz. drs , 20 o 16 o
Dhal
Ghee ,
6 o
4 o
I o
Preserved Mutton 2 8
1 oz. pumpkins \ or yams . . f
2 oz. potatoes . I 2 oz. onions . / Garlic .... Mustard Seed . . Chillies .... Black Pepper . . Coriander Seed . Turmeric . . . Tamarind . . •
Salt
Prepared tobacco
Leaf
Firewood . . .
5 o
oj
(Four kinds of dhals make up this quantity.)
Half an ounce extra allow- ance of ghee to each adult for every day that dried flsh is supplied.
I In lieu of preserved mutton to be supplied at scale rate, dried fish for 2 to 3 weeks. Fresh mutton (sheep) I week. In lieu of fresh potatoes, a sufficient quantity of pre- served potatoes to allow 2 oz. twice a week to each adult, or about 5 weeks' supply at scale rate.
' Or in lieu of firewood, its equivalent in coal for half the quantity.
Besides the above thiere is an allowance for dry pro- vision to be used at the discretion of the surgeon, for medical comforts, medicine, instruments, and appliances for hospital and dispensary. Again, for confirmed opium- eaters or gan/a-smokers, the surgeon superintendent is to see a proper quantity supplied. Surgeon Partridge*s scale is absolutely necessary to supply the necessary ingredients of nitrogen and carbon; not the slightest luxury — no sugar or tea, or any little enjoyment of life, but simple animal subsistence of coolies living in a state of
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 2^
quietude. I have worked out below the cost of living according to Surgeon Partridge's scale for the year 1867-8 at Ahmedabad prices. The scale in the Bengal administration report provides curry-stuff and narcotics in addition, which I have not calculated in this table, though it can hardly be said that they are not necessaries to those poor people.
Qa^ of necessary living at Ahmedabad prices^ on loth January^ 1868, as given in the ** Bombay Government Gazette.*'
Rice, second sort, 20 ozs. per day, or 37^ lbs.
per month, at 15 lbs. per rupee . . . Rs. 2 8 o Dhal 6 oz. per day, or 11^ lbs. per month, at
20 lbs.' per rupee ,,090
Preserved mutton 2*50 oz. per day, or 4 lbs.
z I oz. per month, at 6^ lbs.' per rupee . „ o iz 7 Vegetable 4.27 oz. per day, or 8 lbs. per
month, at 20 lbs.' per rupee . . . « o 6 5 Ghee z oz. per day, or z lb. Z4 oz. per month,
at 2 lbs. z oz. per rupee . . . . „ o iz o Mustard oil o*^ oz. per day, or z lb. 8 oz. per
month, at 6 lbs> per rupee . \ . . ,,040 Salt 1 oz. per day, or z lb. 14 oz. per month,
at 38 Ibs.^ per rupee „ o o zo
Per Month . . Rs. 5 2 zo The annual cost of living, or subsistence only, at Ahmeda- bad prices, is thus Rs.62-2.
Cost of Subsistence.
The following is an estimate of the lowest ^absolute scale
of necessaries of a common agricultural labourer in the
Bombay Presidency annually, by Mr. Kazee Shahabudin : —
Food--
z J lbs. Rice per day, at Rs. 2 to Rs. 2-8 per
maund of 40 lbs., say . Salt, including waste, about
i lb. Dhal
Vegetables .
Food-oil.
Condiments, chillies, &c.
Tobacco
oz. a day
Rs.28 8 z o
9 o
o o
5 o
o o
5 o
Rs. 48 8
^ There are three kinds of dhal : Oomd, Moong, and Toor. I take an average.
' I don't find [nice of preserved mutton. I have taken of mutton.
* No price is given for vegetables. I take it the same as dhal.
* No price of mustard oil is given. I have taken for teel. which is the cheapMt*among the four kinds of oil given in the table.
* This is the price oi common sea salt, which would require to be taken more than a ^ oz. to make up for the } oz. of good salt required. Also there Is some wastage or loss.
28
THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
Clothing—
3 Dhotees a year ....
. Rs. 3 o
I pair champal (shoes) .
. . n O 12
i a turban
. ,. I 8
I Bundee (jacket) ....
. . M I o
2 Kamlees (blankets) .
. . » I 8
I Rumal (handkerchiet)
. „ O 2
I Rain-protector ....
. » 0 4
Rs. 8 2
The dress of the female of the house—
li Saree (dress) Rs. 3 12
I Cholee (short jacket) . . . . .,,012
Oil for head n z 8
Bangrees fglass bangles) • . . .,,06
i Champal (shoes) ,,04
Extras „ i o
Rs. 7 10
The old members of the family will require as much.
Lodging—
Hut (labour taken as his own) Hut repairs (bamboos, &c.), per annum Oil for lamp, per day .... Barber per month ....
Domestic utensils per annum . .
Say altogether Rs. 12 to Rs. 15 for the family.
Rs.25
0
!• 4
0
n 0
oi
,. 0
I
If 0
12
Subsistence per Head.
Taking one-quarter less, for reasons stated further on, to calculate the cost per head of family, the result will be —
Food . . R8.36\
Clothing . „ 6 J without any provision for social and religious
i.oagmg . " _£ > wants, letting alone luxuries, and anything
„ I to spare for bad seasons.
Rs. 45 j ^
The report of the Bombay Price Commission gives the following particulars of the wants of the lowest servants of Government (pages 85. 86), supplied from the Poona District : —
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
ag
Articles.
Quantities
Cost
per
Remarks.
per month.
month in 1863.
Seers.
Rs.
a.
Rice
12
I
8
Bajri . . .
12
I
4
It will be observed
Toor Dhal, &c.
4
0
le
that simple living
Ghee
oj
0
10
and clothing are
V^etables .
0
6
here exhibited, and
Oil ... .
li
0
6
nothing is taken into
Firewood
•••
0
8
account for support
Salt . . .
I
0
I
of dependent mem-
Mnssala.
•••
0
2
bers of family, ser-
Chillies .
oj
0
2
vants, rehgious and
Milk
4
0
8
other domestic ex-
Betelnut-leaves
Rs. .
0
8
penses.
6
II
Clothing —
Torbans Dhotee . Puncha . Rumal . Coats . Waistcoat Shoes •
Cost per Month.
. Rs. o 8 10 2 oi
3 2
o o o o o o
Total
Rs. I II
Grand Total . Rs. 8 6 per month.
For Poona the above scale is calculated to cost Rs. 6-11 per month, or Rs. 80-4 per annum, at the high prices of 1863, while my estimate, according to Surgeon Partridge's scale for 1867-8, is Rs. 5-2-10 per month, or Rs. 62-2 per annum — nearly 24 per cent, less, as prices have gone lower. For clothing, the estimate for 1863 is Rs. i-ii per month, or Rs. 20-8 per annum, while Mr. Shahabudin's estimate is only Rs. 8-2 in 1868. Even allowing for fall in price Mr. Shaha- budin's estimate is lower, and calculated on a very low scale for an agricultural labourer in the poorest districts, while that of 1863 is for the lowest class of Government servants. Upon the whole, therefore, the estimate given for 1867-8, as for the bare necessaries of a common agricultural labourer, is evidently under the mark.
Lately I found the following in the " Statement of the Moral and Material Progress of India "for 1871-2 : — "The
30
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
best account of the Bombay peasantry is still probably that by Mr. Coats, written fifty years ago. The clothes of a man then cost about i28. and the furniture of his house about ;f 2." — (Parliamentary Return No. 172 of 28th April, 1873.)
I have not been able to work out the details of cost of living in other parts of India. For the present I give the following approximate comparison for 1867-8 : —
Jails.
Provinces.
Cost of Uving.
Cost of Clothing.
Total.
Rs. a. p.
Rs. a. p.
Rs. a.
p.
Central Provinces
25 8 0
580
31 0
0
Punjab.
23 6 0
3 13 0
27 3
0
North- West Provinces .
18 8 0
350
21 13
0
Beogal^
28 3 0
380
31 IX
0
Madras
*49 2 7
3 15 9
53 a
4
Bombay
41 13 0
5 10 0
47 7
0
Oudh . . . .
Proportion of Children to Adults. Now, the Bengal Census Report of 1872, page 109 of the appendix, ^ves the percentage of population according to age as follows : —
Males.
Females.
Not exceeding 12 Years.
Above 12 Years.
Not exceeding 12 Years.
Above 12 Years.
i8-8
31-3
157
34-2
The Census of the N.W. Provinces gives nearly the same result.
Above 12 years, adolti, 64-4 per cent. ; under is, 356 per cent. (See Ad- ministration Report for 1871—72, page 55; Cen- sus Report, vol. i, pago 31.)
1 Administration Report of Tails for 1871, page 39 of Appendix.
> This appears to be a very large expenditure. Besides, the average it taken -on the wrong principle, without taking the number of the prisonom in each district into account. The correct average will be above Rt. 5a
THB POVERTY OF INDIA. 3I
The total adults, that is, above 12 years, are 65*5 per cent., and infants or children under 12 years, 34*5 per cent., which gives the proportion of two adults to each child, or one child to every three persons.
Production Compared with Cost of Living. From taking the cost of adults per head to be a, and cost of the mass per head to be x^ and supposing that, out of 34 per cent, of children under 12, only 17 per cent, cost any- thing, say one-half of the adult (though the Bengal provision is half for children from two to ten years), while the other 17 cost nothing at all, the problem will be —
66a + 17I + 17 X o = 100^ ^ = ^>o«^sayZ^orJa;
j.^., the cost outside jail, or for the whole mass per head, will be about three-fourths of inside the jail, allowing the jail for adults only. Thus, taking the cost of three persons in the jail, or of three adults to four persons outside, or of the mass, it comes to this : —
Prodaction per Head.
Three-fourths of Jail
Cost of Living,
or Cost per head
outside Jail.
Central Provinces . . Rs. 21^ Punjab ....... 24^
North -West Provinces . „ 17,
Madras ,,17
Bengal „ i
Bombay „ 3(
Oudh „ 17
Rs.23 •1 20
16
23-12 35
It will be seen, from a comparison of the above figures, that, even for such food and clothing as a criminal obtains, there is hardly enough of production even in a good season, leaving alone all little luxuries, all social and religious wants, all expenses of occasions of joy and sorrow, and any provision for bad season. It must, moreover, be borne in mind that every poor labourer does not get the full share of the average production. The high and middle classes get a much larger share, the poor classes much less, while the lowest cost of living is generally above the average share.
Such appears to be the condition of the masses of India. They do not get enough to provide the bare necessaries of life.
32 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
On the subject of necessary consumption, I shall be very glad if some members of this Association, or others who possess or can ascertain the necessary information, will supply it, as I have not been able to make such minute and extended enquiries myself as I could wish.
Deficit of Imports Compared with the Exports of India.
The total imports and exports of the United Kingdom £or the years 1858 to 1870 are —
Imports . . ^£'3,608,216,242 (including BuIIIod). Exports . , 5^2,875,027,301 „ „
This shows an excess of imports over exports of ;^733, 188,941, t.^., the imports are above 25 per cent, greater than the exports.
This excess is to be increased to the extent of about ;^i 25,000,000, the balance of loans to India included in the exports, less interest on these loans included in imports of about ;^6o,ooo,ooo, and by such further amounts as may be made up by balances of loans and interests with foreign parts. As England is the greatest lending country in the world, the ultimate result of excess of commercial imports over commercial exports will most probably be above, rather than under, ;^733,ooo,ooo or 25 per cent, of exports. At all events, it will not be less than 15 per cent.
For British North America, the total imports and exports, including bullion, for the years 1854 ^^ ^^68, are —
Imports ;f2oo,257,620
Exports £i54»900»367
This shows an excess of imports over exports of ^45,357,253, 1.^., the imports are about 29 per cent, more than the exports, subject to a modification of the extent to which it has re- ceived from, or given loan to, foreign parts. As far as I can see, it is a borrower, and the excess to that extent will be lesser.
For Australia, the total imports and exports, including bullion, for the years 1854 ^^ 1868, are —
Imports ;f443»407»oi9
Exports ^£'384,503,081
The excess of imports over exports is therefore ^58,903,938, 1.^., the imports are 15 per cent, more than the exports, subject
THB POVERTY OP INDIA. 33
to modification, as in the case of British North America, for its foreign debt. These figures show that the normal con- dition of the foreign commerce of any country is generally such that for its exports there is always a return in imports equal to the exports, plus profits. On an average, commercial profits may be taken at 20 per cent. Indian merchants generally insure by sailing vessels 25 per cent, more, and by steamers 15 per cent., for profits, as by steamers the same capital may be turned over oftener. If I take general com- mercial profits as 15 per cent., I shall be quite under the mark.
Now we must see what the case is with India. The exports of India for the years 1835 ^o ^872 being about ^1,120,000,000, the imports, with an addition of 15 per cent. to exports for profits (of about ^168,000,000), should be about ^1,288,000,000. Besides this, India has incurred to foreign parts a debt of about ;^5o,ooo,ooo for the public debt, and about ;^ioo,ooo,ooo for railways, during the same period.
The Drain to England.
Now, on the other hand, in return for the exports, plus profits, of ;f 1,288,000,000, and ^150,000,000 of the loans, India has actually imported, during the last 38 years, from 1835 to 1872 (not, as would be the case in a normal condition, ^1,430,000,000, but) only about ;f 943, 000,000, leaving a balance of about ;^5oo,ooo,ooo, which England has kept^back as its benefit, chiefiy arising from, the political position it holds over India. This is without including any interest at. all. Towards this drain, the net opium revenue contributed^ by China amounts to about ^141,000,000. The balance of about ;f36o,ooo,ooo is derived from India's own produce and profits of commerce. The profits of commerce are, say, about ;^i68,ooo,ooo. Allowing them the whole opium revenue and the whole profits of commerce as having gone towards the drain, there is still a deficiency of nearly ;f 200,000,000, whicli must have gone out of the produce of the country. Deduct- ing from this ;^20o,ooo,ooo the interest on the railway loans remitted to England, the balance still sent from the very produce of the country is about ;f 144,000,000. Strictly speaking, the whole ;^2oo,ooo,ooo should be considered .>as a drain from the very produce of the country, because it is the exhaustion caused by the drain that disables us from build-
D
34 THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
ing our railroads, etc., from our own means. If we did not suffer the exhaustion we do, and even then if we found it to our benefit to borrow from England, the case would be one of a healthy natural business, aud the interest then remitted would have nothing to be deplored in it, as in the case of other countries, which, being young, or with undeveloped resources, and without much means of their own, borrow from others, and increase their own wealth thereby, as AustraHa, Canada, the United States, or any other native- ruled country that so borrows. However, as matters stand at present, we are thankful for the railway loan, for in reality that, though as a loan (with the profits during the American War), has revived us a little. But we are sinking fast again.
Increase of the Drain.
Allowing for the railway interest as a mere matter of business, and analysing the deficit of imports, or drain to England, as only about ;^453, 000,000, the following is the yearly average for every five years : —
Yearly Average. Years. £
1835 to 1839 5.347»ooo
1840 „ 1844 5)930,000
1845 „ 1849 7,760,000
1850 „ 1854 7,458,000
1855 »i 1859 7*730.000
i860 „ 1864 17,300,000
1865 „ 1869 24,600,000
1870 „ 1872 27,400,000
Now, can it be shown by anybody that the production during these 38 years has been such as to leave the same amount per head every year, and surplus besides, to make up the above ;f 200,000,000 taken away from the produce of the country, in addition to opium revenue and profits of com- merce ? In that case it will be that India is no better o£f now, but is only in the same condition as in 1834. ^^ ^^ <^^^ be shown that the production of the country has been such as to be the same per head during all these years, and a surplus greater than ;^2oo,ooo,ooo besides, then will it be that any material benefit has been derived by India to the extent of such excess of surplus over ;^20o,ooo,ooo. It must, however, be remembered that, in the years about 1834, ^he condition of the people had already gone down very low by
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 35
the effects of the previous deficits, as will be seen further on bom the official opinions I have given there.
The benefit to England by its connection vnth India must not be measured by the ;f 500,000,000 only during the last 38 years. Besides this the industries of England receive large additional support for supplying all European stores which Government need, and all those articles which Europeans want in India from their habits and customs, not from mere choice, as may be the case with natives. All the produce of the country, thus exported from sheer necessity, would other- wise have brought returns suitable to native wants, or would have remained in the country, in either case, to the benefit of the produce or industry of India. Be it clearly borne in mind that all this additional benefit to English industries is entirely independent of, and in addition to, the actual deficit between the export, plus profits and imports. Everything I allude to is already included in the imports. It is so much additional ' capital drawn away, whether India will or no, from the industry of India to the benefit of English industry. There is, again, the further legitimate benefit to England of the profits of English firms there carrying on commerce with India, the profits of the shipping trade, and insurance. The only pity — and a very great one too— is that the commerce between England and India is not so large as it should and can be, the present total exports of India to all the outside world being only about 5s. a head, while the exports of the United Kingdom are about £6 los. a head, of British North America about £^ a head, and of Australia about ^19 a head, including gold (and exclusive of gold, about £11 sl head). Again, what are imports into India from the United King- dom, including treasure. Government stores of every kind, railway and other stores, articles for European consumption, and everything for native consumption and use ? Only less than 3S. a head, as below : —
Total Imports, including Treasure, into India from the United Kingdom.
Say ;f32,ooo,ooo, on an average, for a population of about 225,000,000, or less than 3s. a head.
(Parliamentary Return [c. 587] of 1872, page 16— Trade and Navigation Returns of the United Kingdom.)
D a
1868 . .
. jf3i.629,3i5
1869 . .
. 35»309,973
1870 . .
. 30.357.055
I87Z . .
. 28,826,264
36 the poverty of india.
Small Amount of Imports from England.
What a vast field there is for English commerce in India ! Only £i a head will be equal to nearly the whole present exports of the United Kingdom to all parts of the world. There is one further circumstance against British- Indian subjects, which will show the actual drain from the produce of the country of more than ^200,000,000 as borne by British India. The exports from India do not all belong to British India ; a portion belongs to the Native States. These States naturally get back their imports equal to their exports, pbis profits — less only the tribute they pay to British India, of only about ;^72o,ooo altogether per annum, of which even a portion is spent in their own States. No account can I take here of the further loss to India (by famines) of life and pro- perty, which is aggravated by the political exhaustion. It is complained that England is at the mercy of India for its loan of some ^200,000,000, but let it be borne in mind that, within the next few years, that sum will have been drawn by Eng- land, while India will continue to have its debt over its head. , The figures of the deficit previous to 1834 ^ cannot get. I hope the India Office will prepare a table similar to this for this previous period, in order that it may be ascertained how India had fared materially under British rule altogether.
The effect of the deficit is not equally felt by the different presidencies. Bengal suffers less than the others on account of its permanent settlement. I do not mean that as any objection to such settlement, but I state it merely as a fact.
India's Tribute.
^The Court of Directors, in the year 1858, deliberately put forth before the Parliament and public of England the state- ment (Parliamentary Return No. 75 of 1858) that " the great excess of exports above imports is being regularly liquidated in silver." Now, is it not India's misfortune that not one man in the India House pointed out how utterly incorrect, misleading, and mischievous this statement was ?
Now, Mr. Laing makes the following statement before the present Finance Committee : — ** Question 7660 of 2nd Report. — Would it not be correct to state that the difference between the value of the exports from India, and the imports into India, which now amount, I think, to the sum of about
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 37
;^2o,ooo,ooo represents the tribute which India annually pays ( to England ? Answer. — No, I think not ; I should not call it ' a tribute when there is a balance of trade of that sort between the two countries. There are many other countries which are in the same condition of exporting considerably more than they import from one particular country, and the balance of trade is adjusted either by other payments which have to be made, or by transactions through third countries, or finally by remittance of bullion."
First of all, the question was not about India's commerce with any particular country, but about all its exports and imports. And next, taking his answer as it is, it is altogether incorrect and inapplicable to India, as must be evident from the facts I have already laid before you.
Next comes Mr. Maclean. He is reported to have said l^fore this Committee something to the effect that, if we compare India, for instance, with the United States, which can hardly be called a country that is being drained of its natural wealth, we will find that the excess of exports over imports in the United States is very much greater than the corresponding excess in India. Now, let us see what the facts are. I have prepared a table, and have taken the figures from the year 1795 — the earliest I could get. From the totals I have excluded the years 1802-6, 1808-14, 1818-20, because the imports for them are not given, and the years 1863-6 for reasons well known (the American War). The result till 1869 (I cannot get later authentic figures) is not, as Mr. Maclean says, that **the excess of exports over imports in the United States is very much greater than the cor- responding excess in India," but that the excess of imports over exports is about $493,000,000 till 1847, and ;^43,ooo,ooo from 1848-69, excepting the years I have mentioned above ; and if all the necessary modifications from various other circum- stances be made, the excess of the imports will be found necessarily much greater. In fact, the United States are no ' , y exception to the ordinary laws of poHtical economy, in a *' country where the rule is a native, and not a foreign one. I have made up my tables from Parliamentary Returns.
The deficit of ;^5oo,ooo,ooo in imports, does not, as I have already explained, show the whole drain ; for the English stores, whether Government or private, are all already included in the imports^ nor is any interest calculated. With
38 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
interest, the drain from India would amount to a very high figure.
The Elements of the Drain.
This drain consists of two elements — first, that arising from the remittances by European officials of their savings^ and for their expenditure in England for their various wants both there and in India ; from pensions and salaries paid in England ; and from Government expenditure in England and India. And the second, that arising from similar remittances by non-official Europeans. As the drain prevents India from making any capital, the British by bringing back the capital which they have drained from India itself, secure almost a monopoly of all trade and important industries, and thereby further exploit and drain India, the source of the evil being the official drain.
Official Opinion on the Drain.
We may draw our own inferences about the effiscts of the drain, but I give you below official opinions on the subject^ from early times to the present day, for each Presidency.
Bengal. 1787. Sir John Shore's Opinion.
Sir John Shore, in 1787, says, in his famous minute (appendix to 5th report. Parliamentary Return No. 377 of 1812):—
'' 129. Secondly, it is a certain fact that the zemindars are almost universally poor . . . Justice and humanity calls for this declaration.
"130 I do not, however^
attribute this fact to the extortions of our Government, but to the causes which I shall hereafter point out, and which will be found sufficient to account for the effect. I am by na means convinced that the reverse would have taken place if the measure of our exactions had been more moderate.
" 131. Thirdly, the Company are merchants, as well as sovereigns of the country. In the former capacity they engross its trade, whilst in the latter they appropriate the revenues. The remittances to Europe of revenues are made in the commodities of the country which are purchased by them.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 39
** 132. W'hatever allowance we may make for the in- creased industry of the subjects of the State, owing to the enhanced demand for the produce of it (supposing the demand to be enhanced), there is reason to conclude that the benefits are more than counterbalanced by evils inseparable from the system of a remote foreign dominion. . . .
" 135. Every information, from the time of Bernier to u^ the acquisition of the Dewani, shows the internal trade of the country, as carried on between Bengal and the upper parts of Hindustan, the Gulf of Moro, the Persian Gulf, and the Malabar Coast, to have been very considerable* Returns of specie and goods were made through these channels by that of the foreign European companies, and in gold direct for opium from the eastward.
" 136. But from the year 1765 the reverse has taken place. The Company's trade produces no equivalent returns, specie is rarely imported by the foreign companies, or brought into Bengal from other parts of Hindustan in any considerable quantities.
"141. If we were to suppose the internal trade of Hindustan again revived, the export of the production of the country by the company must still prevent those returns which trade formerly poured in. This is an evil inseparable from a European government.
Page 194. — ** A large proportion of the rents of the country are paid into the Company's treasury, and the manufactures are applied to remit to England the surplus which remains after discharging the claims on this Government, and to augmnU the commerce and revenue of Great Britain.**
1790. Lord Cornwallis' Opinion.
Lord Cornwallis' minute on land settlements, dated icth February, 1790, says: — "The consequence of the heavy drain of wealth from the above causes (viz., large annual investment to Europe, assistance to the treasury of Calcutta, and to supply wants of other presidencies), with the addition of that which has been occasioned by the remittances of private fortunes, have been for many years past, and are now, severely felt, by the great diminution of the current specie, and by the languor which has thereby been thrown upon the cultivation and the general commerce of the country."
40 the poverty of india.
1816. Mr. Montgomery Martin's Opinion.
The East India Company, on finding the provinces of Bengal and Behar continuously deteriorating, caused a long and minute survey of the condition of the people. This survey extended over nine years, from 1807 to 1816. The reports, however, lay buried in the archives of the India House till Mr. Montgomery Martin brought them to light. He sums up the result of these official minute researches in the following remarkable words (vol. I, page 11) : — " It is im- possible to avoid remarking two facts as peculiarly striking — first, the richness of the country surveyed ; and second, the poverty of its inhabitants."
Before proceeding further, I must first say that the drain to which these great men have referred was much less than at present. I give the figures in Mr. Martin's words (page xii) : — '* The annual drain of ;^3 ,000,000 on British India has amounted in 30 years, at 12 per cent, (the usual Indian rate) compound interest, to the enormous sum of ;^723,900,ooo
.'sterling So constant and accumulating a drain,
even in England, would soon impoverish her. How severe then must be its effects on India, where the wage of a labourer is from twopence to threepence a day ? "
In volume III, page 4, etc., alluding to the nine years* survey, Mr. Martin says that the obscurity to which such a survey was consigned was to be deplored, ** and can only be accounted for by supposing that it was deemed impolitic to publish to the world so painful a picture of human poverty, debasement, and wretchedness " ; and Mr. Martin draws many other painful conclusions.
1837. Mr. F. J. Shore's Opinion. Coming down to later times, Mr. Frederick John Shore, of the Bengal Civil Service, has left us the following account of the condition of the people in 1837 (vol. II, page 28) : — •* But the halcyon days of India are over ; she has been drained of a large proportion of the wealth she once possessed, and her energies have been cramped by a sordid system of misrule to which the interests of millions have been sacrificed for the benefit of the few." .... "The gradual impoverishment of the people and country, under the mode of rule established by the British Government, has hastened their (old merchant princes') fall."
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 4I
" The grinding extortion of. the English Government has effected the impoverishment of the country and people to an extent almost unparalleled."
For the manner in which the cotton industry of India was destroyed, see note at page 37 of the same volume. The chapter ends in these words (vol. II, pp. 515-6) : " But because the Indians are in the present day so far behind us in arts and sciences, we are not justified in concluding that they are not capable of improvement were circumstances favour- able to them. Complaints are made that whatever is to be done, an appeal is made to Government — a road, a school, a charitable institution — everything must be done by Govern- ment ! How can it be otherwise ? In England, where so much wealth is possessed by the community, diffused over all classes, and where there are local authorities to superintend them, the greatest improvements are planned and executed by private individuals ; but in India, where the Government grasps at everything and leaves the people only a bare subsistence, having destroyed almost every local authority which formerly existed, and where the interests, that is, the immediate interests, of the rulers are very different from those of the governed, the people have a right to expect that some small part of what is taken from them shall be expended on their t)enefit." In his concluding remarks (vol. ii, page 516), Mr. Shore says : — •* More than 17 years have elapsed since I 6rst landed in this country ; but on my arrival, and during my residence of about a year in Calcutta, I well recollect the quiet, comfortable, and settled conviction, which in those days existed in the minds of the English population, of the blessings conferred on the natives of India by the establish- ment of the English rule. Our superiority to the native Governments which we have supplanted ; the excellent system for the administration of justice which we had intro- duced ; our moderation ; our anxiety to benefit the people — in short, our virtues of every description — were descanted on as so many established truths, which it was heresy to con- trovert. Occasionally I remember to have heard some hints and assertions of a contrary nature from some one who had spent many years in the interior of the country; but the storm which was immediately raised and thundered on the head of the unfortunate individual who should presume to question the established creed was almost sufficient to appal the boldest.
42 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
*< Like most other young men who had no opportunities of judging for themselves, it was but natural that I should imbibe the same notions ; to which may be added the idea of universal depravity of the people, which was derived from the same source.*'
After stating how his transfer to a remote district brought him into intimate contact with natives, how he found them disaffected towards British rule, and how this conviction in spite of himself was irresistible, he says : — " This being the case, an attempt to discover the reasons for such sentiments on the part of the native population was the natural result. Well-founded complaints of oppression and extortion, on the part of both Government and individuals, were innumerable. The question then was, why, with all our high professions, were not such evils redressed ? This, however, I was assured, was impossible under the existing system ; and I was thus gradually led to an inquiry into the principles and practice of the British-Indian administration. Proceeding in this, I soon found myself at no loss to understand the feelings of the people both towards our. Government and to ourselves. It would have been astonishing indeed had it been otherwise. The fundamental principle of the English had been to make the whole Indian nation subservient, in every possible way, to the interests and benefits of themselves. They have been taxed to the utmost limit ; every successive province, as it has fallen into our possession, has been made a field for higher exaction ; and it has always been our boast how greatly we have raised the revenue above that which the native rulers were able to extort. The Indians have been excluded from every honour, dignity, or office which the lowest Englishman could be prevailed upon to accept. ..... The summary is
that the British Indian Government has been practically one of the most extortionate and oppressive that ever existed in India — one under which injustice has been and may be committed both by the Government and big individuals, provided the latter be rich, to an almost unlimited extent, and under which redress from injury is almost unattainable ; the consequence of which is that we are abhorred by the people, who would hail with joy and instantly join the standard of any Power whom they thought strong enough to occasion our downfall. That this is correct regarding a Government conducted on the principles which have hitherto
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 43
actuated us is too lamentably true ; but had the welfare of the people been our object, a very different course would have been adopted, and very different results would have followed ; for, again and again I repeat it, there is nothing in the circumstance itself, of our being foreigners of different colour and faith, that should occasion the people to hate us. We may thank ourselves for having made their feelings towards us what they are.'*
In vol. I, page 162, Mr. Shore says: — The ruin of the upper classes (like the exclusion of the people from a share in the government) was a necessary consequence of the establishment of the British power ; but had we acted on a more liberal plan, we should have fixed our authority on a much more solid foundation."
1875. Col. Marriot's Opinion.
Colonel Marriot, at the East India Association meeting in July last, referring to Bengal, said : — " But he had no doubt that he accurately quoted the words of the present Lieut.- Governor of Bengal in saying that the mass of the popula- tion is probably poorer, and in a lower social position, than any in India.**
The *' Material and Moral Progress" for 1871-2 (page 100), says that '* the Calcutta missionary conference had dwelt on the miserable and abject condition of the Bengal ryots, and there is evidence that they suffer many things, and are often in want of absolute necessaries."
Bombay. 1836. Mr. Saville Marriot's Opinion.
Mr. Saville Marriot, "one of the Commissioners of Revenue m the Deccan," and afterwards a Member of Council, says in 1836, in his letter to Sir R. Grant : — •* You will readily conceive that my opinions are the result rather of practical experience than deduction drawn from scientific views
•' For many years past, I have, in common with many others, painfully witnessed their decline (the people's) ; and more especially that part of the community which has emphatically been styled the • sinews of the State ' — the peasantry of India. It is not a single, but a combination of causes, which has produced this result. Some of these are, and have been from the beginning, obvious to those who have
44 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
watched with attention the development of the principles of our rule in relation to such as have been superseded, become blended with our system, or are opposed to it in practical effect. Others are less apparent, and some complex ; whilst another class of the decline may possibly be involved in obscurity.
*< It is a startling but too notorious a fact, that, though loaded with a vastly greater absolute amount of taxation, and harassed by various severe acts of tyranny and oppression, yet the country was in a state of prosperity under the native rule when compared with that into which it has fallen imder the avowedly mild sway of British administration. Though, in stating the' subject, I have used the expression ' a vastly greater absolute amount of taxation,' yet I would beg to be understood as being fully aware those terms must be treated in a qualified sense, since it is manifest that, relatively reviewed, a smaller numerical amount of taxation may, with reference to the means of payment, be, in point of fact, more burdensome than a much larger one where the resources are more adequate to the object. But, in the particular case in point, it is, I believe, ability which has diminished; and that, too, to many grades below the proportionate fall in the pecuniary amount of fiscal demand. To the pecuniary injurious result are also to be added the many unfavourable circumstances inseparable for a time from a foreign rule. In elucidation of the position titat this country is verging to the lowest ebb of pai^evism^ I would adduce a fact pregnant with considerations of the most serious importance, namely, that of late years a large portion of the public revenue has been paid by encroachment upon the capital of the country, small though that capital is in itself. I allude to the property of the peasantry, which consists of personal ornaments of the precious metals and jewels, convertible, as occasions require, to profitable purposes, and accommodations in agricultural pursuit, most frequently in the shape of pawn, till the object has been attained. I feel certain that an examination would establish that a considerable share of this and other property ^ even to cattle and household utensils^ has been for ever alienated from its proprietors to make good the public revenue. In addition to this lamentable evidence of poverty is another of equal force, to be seen in all parts of the country, in the numerous individuals of the above class of the community wandering about for the
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 45
employment of hirelincrs, which they are glad to obtain even for the most scanty pittance. In short, almost everything forces the conviction that we have before us a narrowing progress to utter pauperism.'' *
Mr. Marriot in another place (page ii), says : — ** Most of the evils of our rule in India arise directly from, or mayjbe traced to, the heavy tribute which that country pays to England."
And with regard to this tribute, he quotes the Chairman of a Court of Proprietors held on the 28th February, 1845, as follows : — ** India paid to the mother-country, in the shape of home charges, what must be considered the annual tribute of ^"3,000,000 sterling ; and daily poured into the lap of the mother-country a continual stream of wealth in the shape of private fortunes." To this should be added all earnings of Europeans, except what they spent in India for Indian supplies; which would show that there is something far beyond even private fortunes which is continuously poured into the lap of England.
Mr. Marriot goes on to say : — " It will be diflScult to satisfy the mind that any country could bear such a drain upon its resources without sustaining very serious' injury. And the writer entertains the fullest conviction that investi- gation would effectually establish the truth of the proposition as applicable to India. He has himself most painfully witnessed it in those parts of the country with which he was connected, and he has every reason to believe tnat the same eNnl exists, with but slight modification, throughout] our Eastern Empire.*'
Again says Mr. Marriot (page 17) : — "A different state of things exists in the present day on that point ; and, thouq^h the people still, and gratefully so, acknowledge the benefits they have derived from the suppression of open violence, yet they emphatically and unanswerably refer their increasing penury as evidencing the existence of a canker-worm that is working their destruction. The sketch which I have given shows a distressing state of things ; but lamentable as it may appear, I would pledge myself to establish the facts advanced, and that the representation is not overdrawn."
^ Mr. Marriot'8 paraph!et» republished in 1857, page i3« The italics are mine.
46 the poverty of india.
1848. Mr. Gibernb*s Opinion.
Mr. Robert Knight says :— " Mr. Gibeme, after an absence of fourteen years from Guzerat, returned to it, as judge, in 1840. * Everywhere' — he told the Commons' Committee on Cotton Cultivation in 1848 — *he marked deterioration/ and * I did not see so many of the more wealthy classes of the natives. The aristocracy, when we first had the country, used to have their gay carts, horses, and attendants, and a great deal of finery about them, and there seems to be an
absence of all that The ryots all complain that they
had had money once, hut tluy had none now* "
1868. Mr. Robert Knight's Opinion.
In a private letter, dated 1849, "written by a gentleman high in the Company's service," and quoted in a pamphlet in 1 85 1, the decay of Guzerat is thus described: — " Many of the best families in the province, who were rich and well-to- do when we came into Guzerat in 1807, have now scarcely clothes to their backs. • . . Our demands in money on the talookdars are more than three times what they originally paid, without one single advantage gained on their parts. Parties from whom they have been compelled to borrow at ruinous rates of interest enforced their demands by attach- ment of their lands and villages ; thus they sink deeper and deeper in debt, without the chance of extricating themselves. What, then, must become of their rising family ? " *
1838. Lieut. Nash's Opinion.
Lieutenant A. Nash, after giving a table of the prices of grain from 1809 to 1838 in Indapore (Bombay Government Selections, No. 107, New Series, page 118), says: — "The table is chiefly interesting in showing the gradual diminution in the price of corn from the days of the Peishwas to our own. By comparing the prices at the commencement with those at the end of the table, and then reading the list over, this circumstance will become apparent." I give this table in my notes on prices.
> Mr. Rol)ert Knight's paper read before the East India AsaodatioD 3rd March, z868. '
thb poverty of india. 47
Madras. 1854. Mr* J- ^- Norton's Opinion.
Mr. John Bruce Norton, in his letter to Mr. Robert Lowe in 1854, quotes the words of Mr. Bourdillon — ''one of the ablest revenue officers in the Madras Civil Service, and a Member of the Commission on Public Works " — about the majority of the ryots : — Page 21. — " Now, it may certainly be said of almost the whole of the ryots, paying even the highest of these sums, and even of many holding to a much larger amount, that they are always in poverty and generally in debt." Page 22. — " A ryot of this class, of course, lives from hand to mouth. He rarely sees money. . . . His dwelling is a hut of mud walls and thatched roof--far ruder, smaller, and more dilapidated than those of the better classes of ryots above spoken of, and still more destitute, if possible, of any- thing that can be called furniture. His food, and that of his family, is partly thin porridge made of the meal of grain boiled in water, and partly boiled rice, with a little condi- ment ; and generally the only vessels for cooking and eating from, are of the coarsest earthenware, much inferior in grain to a good tile or brick in England, and unglazed. Brass vessels, though not wholly unknown among this class, are rare."
About the labourer he says : — ** As respects food, houses, and clothing, they are in a worse condition than the class of poor ryots above spoken of. It appears from the foregoing details that the condition of the agricultural labourer in this country is very poor. ... In fact, almost the whole of his earnings must necessarily be consumed in a spare allowance of coarse and unvaried food, and a bare sufficiency of clothing. The wretched hut he lives in can hardly be valued at all. As to anything in the way of education or mental culture, he is utterly destitute of it.*'
1869. Sir George Campbell's Opinion.
Such is the testimony in the year 1854. Now let us come down to so late a time as 1869. Mr. (now Sir George) Camp- bell, in his paper on tenure of land in India, published by the Cobden Club, quotes from an official authority a report made so late as 1869 about the Madras Presidency, as
48
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
follows : — " The bulk of the people are paupers. They can just pay their cesses in a good year, and fail altogether when the season is bad. Remissions have to be made, perhaps every third year, in most districts. There is a bad year in some one district, or group of districts, every year."
Again, the Parliamentary Report of the Moral and Material Progress of India for 1868-9, page 71, says — "Prices in Madras have been falling continuously."
Punjab.
The administration report for 1855-6 (Government of India Selections, No. i8, 1856) gives the following table : —
Average Prices.
For Ten Years up to 1850—51.
Wheat, Rs. 2 per maund of 82 lb.
Indian Com, Rs. i\\ per maund.
1851-2 1852.3 1853-4 1854-5 1855.6
Rs. I per maund. », We
Rs. oil per maund. »» 'tV »t
•1 ofj „
With the usual effects of the introduction of a foreign rule, and the seasons happening to be good, the result was a fall in prices to nearly half during the five years after the annex- ation. The political portion of the causes of this depression is well described in a subsequent report, and how a change in that political portion produced a favourable reaction in the province.
1858. Sir J. Lawrence's Opinion.
The administration report of 1856-8 (Parliamentary Return No. 212 of 1859, page 16), ** prepared under the direction of Sir J. Lawrence, K.C.B., Chief Commissioner of Punjab, by R. Temple, Secretary to Chief Commissioner, Punjab," says: — ** In former reports it was explained how the circum- stance of so much money going out of the Punjab contributed to depress the agriculturist. The native regular army was Hindustani; to them was a large share of the Punjab revenues disbursed, of which a part only they spent on the spot, and a part was remitted to their homes. Thus it was
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 49
that, year after year, lakhs and lakhs were drained from the Punjab, and enriched Oudh. But within the last year, the native army being Punjabi, all such sums have been paid to them, and have been spent at home. Again, many thousands of Punjabi soldiers are serving abroad. These men not only remit their savings, but also have sent quantities of prize property and plunder, the spoils of Hindustan, to their native nllages. The effect of all this is already perceptible in an increase of agricultural capital, a freer circulation of money, and a fresh impetus to cultivation.**
This is just the cause which, in a far more aggravated form and on a far larger scale, operates on the whole of British India in its relations with England. Millions are drained to England ; and till the reversing cause of the retaining and return of wealth in some way comes into operation, the evils of the drsdn cannot be remedied. And what is the condition of the labourer now ?
1868. Punjab Government's Report.
Here is the Punjab Governments* own answer in the administration report for 1867-8 (page 88). After stating the rates of unskilled labour as ranging from two annas (three- pence) to five annas (seven and a half pence) per diem, and alluding to a considerable rise in rates in places affected by the railway and other public works, where labour in any shape commands higher remuneration than formerly, the report says : — " It may be doubted whether the position of the unskilled labouring classes has materially improved.**
N.-W. Provinces.
1862. Col. Baird Smith*s Opinion.
Colonel Baird Smith's report on the famines of the North- West Provinces (Parliamentary Return No. 29 of 1862), referring to the famine of 1837, says : — Page 57. — " From the time of our earliest acquisition of any part of these up to 1833, our fiscal system, notwithstanding some improvements on the native method which were gradually introduced, had been thoroughly bad.** Page 59 — ** Speaking in general terms, therefore, native society in the N.-W. Provinces had to face the calamity in 1837, debilitated by a fiscal system that was
oppressive and depressing in its influence In India
E
50 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
we all know very well that when the agricultural class is weak, the weakness of all other sections of the community is the inevitable consequence.'*
1872. Mr. Halsey*s Opinion.
I have not come across Mr. Halsey*s report on the assess- ment of Cawnpore, but I take an extract from one given in the Bombay Gazette Summary of 21st June, 1872, page 12 : — " I assert that the abject poverty of the average cultivator of this district is beyond the belief of any one who has not seen it. He is simply a slave to the soil, to the zemindar, to the
usurer, and to Government I regret to say that,
with these few exceptions, the normal state of between three- fourths and four-fifths of the cultivators of this district is as I have above shown. It may appear to many to be exaggerated, and from the nature of the case, it is of course impossible to produce figures in support of it ; nevertheless, it is the result of my personal observations, and I feel confident the result of the whole discussion will be to prove I have not overstated the truth."
The figures I have given of the total produce of the North- West Provinces prove by fact what Mr. Halsey gives as his observations. Hardly 27s. per head — say even 30s.— cannot but produce the result he sees.
Central Provinces. 1873. Mr. W. G. Pedder's Opinion.
Here is the latest testimony about the people. Mr. W. G. Pedder says^: — "Who [the people], if an almost universal consensus of opinion may be relied on, are rapidly going from bad to worse under our rule, is a most serious question, and one well deserving the attention of Government.
India.
Lords Lawrence and Mayo.
Lastly, to sum up the whole, here is Sir John Lawrence (Lord Lawrence) testifying so late as 1864 about all India : — " India is, on the whole, a very poor country ; the mass of the population enjoy only a scanty subsistence." And Lord
* Tintis of India Summary of 6th June, 1873.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 51
Mayo, on the 3rd March, 1871, says, in his speech in the Legislative Council : — " I admit the comparative poverty of this coimtry, as compared with many other countries of the same magnitude and importance, and I am convinced of the impolicy and injustice of imposing burdens upon this people which may be called either crushing or oppressive."
" Mr. Grant Duflf, in an able speech which he delivered the other day in the House of Commons, the report of which arrived by last mail, stated, with truth, that the position of our finance was wholly different from that of England. ' In England,' he stated, *you have a comparatively wealthy population. The income of the United Kingdom has, I believe, been guessed at ;^8oo,ooo,ooo per annum ; the income of British India has been guessed at ;^30o,ooo,ooo per annum. That gives well on to ^30 per annum as the income of every person in the United Kingdom, and only £7, per annum as the income of every person in British India.*
" I believe that Mr. Grant Duff had good grounds for the statement he made, and I wish to say, with reference to it, that we are perfectly cognisant of the relative poverty of this country as compared with European States."
So here is a clear admission by high authorities of what I had urged in my paper on the " Wants and Means of India," and what I now urge, that India's production was only about 40s. a head.
And now in the year 1873, before the Finance Committee, Lord Lawrence repeats his conviction that the mass of the people of India are so miserably poor that they have barely the means of subsistence. It is as much as a man can do to feed his family or half feed them, let alone spending money on what may be called luxuries or conveniences. Mr. Grant Duff asked Mr. Lawson so late as in May, 1870, in the House of Commons, whether he meant to "grind an already poor population to the very dust."
Condition of England under a Similar Drain.
The following picture about England itself under similar circumstances, may, I hope, enable the British people to realise our condition. The parallel is remarkable, and the picture in certain portions life-like of the present state of India. Draper's " Intellectual Development of Europe," 5th edition. Page 365. — " In fact, through the operation of the
E 1
52 THE POVERTY OF INDIA,
Crusades, all Europe was tributary to the Pope (Innocent IH.) .... A steady drain of money from every realm. Fifty years after the time of which we are speaking, Robert Grostale, the Bishop of Lincoln, and friend of Roger Bacon, caused to be ascertained the amount received by foreign ecclesiastics in England. He found it to be thrice the income of the king himself. This was on the occasion of Innocent IV. demanding provision to be made for three hundred additional Italian clergy by the Church of England; and that one of his nephews — a mere boy — should have a stall in Lincoki Cathedral." Page 397. — ** In England — for ages a mine of wealth to Rome — the tendency of things was showti by such facts as tne remonstrances of the Commons with the Crown on the appointment of ecclesiastics to all the great offices, and the allegations made by the * Good Parliament * as to the amount of money drawn by Rome from the kingdom. They asserted that it was five times as much as the taxes levied by the king, and that the Pope's revenue from England was greater than the revenue of any Prince in Christendom." P^^434. — " It is manifest by legal enactments early in the fourteenth
century By the Parliamentary bill of 1376, setting
forth that the tax paid in England to the Pope for ecclesias- tical dignities is fourfold as much as that coming to the king from the whole realm ; that alien clergy, who have never seen, nor cared to see, their flocks, convey away the treasure of the country." Page 477. — ** The inferior, unreflecting orders were in all directions exasperated by its importunate unceasing exactions of money. In England, for instance, though less advanced intellectually than the Southern nations, the com- mencement of the Reformation is perhaps justly referred as far back as the reign of Edward III., who, under the suggestion of Wickliffe, refused to do homage to the Pope ; but a series of weaker princes succeeding, it was not ontil Henry VII. that the movement could be continued. In tkat country, the immediately existing causes were, no doubt, of a material kind, such as the alleged avarice and impurity of the clergy, the immense amount of money taken from the realm, the intrusion of foreign ecclesiastics." Page 478. — ** As all the world had been drained of money by the Senate and Caesars for the support of republican or imperial power, so there was a need of like supply for the use of the pontiffs. The collection of funds had often given rise to contentions
THB POVERTY OF INDIA. 53
between the ecclesiastical and temporal authorities, and in some of the more sturdy countries had been resolutely redsted.*'
The result of this drain from England to Italy was the condition of the people as pictured at pages 494-5, than which nothing could be more painful. Mr. Draper says : — *« For many of the facts I have now to mention, the reader will find authorities in the works of Lord Macaulay, and Mr. Froudeon English History. My own reading in other directions satisfies me that the picture here offered represents the actual condition of things
" There were forests extending over great districts ; fens forty or fifty miles Jn length, reeking with miasma and fever, though round the walls of the abbeys there might be beautiful gardens, green lawns, shady walks, and many murmuring
streams The peasant's cabin was made of reeds or
sticks, plastered over with mud. His fire was chimneyless — often it was made of peat. In the objects and manner of his existence he was but a step above the industrious beaver
who was building his dam in the adjacent stream
Vermin in abundance in the clothing and beds. The common food was peas, vetches, fern-roots, and even the bark of trees The population, sparse as it was, was per- petually thinned by pestilence and want. Nor was the state of the townsman better than that of the rustic ; his bed was
a bag of straw, with a fair round log for his pillow It
was a melancholy social condition when nothing intervened between reed cabins in the fen, the miserable wigwams of villages, and the conspicuous walls of the castle and the
monastery Rural life had but little improved since
the time of Caesar ; in its physical aspect it was altogether neglected
" England, at the close of the age of faith, had for long been a chief pecuniary tributary to Italy, the source from which large revenues have been drawn, the fruitful field in
which herds of Italian ecclesiastics had been pastured
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the island was far more backward, intellectually and politically, than is com- monly supposed."
We see then, to what condition the people of England were reduced under the Italian drain. India cannot but share the same fate under similar causes, unless England, as
54 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
she sincerely means to do, adopts the necessary precautions and remedies to prevent such results.
Drain through Investment of English Capital.
Before I close the subject of the drain and its con- sequences, I direct your attention to a few facts connected with the subject of railways, and such other useful public works. You are well aware that I strongly desire these works, but I cannot shut my eyes to the following facts : —
America, for instance, requires money to build a railway, takes a loan and builds it — and everybody knows it is im- mensely benefited. I need not read to you a chapter on political economy why it is so. I need only say every man employed in the construction of that railway is an American ; every farthing, therefore, that is spent out of the loan remains in the country. In the working of the railway every man is an American ; every farthing taken out of the produce of the country for its conveyance remains in the country ; so, whatever impetus is given to the production of the country, and increase made in it, is fully enjoyed by the country, paying out of such increase in its capital and pro- duction the interest of the loan, and in time the loan itself. Under such ordinary economic circumstances, a country derives great benefit from the help of loans from other countries. In India, in the construction of the railroad, a large amount of the loan goes towards the payment of Europeans, a portion of which, as 1 have explained before, goes out of the country. Then, again, in the working of the railway, the same drawback, leaving therefore hardly any benefit at all to India itself, and the whole interest of the loan must also go out of the country. So our condition is a very anomalous one — like that of a child to which a fond parent gives a sweet, but to which, in its exhausted condition, the very sweet acts like poison, and, as 2i foreign substance^ by irritating the weak stomach makes it throw out more, and causes greater exhaustion. In India's present condition the very sweets of every other nation appear to act on it as poison. With this continuous and ever increasing drain by ,' innumerable channels, as our normal condition at present, the V most well-intentioned acts of Government become disadvan- tageous. Sir Richard Temple clearly understands this phenomenon, as I have already shown. But, somehow or
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 55
Other, he seems to have now forgotten what he so clearly pointed out a score of years ago. Many a time, in discussing with English friends the question of the material drain generally, and the above remarks on railways, irrigation works, etc., I found it a very difficult task to convince. Fortunately, a great authority enunciates the fundamental principles very clearly and convincingly, and I give them below, hoping that an authority like that of the late Mr. Mill, will, on economic principles especially, command attention.
John Stuart Mill's Dicta.
I give a few short extracts from Mill's " Political Economy," chapter V. : —
" Industry is limited by capital."
" To employ industry on the land is to apply capital to the land."
" Industry cannot be employed to any greater extent than there is capital to invest."
" There can be no more industry than is supplied by materials to work up, and food to eat. Yet in regard to a fact so evident, it was long continued to be believed that laws and governments, without creating capital, could create industry."
" While, on the one hand, industry is limited by capital, so on the other every increase of capital gives, or is capable of giving, additional employment to industry, and this with- out assignable limit."
" A second fundamental theorem respecting capital relates to the source from which it is derived. It is the result of saving. All capital, and especially all addition to capital, are the result of saving.**
" What supports and employs productive labour is the capital expended in setting it to work, and not the demand of purchasers for the produce of the labour when completed. Demand for commodities is not demand for labour."
" The demand for commodities determines in what par- ticular branch of production the labour and capital shall be employed. It determines the direction of labour, but not the more or less of the labour itself, or of the maintenance or payment of the labour. These depend on the amount of the capital, or other funds directly devoted to the sustenance and remuneration of labour."
56 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
"This theorem — that to purchase produce is not to employ labour : that the demand for labour is constituted by the wages which precede the production, and not by the demand which may exist for the commodities resulting from the production — is a proposition which greatly needs all the illustration it can receive. It is to common apprehension a paradox.
Their Application to India.
These principles applied to the particular case of India, amount to this: — Poor India has not even to support its absolute want, even were the whole production employed in supporting labour. But as this is not the case — as there must be some portion of the produce consumed unproduc- tively in luxuries — the share for the support of labour for reproduction becomes still more scanty ; saving, and therefore addition to capital, being altogether out of the question. Moreover, not only is there no saving at the present rate of production, but there is actual continuous yearly abstraction from this scanty production. The result is an additional evil consequence in the capability of labour deteriorating continu- ously, for " industry is limited by capital " — so the candle bums at both ends — capital going on diminishing on the one hand, and labour thereby becoming less capable, on the other, to reproduce as much as before. The last theorem of Mill is a clear answer to those who say that, because the railways open up a market for the commodities, the produce of the country tnust increase. I need only repeat the ** demand for commodities is not demand for labour," and that " industry cannot be employed to any greater extent than there is capital to invest."
If these principles are fairly borne in mind, and the element of the drain from India fairly considered, the gradual impoverishment of India, under the existing system of administration, will cease to appear a paradox.
THE MORAL DRAIN.
Beyond the positions of deputy - collectors or extra- commissioners, or similar subordinate positions in the Engineering, Medical, and all other services (with a very few somewhat better exceptions), all experience and knowledge
THE POVERTY OF INDIA, 57
of Statesmanship, of administration or legislation, of high scientific or learned professions, are drained away to England when the persons possessing them give up their service and retire to England.
Sir T. Munro's Opinion.
The result, in Sir T. Munro's words, is this: — "The consequence of the conquest of India by British arms would be, in place of raising, to debase the whole people." — (Life of Sir T. Munro, page 466, quoted in Mr. Torrens' ** Empire in Asia.") For every European employed beyond absolute necessity, each native capable of filling the same position is displaced in his own country. All the talent and nobility of intellect and soul, which nature gives to every country, is to India a lost treasure. There is, thus, a triple evil — loss of wealth, wisdom, and work to India — under the present system of administration. Whether the power of education which the British rulers are raising with the glorious object of raising the people of India, and which is day by day increasing, shall be a bulwark or weakness hereafter to the British rule, is a question of great importance. As matters stand at present, in the words of Sir Bartle Frere : — ** And now, wherever I go, I find the best exponents of the policy of the English Government, and the most able coadjutors in adjusting that policy to the peculiarities of the natives of India, among the ranks of the educated natives." Of the future who can say? It lies in the hands of our rulers whether this power they are raising shall continue to be their " coadjutor," or become their opponent. The merit or fault will be entirely their own.
Sir J. Malcolm's Opinion.
Sir J. Malcolm says : — " We are not warranted by the History of India, nor indeed by that of any other nation in the world, in reckoning upon the possibility of preserving an Empire of such a magnitude by a system which excludes, as ours does, the natives from every station of high rank and honourable ambition. Least of all would such a system be compatible with the plans now in progress for spreading instruction. ... If we do not use the knowledge which we impart, it will be employed against us. . . . We find in all communities, bold, able and ambitious individuals who exer-
58 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
cise an influence and power over the class to which they belong, and these must continue enemies to a Government, however just and humane in its general principles, under which they are neither trusted nor employed. . . . High and aspiring m.en can find no spot beyond the limits of our authorities, and such must either be systematically watched and repressed as enemies of our power, or cherished and encouraged as the instruments of its exercise ; there is no medium. In the first case, the more decidedly we proceed to our object, the better for our safety ; but I should, I confess, have little confidence in the success of such a proceeding. As one head of the hydra was lopped off, another would arise ; and as well might we strive to stem the stream of the Ganges, as to depress to the level of our ordinary rule the energies and hopes which must continually arise in so vast and various a population as that of India."*
There can be but one conclusion to the present state of affairs — either the people will become debased, as Munro thinks ; or dead to all true wisdom, experience, honour, and ambition to serve one's country ; or use their knowledge of it against the very hand that gives it. As Sir John Malcolm observes — "If these plans [of spreading instruction] are not associated with the creation of duties that will employ the minds which we enlighten, we shall only prepare elements that will hasten the destruction of our Empire. The moral evil to us does not thus stand alone. It carries with it its Nemesis, the seeds of the destruction of the Empire itself."
PRESSURE OF TAXATION.
In Lord Mayo's speech of the 3rd March, 1871 {Times of India Summary of 8th April, 1871), he endeavours to refute the assertion that Indian taxation is ** crushing." His Lord- ship on this point has made several assumptions which require examination. I shall therefore first consider whether the conclusion drawn is legitimate, and whether all necessary elements of comparison have been taken into account.
Lord Mayo*s Denial. I have already shown that the production of India is hardly 40s. a head, and that Lord Mayo has adopted that estimate
> Malcolm's " Government of India," page 174.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 59
as being based on good reasons by Mr. Grant Duff. After admitting this fapt, Lord Mayo compares the taxation of India with that of some other countries. In doing this, he deducts as land-revenue (whether rightly or wrongly will be teen hereafter) the opium, tributes, and other small receipts from Indian taxation, and then compares the balance with the taxation of other countries. I do not know whether he has made similar deductions from the taxation of the latter. The result of his comparison would appear to be that, while India pays only is. lod. per head of taxation per annum, Turkey pays 7s. gd., Russia 12s. 2d., Spain i8s. 5d., Austria 19s. 7d., and Italy 17s. per head per annum. The conclusion drawn is that the taxation of India is not <* crushing." What idea his lordship attaches to the word ** crushing *' I cannot say, but he seems to forget the very first premise that the total production of the country is admitted to be 40s. per head. Now, this amount is hardly enough for the bare necessaries of life, much less can it supply any comforts, or provide any reserve for bad times ; so that living from hand to mouth, and that on *' scanty subsistence *' (in the words of Lord Lawrence), the very touch of famine carries away hundreds of thousands. Is not this in itself as *< crushing " to any people as it can possibly be ? And yet out of this wretched income they have to pay taxation !
His Lordship has, moreover, left out a very important element from account. He is well aware that whatever revenue is raised by other countries — for instance, the ^70,000,000 by England — the whole of it returns back to the people, and remains in the country; and, therefore, the national capital, upon which the production of a country depends, does not suffer diminution; while with India, as I have already shown, the case is quite different. Out of its poor production of 40s. a head, some ;^25,ooo,ooo go clean out of the country, thereby diminishing its capital and labour for reproduction every year, and rendering the taxation more and more crushing.
A Fair Comparison with Other Nations.
I shall now consider what would have been the fairest way of making the comparison of taxation. Every nation has a certain amount of income from various sources, such as pro- duction of cultivation, minerals, farming, manufactures,
6o THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
profits of trade, &c. From such total income all its wants are to be supplied. A fair comparison as to the incidence of taxation will be to see the proportion of the amount which the Government of the country takes for its administration, public debts, &c., to the total income. You may call this amount. taxation, revenue, or anything you like; and Govern- ment may take it in any shape or way whatsoever. It is so much taken from the income of the country for the purposes of Government. In the case of India, whether Government takes this amount as land-tax or opium revenue, or in what- ever other form, does not matter, the fact remains that out of the total income of the country. Government raises so much revenue for its purposes which otherwise would have remained with the people.
Taking, therefore, this fair test of the incidence of taxation, the result will be that England raises ;^70,ooo,ooo out of the national income of some ;^8oo,ooo,ooo, that is about 8 per cent., or about £il ios. per head from an income of about £-^0 per head ; whereas the Indian Government raises ;^5o,ooo,ooo out of the national income of ;^34o,ooo,ooo, that is, about 15 per cent., or 6s. per head out of an income of 40s. per head.
Had his lordship stated the national income and popula- tion of the countries with which he has made the comparison, we would have then seen what the percentage of their revenue to their income was, and from how much income per head the people have to pay their 7s. to 19s. yd. per head of taxation, as quoted by his lordship.
Further, if, in consequence of a constant drain from India from its poor production, the income of the country continues to diminish, the percentage of taxation to income will be still greater, even though the amount of taxation may not in- crease. But, as we know the tendency of taxation in India has, during several years, been to go on increasing every year, the pressure will generally become more and more oppressive and crushing, unless our rulers, by proper means, restore India to at least a healthy, if not a wealthy, condition. It must, moreover, be particularly borne in mind that, while a ton may not be any burden to an elephant, a few pounds will crush a child; that the English nation may, from its average income of £^0 a head, be able to pay £^ los. per head, while, to the Indian nation, 6s. out of 40s. may be quite unbearable and crushing. The capacity to bear a burden
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 6l
with ease, or to be crushed by it, is not to be measured by the percentage of taxation, but by the abundance, or otherwise, of the means or income to pay it from. From abundance you may give a large percentage with ease ; from sufficiency, the same burden may just be bearable, or some diminution may make it so ; but from insufficiency, any burden is so much privation.
But as matters stand, poor India has to pay not the same percentage of taxation to its income as in England, but nearly double ; i.^., while England pays only about 8^ per cent, of its national income for the wants of its Government, India has to pay some 15 per cent, of its income for the same purpose ; though here that income per head of population is some thirteenth part of that of England, and insufficient in itself for even its ordinary wants, leaving alone the extra- ordinary political necessity to pay a foreign country for its role.
Every single ounce of rice, therefore, taken from the " scanty subsistence " of the masses of India, is to them so much starvation, so much more crushing.
Lord Mayo calls the light taxation of the country, which he calculates at is. lod. a head, as a happy state of affairs. But that, in so lightly-taxed a country, to get a 6d. more per head without oppression should tax the highest statesmanship and intelligence without success, is in itself a clear demon- stration that there must be something very rotten in the state of India, and that the pressure of taxation must have already arrived short of the proverbial last straw that breaks the camel's back.
The United Kingdom pay a total revenue of about £7, los. per head. India's whole production is hardly £1 a head. It pays a total revenue (less net opium) of hardly 5s. a head, and is unable to pay a shilling more. Why so ? Short of only representation, India is governed on the same principles and system as the United Kingdom, and why such extra- ordinarily diflferent results ? Why should one prosper and the other perish, though similarly governed ?
Not True Free Trade.
I take this opportunity of saying a few words about the recent telegram that Lord Salisbury had instructed the Indian Government to abolish the duties on cottons, as the matter
62 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
is closely connected with the subject of my paper. The real object, says to-day's Times of Indian is to "nip in the bud "the rising factories in India — the ostensible reason assigned is free trade. Now, I do not want to say anything about the real selfish objects of the Manchesterians, or what the political necessities of a Conservative Government may be under Manchester pressure. I give credit to the Secretary of State for honesty of purpose, and take the reason itself that is given on this question — viz., free trade. I like free trade, but after what I have said to night, you will easily see that free trade between England and India in a matter like this is something like a race between a starving, exhausting invalid, and a strong man with a horse to ride on. Free trade between countries which have equal command over their own resources is one thing, but even then the Colonies snapped their fingers at all such talk. But what can India do? Before powerful English interests, India must and does go to the wall. Young colonies, says Mill, may need protection. India needs it in a far larger degree, independent of the needs of revenue, which alone have compelled the retention of the present duties. Let India have its present drain brought within reasonable limits, and India will be quite prepared for any free trade. With a pressure of taxation nearly double in proportion to that of England, from an income of one-fifteenth, and an exhaustive drain besides, we are asked to compete with England in free trade ? I pray our great statesmen to pause and consider these circumstances.
PRICES.
We hear much about the general enormous rise of prices, and conclusions drawn therefrom that India is prosperous. My figures about the total production of the country are alone enough to show that there is no such thing as that India is a prosperous country. It does not produce enough for mere existence even, and the equilibrium is kept up by scanty subsistence, by gradual deterioration of physique, and destruction. No examination, therefore, of the import of bullion, or of rise of prices and wages, is necessary to prove the insufficiency of production for the maintenance of the whole population. When we have such direct positive proof of the poverty of the country, it should be useless to resort
THB POVERTY OF INDIA. 63
to, or depend upon, any indirect evidence or conclusions. Bat as there appears to me much misapprehension and hasty conclusion from a superficial examination of the phenomena of prices, wages, and bullion, I deem it necessary to say something upon these subjects. I shall consider each subject separately. High prices may occur from one of the three following causes : —
1st. — From a natural healthy development of foreign com- merce, which brings to the country fair profits upon the exports of the country ; or, in other words, the imports exceed the exports by a fair percentage of profits, and thus add to the wealth and capital of the country.
2nd. — From a quantity of money thrown into the country, not as the natural profits of foreign commerce, but for some special purpose independent of commercial profits, such as the railway and other loans of India expended in certain parts where the works are carried on, and where, therefore, a large collection of labour takes place requiring food that is not produced there ; and on account of bad or imperfect com- munications occasioning a local and temporary rise in prices.
yd. — From scarcity of food or other necessaries, either on account of bad season or bad communications, or both ; in other words, either there is not enough of food produced, or the plenty of one district cannot supply the deficiency of another, or both.
Causes of High Prices.
We may now see how each of these causes has operated. As to the first cause, it is clear that so far from India adding any profits to its wealth from foreign commerce, not only does an amount equal to the whole profits of foreign com- merce, including the whole of the opium revenue, go elsewhere, but even from the very produce of the country some ;f 7,000,000 more annually. This shows, then, that there is no increase pf capital or wealth in the country, and con- sequently no such general rise in prices as to indicate any increase of prosperity. From want of proper communications, produce in provinces near the seaports is exported to foreign countries, not because the foreign countries give better prices than can be obtained in this country, but because, if not exported, the produce would simply perish. For instance, Bsngal and Madras export rice at any reasonable prospect of
64 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
profits, even though in some of the interior parts there maybe scarcity, or even famine, as in the case of the North- West Provinces, Orissa, and Rajpootana.
The first cause, therefore, is not at ail operative in India in raising prices ; on the contrary, the constant drain diminishes capital, and thereby gradually and continuously diminishes the capability of the country even to keep up its absolutely necessary production. Besides the necessity of seeking foreign commerce on account of bad communications, there is a portion of the exports which is simply compulsory — I mean that portion which goes to England to pay for the political drain. So far, therefore, the alleged increase of prices in India does not arise from any natural addition to its wealth by means of a healthy and profitable foreign com- merce. Then, the next thing to be examined is whether the different kinds of produce exported from British India are so exported because foreign countries offer more profitable markets for them, that is to say, offer greater prices than can be obtained in the country itself; thus indicating that, though prices have risen in the country itself, still higher prices are got from foreign countries. Suppose we find that Indian produce has been selling in foreign countries at about the same prices for the last fifteen years, what will be the inevitable conclusion? Either that, in the country itself, there is no great rise of prices, or that the people of India are such fools that, though there is an '* enormous " rise in prices in their own country, they send their produce thousands of miles away — to get what ? Not higher prices than can be got in the country itself, but sometimes much less ! We may take the principal articles of export from India. The exceptional and temporary rise in the price of cotton, and its temporary effect on some other produce, was owing to the American War ; but that is gradually coming down to its former level, and when America once makes up its four or five million bales, India will have a hard struggle. The opening of the Suez Canal has been a great good fortune, or Indian cotton would in all likelihood have been driven out of the English market particularly, and perhaps from European markets also.
Fluctuation in Price of Cotton. The following table will show how near the prices are
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
65
returning to their old level before the American War (Parlia- mentary Return [c. 145] of 1870) : — Average price Average price Average price
per cwt.
£ s, d.
1857...2 8 8
1861...2 17 5
1865...6 5 7
i869«..4 5 8
per cwt.
£ s, d.
1858. ..2 10 7
1862...6 5 9
1866.. .4 12 o
1870.. .3 5 6
per cwt.
£ 5. d,
1859...2 5 10
1863.. .8 18 II
1867.. .3 2 10
Average price per cwt.
£ s. d.
'i860.. I 17 o
1864.. .8 9 9
1868...3 12 8
So £Eir the rise in cotton is going ; but great as this rise has been, it has hardly reached the prices of former years, as will be seen hereafter. Leaving the exceptional prices of cotton during the cotton famine out of consideration, let us examine the most important articles of export ; and if we find that these articles have fetched about the same price for nearly fifteen years past, there could not have been any normal general rise in the country itself of which the exporters could take advantage, and thereby prefer earning more profits by selling in the coimtry itself, than getting less by exporting to foreign parts.
Price of Coffee. Take Coffee. — The average prices in the United Kingdom (Parliamentary Return [c. 145] of 1870) are per cwt. : —
Years.
£ s.
d.
Years.
£ *• d.
Years.
£ s. d.
1855 .
. 3 3
0
i860 .
. 3 18 2
1865 .
. 3 16 2
1856 .
. 3 "
8
1861 .
. 3 16 2
1866 .
. 3 16 4
1857 •
. 3 15
3
1862 .
. 3 18 8
1867 .
. 3 19 I
1858 .
. 3 II
7
1863 .
.406
1868 .
.361
1859 .
• 3 13
6
1864 .
.398
1869 .
1870 .
.37" .366
Average. 3 11 o Average. This does not show any rise.
3 16 7 Average. 3 12 o
Price of Indigo.
Take Indigo :—
Average price
Average price
Average price
per cwt. Years. £ s. d. Years.
per cwt.
£ s. d.
Years.
per cwt. / s. d.
1855 . . 27 8 0 i860 .
. 33 13 II
1865 .
. 31 7 2
1856 . . 30 II 4 1861 .
• 37 8 7
1866 .
. 31 5 I
1857 • • 33 I 0 1862 .
. 36 II 3
1867 .
. 35 17 6
1858 . . 35 18 0 1863 .
. 28 4 7
1868 .
. 40 4 2
1859 • '31 89 1864 .
• 30 10 0
1869 .
. 38 2 6
1870 .
. 35 4 8
1 This year there was a large American crop.
66 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
The average of first five years, 1855-59, is £^1 13s. 5d., of 1860-64, ;f33 5s. 8d., of 1865-70, ;^35 6s. lod. — making a rise of 12 per cent, over the first five years. Now, this is an article in which India may be said to have a sort of monopoly, and yet there is virtually no rise from any increased demand. The average of the last six years is raised by the year 1868, but the quantity imported into the United Kingdom was in that year 2,000 cwts. less than in the previous year, and the scarcity gave a temporary high price.
Price of Rice.
Now take Rice. — This is the most important article ; rise or fall in its price requires careful consideration. It is the alleged rise of price in this article which is held up as proving the prosperity of the country.
The average price of rice in the United Kingdom, after paying all charges and profits from India to arrival in England, is per cwt. : —
X'ears.
5.
d.
Years.
s.
d.
Years.
s.
d.
Years.
s. d.
1855 .
14
6
1859 .
10
9
1863 .
II
II
1867 .
14 3
1856 .
10
6
i860 .
13
0
1864 .
, II
2
1868 .
12 2
1857 •
. II
3
1861 .
12
8
1865 .
. 12
4
1869 .
, 10 8
1858 ,
8
10
1862 .
II
10
1866 .
13
I
1870 .
, 10 II
Averages of five years, 1855-59, us. 2d. ; 1860-64, 12s. lid.; 1865-70, I2s. 3d.
This does not show that there is any material rise an3' more than the varying wants of the country and the average fluctuations of all ordinary articles of commerce, taking also into consideration the effect of the American War during some of these years. Such are the prices paid in England for Indian rice during the past fifteen years, and yet India had three or four famines, and in the famine districts food could not be got to save life at any price. If the United Kingdom got Indian rice at the above steady prices, how could there have been any real natural ** enormous" rise of prices in India proving its prosperity ? This simple fact is enough to show conclusively that, if the United Kingdom could get its thousands of tons of Indian rice at such steady prices during the past fifteen years, there is no such thing as an enormous general healthy rise of prices throughout the country. Whatever partial local and temporary rise there has been in certain localities has arisen, as will be seen
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
67
hereafter, from partial local and temporary causes, and not from any increase of prosperity.
Price of Silk. Take Silk.— The prices of silk are as follows : —
Price per lb.
Price per lb.
Price per lb
^ears. s. d.
Years.
s. d.
Years. s. d.
1855 . . 12 9
i860 .
20 2
1865 . . 23 6
1856 . . 18 10
1861 .
16 10
1866 . . 22 0
1857 . . 19 8
1862 .
18 8
1867 . . 21 2
1858 . . 17 8
1863 .
18 8
1868 . . 23 8
1859 . . 19 I
1864 .
18 5
1869 . . 23 0
Average
1870 . . 22 4
Average. 17 7
18 7
Average . 22 7!
This shows an apparent rise of 28 per cent, over the first five years, but the quantities imported in the years 1867, 1868, and 1869 were very small, being in 1867, 2,469 lbs., in 1868, 32,103 lbs., in 1869, 171845 lbs. Whereas in 1865 it is 183,224 lbs., in 1866, 123,561 lbs., and in 1870, 123,600 lbs. There is then a rise in the price of this article, only a scarcity rise. Besides, its fate hangs upon the China market, and its produce in India yet is too small to have any important effect on general prices in ordinary economic conditions, much less when all such little or large profit is not retained by the country at all. The total quantity of waste as well as raw silk exported from India to all foreign parts is about if ii500,ooo worth.
Price of Sugar.
Sugar. — There are three or four qualities of sugar imported into the United Kingdom from India. I give below the price of middling as a fair representative of the bulk : —
Price per cwt. Years. £ s. d. 1855 .198 1856.. I 12 6 1857. X 17 6 1858.. I 10 3
Price per cwt. Years. £ s. d.
1859. I 7 9
i860 .1 7 I
1861 .1 85
1862.. I 6 9
Price per cwt. Years. £ s. d.
1863 165
1864 .1 5 II 1865. I 3 6 1866.. I 3 4
Price per cwt. Years. £ s. d. 1867.. I 3 3 1868.. I 3 6 1869 .1 7 2 1870.. I 5 7
The averages are from 1855-59, £1 us. 6d., 1860-64, £1 6s. I id., and 1865-70, £1 4s. 5d. There is, then, an actual decline, and it cannot, therefore, be expected that there was a rise in India notwithstanding.
F 2
68 the poverty of india.
Price of Linseed. Linseed. — Average prices as follows per quarter : —
Years.
£ s. d.
Years.
£ s. d.
Years.
£ s. d.
1855 .
. 3 " 6
i860 .
. 2 12 9
1865 .
.305
X856.
. 2 18 0
1861 .
. 2 IS 10
1866 .
. 3 8 IX
\lll :
.320
1862 .
• 3 4 7
1867 .
.369
. 2 15 I
1863 :
• 3 4 7
1868 .
.3x8
1859 .
.399
1864 .
. 2 19 7
1869 .
1870 .
. 2 18 9 . 2 19 7
Average 2 19 3 Average 2 19 6 Average 328
This shows a rise of about 5 per cent., which is nothing when allowance is made for the temporary effect of the American War from 1861, and the prices have latterly gone down again to the level of the average, 1855-59.
Price of
Rapeseed.
Rapeseed per quarter : —
Years. £ s. d. Years. £ s. d.
Years. / 5. d.
Years.
£ '-
d.
1855-3 9 8 1859.. 2 4 8
1863 2 19 6
1867.
.2 12
6
1856.. 2 18 6 i860.. 2 16 II
1864.. 2 16 II
1868.
.2 IX
4
1857.. 3 X 0 1861.. 2 19 6
1865.. 3 5 7
1869.
.2 18
II
1858. 2 13 4 1862.. 3 7 4
1866. 2 17 II
1870.
.3 4
IX
This also shows the temporary effect of the American War, and hardly any rise, the averages being — 1855-59, £2 17s. 5d. ; 1860-64, £^ : and 1865-70, £2 i8s. 6d.
Price of Wool. Wool. — Average price per lb. : —
Years.
d.
Years.
d.
Years.
d.
Years.
d.
1855 .
. 8J
1859 .
• 7i'
1863 .
. iij
1867 .
. yl
1856 .
. 9
i860 .
. 8:
1864 .
1868 .
. 7|
1857 .
:8
1861 .
. 7:
1865 .
. Ill
1869 .
1858 .
1862 .
. 10
1866 .
. 9H
1870 .
• 7r
The temporary effect of the American War is clearly to be seen in the above prices, and latterly they are getting down again to their old level.
Price of Indian Tea. Indian Tea. — Average price per lb. : —
Years, s. d.
Years.
5. d.
Years.
s. d. Years.
s. d.
X856 . 2 4*
i860 .
I 9
1864 .
2 3 1868 .
I H
X857 . 2 ij 1858 . 2 0
1861 .
I 9i
1865 .
2 3i 1869 .
I 8|
1862 .
I 9
1866 .
I iiiV 1870 .
I 9
1859 . 2 0
1863 .
I Hi
1867 .
I 9i
Here again is a decline.
thb poverty of india. 69
Causes of Local Rise in Prices.
I have given above the most important articles of export, and it cannot be concluded from the above figures that prices have increased in India to any material extent, much less '* enormously." The necessary causes for a healthy rise do not exist ; the effect, therefore, is only a dream. On the contrary, the causes to diminish capital and labour are un- ceasingly at work, and the consequence can only be increased poverty instead of pro^perit}'.
Cause No. 2, stated by me at the commencement of this paper, will partly account for such rise as has actually taken place in some parts of India, and has misled many persons to the conclusion of a general rise and increased prosperity.
During the last twenty years, something like ;^82,ooo,ooo (Railway Report, 1869) ^^^^ ^^° ^^^^ ^^ India for railway works, out of which some ;^26,ooo,ooo are spent in England for stores, etc., and about ;f SSiOOO,ooo remitted to India to be spent here. This amount has been spent in certain parts, with the effect of raising prices there in two ways. Large numbers of labourers are collected in such places, and to a great extent agricultural labour is diminished in their neigh- bourhood, the want of good communication preventing other parts from supplying the demand.
The result is, that less food is produced and more mouths to feed, and, with the labourers well paid, a temporary and local rise of prices is the inevitable consequence. On looking over the maps, and examining the prices given in the tables of Administration Reports, it will be easily seen that, in every Presidency in good seasons, the localities of high prices have been those only where there have been large public works going on. For instance, in the Central Provinces in the year 1867-8, when there was an average good season, the districts in which the price of rice was highest were — Hoshungabad, Rs.5 per maund; Baitool, Rs.4 per maund ; Nursingpore, Rs. 3-12 per maund; Jubbulpore, Rs. 3-12 per maund ; Nagpore, Rs. 3-8 per maund ; and Saugur, Rs. 3-9 per maund. While the lowest prices were — Raipore and Belaspore, Re. i per maund ; Sumbulpore, Rs. 1-2 ; Balaghaut, Rs. 2; Bhandara, Rs. 2; Chindwara, Rs. 1-8. Now, the places having the highest prices are almost all those along, or in the neighbourhood of, railway lines, or carrying on some public works; and those with the lowest prices are away
70
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
from the lines, etc. In 1868-69, the range of prices is about the same, though higher on account of bad season, Hoshun- gabad being Rs.8 and Raipore Rs.2 ; and through the season being unequal in different parts, there is some corresponding divergence from the preceding year.
Take the Madras Presidency. — The districts with highest prices in 1867-68 are : —
Cuddapah Madura .
Rs. 492 per garce* Coimbatoor , „ 477 „ Bellary . .
Rs. 474 per garce it 4^ ff
The districts with the lowest prices are : —
Vizagapatam Rs. 203 per garce Godavery . ,,222 „
Ganjam . . Rs. 232 per garce South Canara „ 308 „
Almost all the high-price districts are on the railway line, or have some public works. The districts of the lowest prices are away from the line. In the Godavery district I do not know how far irrigation has helped to produce abundance.
Take the Punjab for June, 1868-9. — The report gives prices for the following districts only : —
Delhi .
. . Wheat
26
seers or
52 lbs.
per Re.
I
Umballa
,j
48
Sealkote
»»
38
Lahore .
tf
34
Multan .
»
34
Peshawur
))
30
Now, the first three are those where railways are finished, the last three are those where new lines are being constructed.
In the North-West Provinces, — For the month of June, 1868 (I have taken this month in which there was no scarcity ; the months after, prices gradually rose to famine prices) : —
27 seers 8 chittacks or 55 lbs. per Re. i
Meerut . . .
. 27
Saharunpore .
. -25
IJaieilly . .
• 25
Moradabad .
.)
Mnttra. . .
.24
Agra . . .
. 1
Cawnpore . .
. 22
Benares . .
. 18
Allahabad. .
• 17
Mirzapore .
. 17
Ajmerc . .
. 16
50
t)
nearly „
50
»f
i»
48
»♦
ft
44
M
3fii
»»
i»
34
tl
»» 1
34
M
fi 1
32
tf
H 1
* Garce « 9.256 lbs. (Parliamentary Return 362 of 1853).
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 7I
The East Indian Railway being finished, the irrigation works now going on are beginning to tell ; the Agra Canal raising prices at Agra and Muttra.
Cawnpore and the places mentioned after it have had railway works in progress about them. In these Provinces, besides railways, there is public works expenditure from Iniperial funds close upon a crore of rupees during i868-6g, greater part of which is spent in places where prices are high.
In the Bombay Presidency. — What with cotton money lately poured in, and perhaps not quite re-drained yet, and large railway works going on for some time past, prices are com- paratively higher than in all th6 other parts of India, but most so only where railway works and cotton combined, such as all such places on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India line as Surat, Broach, Kaira, Ahmedabad, etc., or on the CLP. line, either northward or southward. Belgaum and Dharwar, not being on a line, have not high prices.
All the very high prices in the Bombay Presidency in the year 1863 (^^^ y^^"^ ^^ ^^^ enquiry of the Price Commission) are things of the past. For instance, in the Report of the Commission, the prices given for the town of Belgaum for November, 1863, are (page 32) : —
Seers (of 80 tolas or 2 /6s.) per Rupee.
14th Nov. 2ist Nov.
Seers. Seers.
Coarse Rice .... 8 6
Bajri 10 7
Jowari gj 7
Contrast these with the prices in 1867-68 : —
Nov. 1867. Nov. 1868.
Seers. Seers.
2nd Sort Rice .... 14*40 13-9
Bajri 24 26
Jowari 28 35
In Bengal. — All places which are cheapest in 1868 are distant from the rail lines — Tipperah, Pnrneah, Cuttack, Puri, Dacca, Maunbhum. Even in some places where the railway line has passed, the prices are not so high — as they are, I think, rice-producing districts — such as Rajmahal and Bankurah. As in other parts of India, it will be found that in Bengal also prices rose for a time where railway and other
72 THB POVBRTY OP IKDIA.
public works were building. These facts show that railway capital, and money for other public works, raised prices temporarily in certain localities.
I must not be misunderstood, however. I do not mean to complain of any such temporary effect produced during the prosecution of such public works as railways, roads, canals^ or irrigation-works, or any work of reproduction or saving. My object is only to show that the statement often made, that India is prosperous and happy because prices have risen, is a conclusion not warranted by actual iTacts: and that jany partial, local, or temporary rise in prices is attributable to the temporary and local expenditure of railway and other loans, or of Imperial and local funds on public works.
Normal Decrease in Prices under British Rule.
So far I have shown that any rise that has taken place has been only local and temporary, as long as railways or public works were building there. I shall now show more directly how, in every Province as it came under British rule,, prices went down, as the natural consequence of the drain setting in under the new system, and that there has not been a general rise of prices.
Take Madras. — Return 362 of 1853 gives " the average price per cwt. of Munghi, 2nd sort, in the month of January, 1813," as 7s. 6i^d. to 9s. 8d., and Bengal table-rice 14s. oH* After his, Madras kept sinking, till, in 1852, there is 3s. to 3s. 6|d. per cwt., and the Board of Revenue felt it necessary to inquire into " the general decline of prices, and to find out any general measures of relief" to meet falling prices. — (Madras Selections, No. XXXI. of 1856, page i.) This selec- tion gives prices from almost all districts of Madras, and the general result is that there is a continuous fall in prices (excepting scarcity years) from the commencement of the century to 1852, the year of the reports. Then further on,, what are the prices now in the first half of March, 1873 ?
Rice, 1st sort. Present fortnight ... Seers i2'4 or lbs. 27'28 Past „ ... n 12*4
Rice, Common, Present fortnight ... Seers 15-6 or lbs. 34'32 Past „ ... „ 13*9 .» 308
^ So that best sort is about 8s. 2^. per cwt. ; common sort 6s. 6^. to 7s. 4d. per cwt. (Indian Gazette^ 5th April, 1873). I seer = 2*2 lbs.
This is the only number of the Indian Gazette I have come
THB POVERTY OF INDIA. 73
across. Agaio, the average price of Madras rice for the year 1868 in the United Kingdom, after paying for freight^ insorancey commission, profits, and all other charges from Madras to arrival in that country, was gs. 8d. per cwt. (Trade Returns, 1868), while the price for January, 1813, given above, is Ss. 2|d. in Madras itself. Or, let us take the export price in the ports of the Madras Presidency. The export price of cargo rice in the ports of the Madras Presidency, according to the price currents of the Madras Chamber of Commerce, in the year 1867, is put down uniformly in the price tables at Rs. 6 per bag of 164 lbs., or two Indian maunds; but in the remarks in which precise quotations are given, the price ranges from Rs. 3-15 to Rs. 6-2. Rs. 6, though a higher price than the average for a bag of 164 lbs., is equal to 8s. 2d. per cwt. ; and even this price, though not higher than that of 1813, was owing to bad season and short crop; and certainly prices consequent upon bad seasons are not an indi- cation of prosperity. In the year 1868, the season being average good, the price quoted for cargo rice is Rs. 3-15 per bag. Now and then, in the remarks, higher prices are quoted, but Rs. 4 will be quite an approximate average. Rs. 4 per bag is nearly 5s. 6d. per cwt. During 1869, the same Rs. 3-15 is the general quotation ; but the season of 1869 not being good, prices went up in 1870 to Rs. 5-8, with an average of about Rs. 5, or about 6s. lod. per cwt. Thus, then, there is no material rise in price in the Madras Presi- dency compared with the commencement of this century. The subsequent fall made the poor people wretched. Govern- ment inquired and reduced the assessment, which, with the expenditure on railways, &c., gave some little relief. But the depression is not yet got over. On the contrary, the Material and Moral Progress (Report for 1869, Parliamentary Return [c. 213 of 1870], page 71) tells us that "prices in Madras have been falling continuously,'* and my impression is that they so still continue.
Bengal. — The Parliamentary Return 362 of 1853 gives the prices at Calcutta from 1792 only (and that is stated to be a year of famine), when there was already about that period much depression by the action of the Company's rule. I cannot get in this return earlier prices of the time of the native rule to make a fair comparison. For 1813 the prices given in the then depressed condition are from 2s. 8}d. to
74 THE POVERTY OP INDIA.
3S. 7d. A comparison with this depression of the present prices is, of course, not fair. In 1832, Patna rice is quoted at 7s. 5jd. per cwt., and Patchery at 7s. ijd. Now, the best sort of rice of Patna in the first half of March, 1873, is quoted 2 1 '50 seers, or 43 lbs. per rupee, or about 5s. ijd. per cwt. In 1852 the above return quotes Patna at ss. 4Jd. per cwt. Colonel Baird Smith, in his famine report (Parliamentary Return 29 of 1962, page 55) quotes as follows the ordinary prices of grain, etc., "from an official statement prepared from authentic documents by the Fiscal of Chinsura," at tliat station between the years 1770 and 181 3 (as given in " Glean- ings in Science," vol. I, page 369, 1829) — rice best sort 28 seers per rupee, coarse sort 40 seers per rupee. The same statement gives prices for the year 1803 also for ordinary rice at 40 seers per rupee (page 56). And in the Bengal Government Gazette for the year 1867-68, it will be found that, in some places in Bengal, the ordinary price of cheapest sort of rice is even then between 40 and 50 seers per rupee (this seer being 2 lbs.) So we have the same story as Madras. Bengal first sank, and helped by a permanent settlement, by the railway loan, cotton, etc., again got over the depression to a certain extent.
Bombay, — The same return, 362 of 1853, gives the average price of rice between the highest and lowest prices of the year 1812-13, as 15s. 4Jd. per cwt. This price goes on declining to about 3s. 5d. to 7s. 6Jd. in 1852, and what is it now in the first half of March of 1873 {Indian Gazette^ 5th April, 1873, page 448) after all favourable circumstances of railways and other public works, some of them still going on, cotton- wealth, etc. ?
Rice, best sort.
Seers. Present fortnight ... 7*4 = 16*28 lbs. less than 14s. per cwt. Previous „ ... 6*8 = 15 „ „ 15s. „
Rice, Coninion .... 10 = 22 „ „ los. „
The average between the highest and lowest prices will be about 12s. 6d. per cwt., when in 18 12- 13 this is 15s. 4Jd.
In the report of the Indapore re -settlement (Bombay Selections, CVII., new series, pages 118 and 71), the price of jowari is given from 1809 to 1865-66: —
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
75
Pucca
Pucca
Pucca
seers per
seers per
seers per
Years.
Rupee.
Years.
Rupee.
Years.
Rupee.
Feb.
1809.
• 24
Feb.
1819.
• 17
Feb.
1829.
. 80
»•
1810.
. 24
»»
1820.
. I9i
If
1830.
. 46
ft
1811 .
. 22
March
1821 .
• 32
May
1831 .
. 40
tf
1812.
. 25i
i»
1822.
. 32
Feb.
1832.
. 60
f»
1813.
• 27
»»
1823.
• 32
1833.
• 23
March
1814.
. 28
April
1824.
. 36?
1834.
. 46
Feb.
1815.
. 35i
•«
1825.
. 12}
1835.
. 48
^ •» .
1816.
. 26
Feb.
1826.
• 44
1836.
. 38
April
1817.
.48J
It
1827.
. 64
^337-
. 66
Feb.
1818.
. 24
»»
1828.
. Z2
After giving these prices, Lieutenant A. Nash remarks :— "This table is chiefly interesting as showing the gradual diminution in the price of corn from the days of the Peishwas to our own. By comparing the prices at the commencement with those at the end of the table, and then reading the list over, this circumstance will become very apparent."
About the year 1836-37, when prices had gone down very low, the Survey Settlement commenced, and the prices sub- sequently are given for Indapore as follows : —
Years.
1836.37
1837-38
1838-39
1839-40
1840-41
1841-42
1842-43
1843-44
1844-45
1845-16
Seers per Rupee. . 43 . 36 . 67
• 44 . 64
. 56
. 68
. 72
. 60
. 3^3
Seers per
c
jeers per
Years.
Rupee.
Years.
Rupee.
1846-47 . .
15
1856.57 .
32
1847.43 .
48
1857-58 .
39
1848.49 .
72
1858-59 .
32
1849-50 .
. 72
1859-60 .
39
1850.51 .
38
1860-61 .
33
1851-52 .
. 40
1861-62 .
27
1S52-53 .
. 56
1862-63 .
16
1853-5 f .
. 56
1863-64 .
13
1854-55 .
29
1864.65 .
16
1855-56 .
32
1S65.66 .
18
Now, from the year of the Mutiny, followed by the cotton famine, the times were exceptional, so that the prices in 1856, or about that period, can only be considered normal, and that is about 32 seers, while in 1809-13 about 25 seers. Now, in 1867-68 the average from November, 1867, to September, 1868, for Ahmednuggar {Bombay Government Gazette price list) is about 24^ seers.
Thus, then, it is the old story. From the time of the Peishwa, prices kept going down under the British rule till, with the aid of railway loans, cotton windfall, etc., they have laboured up again, with a tendency to relapse.
I take the following figures from the Price Commission Report of Bombay (Finance Committee's Report of 1871,
76 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
page 617). I take jowari as the chief grain of the Presidency;. —
Tolas per Rupee.
Years. Poona. Belgaum. Ahmedabad. Years. Poona. Belcaam. Ahaedabad.
1824 . . 1,892 2,480 2,560 1827 3,268 2,800 3,600
1825.. 1,548 2,600 1,840 1828. 2,752 2,640 4,000
1826.. 3,040 2,200 3*240 1829.. 3,440 4t200 4,800
Instead of quoting here the whole table, which is already published in the first Report of the Finance Committee, page 617, I take six years, from 1850 to 1855 : —
Tolas per Rupee. Years. Poona. Belgaum. Ahmedabad. Years. Poona. 1850 .3,056 4,240 3,520 1853.. 4,128
1851.. 3,440 4,560 4,320 1854. .2,504
1852 . . 3,440 3,280 2,800 1855 . . 2,432
Even taking the rough average without consideration of quantities in each year, the latter six years are lower than the former. It is only about and after 1857 ^^^^ prices rose under exceptional and temporary circumstances — ^the Mutiny and the American War, aided by the expenditure on railways, etc. After the American War, prices have commenced falling. Contrast the prices in 1863 with those of 1867-68 for the same places — Poona, Belgaum, and Ahmedabad (I take the rough averages from the monthly prices given in the Bombay Govim- tnent Gazette for 1867-68) : —
Belgaum.
Ahmedabad.
3.200
2,800
3»040
3.400
2,540
4.520
Tolas per Rupu.
Year. Poona. Belgaum. 1863.. 1, 120 720
Ahmedabad. Years. Poona. 880 1867-68.. 1,786
2,633 1,180
For 1868 and 1869. This year, except in the southern part of the Southern Division, was a bad season, and the Bombay Administration Report says that the distress in two districts, Poona and Ahmednuggar, became '' so great that it became necessary to afford relief to the labouring poor by under- taking works of pubUc utility." In the Northern Division, in Ahmedabad, Kaira, and the Punch Mahals, <* the scanty rains of June and July were followed by severe floods in August, which were succeeded by drought. In Khandeish there was an entire failure of the later rains in some talookas.*' In some talookas, with no rain, << there were no crops to watch, and no harvest to reap." In Khandeish, also, relief works had become necessary, as the effects of scarcity were
THB POVBRTY OF INDIA. ^^
hdghtened by immigration from Rajpootana. Such was the generally tmfavourable character of the season, and yet the rough average of retail prices from the Bombay Govefnmmi GwaliU is as follows for the same three places : —
Tolai of J§wari per Rupee,
Nov. to Oct. Poona. Belgaum. Ahmedabad.
1868-69 . • . 1,227 2,100 930
(lower than those of 1863).
I may just say a word here about the Price Commission Report of Bombay of 1864 to which I have referred above, and from which Sir Bartle Frere has made up his statement, embodied in the first report of the Finance Committee, that all the tables given in it, as averages either of a number of years or of a number of places, are worthless for any correct and practical conclusions with regard to the actual change in prices or the actual condition of the people. Because, in these averages, as is generally done, no regard, I think, is had for the different quantities of produce in different years or different places. This remark applies, as I have already said before, to all averages taken on the wrong principle of adding up prices and dividing by the number of the prices.
Take Cotton. — I cannot get a list of prices in India, but the prices in Liverpool may be taken as a sufficient index of the changes in India. Dr. J. Forbes Koyle, in his " Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India " (1851), gives before the title- page a diagram of the prices and quantity of American and Indian cotton imported into the United Kingdom from the year 1806 to 1848. The price of Indian cotton in Liverpool in 1806 is i6id., in 1807 i5id. In 1808 it went up to 2od., and then declined, till in 1811 it touched i2d. It rose again, till in 1814 it went up to 2id. It had subsequently various fluctuations, till in 1832 it just touched 4^., but again con- tinued to be above, till 1840, with an average above 6d. It subsequently continued at a low average of about 4d., and would have remained so to this day, or perhaps gone out of the English market altogether, as was very nearly the case in i860, but for the American War which sent it up. Now, looking at the figures given above, it will be seen that, now that the temporary impulse of the American War is over, cotton is fast sinking again, and we can no longer expect to see again that high curve of the first quarter of the present century ranging from 7d. to 2id. The Suez Canal opening
78
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
direct communication with European ports, has only saved the Indian cotton trade from perishing altogether. The Administration Report of 1871-72 gives a distressing picture of the season over nearly the whole of the Presidency, and of the inability of the people to stand it ; and are the prices of such years to be glad about, and to be taken in averages of rise ?
The Central Provinces. — In the Central Provinces the average price of rice, as I have pointed out before, for the year 1867-68 — a year of average good season — is Rs, 1-8 per maund of 80 lbs., not a high price certainly ; and if these be an "enormous" rise in former prices, what wretched prices must they have been before ? I have not materials for com- parison with prices before the British rule.
Of the North-West Provinces I have not come across sufficient materials to make a fair comparison, but from what data I ha,ve, I feel that the conclusion about these Provinces will be sitnilar to those of other parts of India.
As an imperfect indication, I may refer to the table given in Colonel Baird Smith's report of prices in i860, and those of 1868-69 given in the Administration Report. Both years have nearly the same common features — in i860, in July atid August, scarcity prices ; in 1868-69, latter part of the year, of scarcity. On a comparison, the prices of 1868-69 ^^^1 ^ ^^7* thing, something lower on the whole, except at Allahabad and Cawnpore, where railway works are in progress. I give this comparison on opposite page.
Prices of fine Wheat at the undermentioned places. Seers per Rupee.
i ^
^
1 Allyghur.
}
i
1
1
At the end of
1 C/)
May, i860.
1 26-13
22-8
19
25
24-1
21-12
17-8
1868.
25-14
27
23
18
23
June, i860.
: 25-12
20
18
23
22-8
19
18
1868.
■25-14
27-8
22
17
24
24
July, i860.
' (mis
sing)
1868.
; 23-11
26-8
21
17-8
24
23
August, i860.
; 11-12
1 1-8
12-4
18
21-4
9-12
10
1868.
'18-4
22
17
15
18
19-8
September, i860.
I132
11-8
10-8
17
20
9
9-12
1868.
; "-13
11-4
16
15
16-2
14
October, i860.
9-9
9-8
11-4
17
l8-I2
10-12
II
1868.
12-15
17-12
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 79
This really does not show any enormous rise during the nine years which of all others are supposed to have raised prices most.
Take the Punjab. — The prices of wheat in Lahore are (Report of Punjab, 1850-51, page 74) as follows: —
Years.
lbs. per Rupee.
Years.
lbs. per Rupee
1844 .
. . 45
1848 .
• • 54
1845 .
. . 46
1849 .
. . 38
1846 .
. . 39J
1850 .
. . 43i
1847.
. . 46
Mr. John (now Lord) Lawrence repeats, in his report of 1855-56 (page 28), that, for ten years up to 1850-51, wheat was Rs.2 per maund of 82 lbs., «.^., during the native rule, ten years previous to annexation, the price was 41 lbs. per rupee. Now, the Administration Report for 1855-56 (Govern- ment of India Selection No. XVIII, of 1856) gives the following table : —
TERAGE Prices.
For 10 Years up to 1850-51 1851-52 1852-53 . 1853-54 . 1854-55 . 1855-56 .
Wheat Rs. 2 per maund of 82 lbs. Rs. I per maund.
>* lA „
• i» I If
ff lA »»
This table shows how prices fell after the annexation. Assessments were revised and lowered, railway and other public works created demand for labour, and another addi- tional very important element operated, which, in the words of Sir R. Temple, is this : — *• But within the last year, the Native Army being Punjabi, all such sums have been paid to them and have been spent at home. Again, many thou- sands of Punjabi soldiers are serving abroad. These men not only remit their savings, but also have sent quantities of prize, property, and plunder, the spoils of Hindustan, to their native villages. The effect of all these is already perceptible in an increase of agricultural capital, a freer circulation of money, and a fresh impetus to cultivation.*'
Now, the prices after all such favourable circumstances, even as late as 1867-68, are about the same as they were in 1844-47 — about 34 to 46 lbs. per rupee. In 1868-69 the prices are higher on account of bad season.
I trust I have made it clear that the so-called rise in prices is only a pulling up from the depth they had sunk into under
8o THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
the natural economic effect of British rule, by the temporary help of the railway and other loans, and by the windfall of the high cotton prices for a short period — ^so that India got back a little of its lost blood, though the greater portion of it is borrowed.
Higher Prices due to Scarcity.
But, among the causes of the occasional rise in prices, and whose effects are indiscriminately mixed up in the averages, there is one which no person who gives the slightest con- sideration to it will regard as a matter for congratulation. Besides the public works expenditure causing high prices locally, the additional cause to which I allude is scarcity and bad season. Such rise will not certainly be regarded by anybody as a sign of prosperity, but calculation of averages often includes these scarcity prices, and their results and con- clusions are mischievous, in leading to wrong practical action. For instance, take the Central Provinces. The average price of rice for all the districts is Rs. i-8 per maund for 1867-68, while in 1868-69 it is Rs. 4-4-9 per maund, and this is entirely owing to a bad season. But there are writers who do not, or would not, see the bad season. They see only the high prices, and clamour prosperity and for increased assessments.
In the North-West Provinces the price of wheat is given, say, in Saharunpore, above 50 lbs. per rupee in June, 1868, and in December, 1868, it rises to as much as 20 lbs. per rupee. I give a few more figures from the Report of 1868-69 :—
April. 1868. Sept.. 1868.
seers, chittacks. seers, chittacks.
Meerut . . 26 o 11 4
Moradabad. . 26 10 13 7
Bareilly . . 25 10 15 5
Muttra . . 24 o 16 2
Agra ... 23 o 14 o
So are these places more prosperous in September than in April, when they are, in fact, suffering from near famine prices ?
Again, for 1871-2 (Administration Report for 1871-72, pages I and 2), both the kharif {siutumn crop) and rabi (spring crop) had been short, and the consequence was rise in prices. Is such rise a healthy sign of prosperity ?
In Madras the price of cargo rice is, all throughout, in
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 8 1
1868-69, about RS.3-IS per bag, and by the end of July, 1870, it goes up to Rs. 5-10 owing to bad season.
Higher Prices due to Famine.
The comparitive high prices of 1865 to 1867 were owing to bad season ; 1867-68, a good season, brought them down. Bad season again, and a rise and continuous fall since 1870. Return No. 335 of 1867 on the Orissa famine gives a list of prices rising many times, in the time of various famines ; and are these prices of prosperity ? Leaving extreme cases of past famine alone, let us take present times.
Punjab. — The Administration Report for 1868-69 says (page loi) — " Appendix III. EI shows that food was cheaper in June, 1868, than during the preceding year, but in January, 1869, prices had risen to famine rates in consequence of the drought that prevailed during the intervening months. In January, 1869, wheat was selling at Delhi at 11 J seers (22 J lbs.) per rupee, and in the other districts specified in the return as follows : —
Umballa . . 9^ seers. Multan . .11} seers.
Lahore • • 9} i> Peshawur . 14^ „
Sealkote . . io| „
Now, the prices in the above places in January and June, 1868, were : —
January. June. January. June.
Delhi . . 25 seers. 26 seers. Sealkote . 16 seers. 19 seers.
Umballa. 20^ „ 24 „ Multan . 13} „ 17 „
Lahore . 17 „ 18 „ Peshawur 15 „ 2oi „
So the prices are more than doubled in January, 1869. And this unfortunate state continues, after a little relief.
Here is the summary of the table in the Report for 1869-70 (page 95) :—
ist June, 1868. Delhi . . 26 seers. Umballa . 24 „ Lahore . . 18 „ Sealkote .19 „ Multan . • 17 n Peshawur . 20} „
To sum up — the course of prices during the last two years has been, if anything, downward, except in places of drought or famine, or new public works ; and all my remarks based
I St January, 1869.
I St June, 1869.
1st January, 1870.
I li seers.
15 seers.
9 seers;
9! n
9} »
10} „
i3i f. i3i » i3i M
9 »
9J „
loj „
III 11 14A „
12J „
9} »
82 THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
upon 1867-68-69 will, I think, derive greater force from the statistics of the past two years.
I trust I have proved that there has been no general healthy rise of prices in any part of India from the time of its acquisition by the British. On the contrary, there has been continuous depression, till the railway loans, etc., and cotton money revived it a little, and that even temporarily and locally, from its extreme previous illness. And that very often the so-called high prices are the result of mis- fortune, of scarcity, rather than of increased prosperity.
It will tax the ability of Indian statesmen much, and will require a great change in the policy of the British rule, before India will see prosperity, or even rise above its absolute wants.
WAGES.
It is alleged that there is great rise in wages^ and that therefore India is increasing in prosperity. Almost all re- marks applied to prices will do for this. The rise is only when railway and other works are going on, and is only local and temporary. In other parts there is no material alteration.
In Bengal.
With regard to Bengal, there is the same difficulty as in the case of prices — that I cannot get earlier wages than 1790-91, which were depressed times. I find for the year 1830-31 the daily wages of a cooly was on zemindari estates two annas in the Collectorates of Dinagepore, Bakergunge, Dacca, 24-Purgunnahs, Murshedabad, in the Purgunnahs of Calcutta, Barughati (Return No. 362 of 1853).
Now, in the year 1866-67, the daily wage of unskilled labour in several districts of Bengal, where even public works were going on, were as follows : —
a. p. ist Division Grand Trunk-road Division . .26 2nd „ „ „ ..20
Patna Branch Road Division . . . .20
Barrakar Division 2 2
Tirhoot „ 16
BeharRoad „ 20
Barrackpore „ 28
Purneah „ 26
Bhagulpore „ 26
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 83
a. p.
Behrampore „ 26
Dinapore „ 16
Ramghur „ 2 to i 6
24-Perguniiahs , . .26
Chittagong Division 26
Burdwan „ 26
I 6
In some divisions it is as high as four annas, but the general rate is as above, and it is the rates paid by the Public Works Department. So the general average rate of a cooly on the zemindari estates, I think, cannot be much above two annas a day — ^just what it was 40 years ago. I have obtained the above figures from the Public Works Department through a friend in Calcutta.
In Bombay.
Bombay. — Sir Bartle Frere has given a table from the Price Commission Report of 1864 of Bombay, of the monthly wages of a cooly or common labourer (Finance Committee, first Report, page 616). On examining this table (which I do not repeat here), it will be seen that there is hardly a rise in wages worth mentioning between the average of 1824-29 and 1850-59, the intervening period having some depression. It is after 1859, as in the case of prices and from same causes (Mutiny, railways, and cotton), wages rose suddenly. But that they are falling again will be evident from what is passing in Bombay itself, as the centre of the greatest activity, and as where large public works are still going on, one would hardly expect a fall. I obtained the following Agures from one of the Executive Engineers' office for wages paid by the Public Works Department. The following rates were current during the last six years in Bombay (the letter is dated nth June, 1872) : —
Wages of Biggari Wages Wages
Years. per diem. of Women. of Boys.
a. p. a. p. a. p.
1867-68 ...60 40 30
1868-69 . : . 6 o 40 30
1869-70 ...50 36 24
1870-71 ...50 30 24
1871-72 ...50 30 24
This is a fall from 1863, when in Bombay the maximum was Rs. 13-8 per month, and minimum Rs.7-12 per month, or 7 annas and 2^ pies per diem, and 4 annas and il pies per
G 2
84 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
diem respectively. Now, had large public buildings not been building in Bombay, these wages would have gone much lower than given in the tables above. I am not aware how th^ wages are during 1872 and 1873, but my impression is that they are lower, and will be again down, after the present buildings are finished, to the old levels shown in the table to which I have already referred (page 616 of Finance Com- mittee's first Report).
In Punjab.
In Punjab the highest rate in 1867-68 is 5 annas and 4 annas per day, chiefly in those parts where public works are going on, such as Sealkote, Multan, Lahore, etc. But even in these the lowest and in most of the other districts the rate generally is 2 annas. The average given of wages of unskilled labour in the Report for 1868-69 is —
Highest, 3 annas 3 pies, or 4}d. Lowest, 2 annas 5 pies, or 3! d.
This average is taken without any reference to the number of persons earning the different wages. Were this element considered, the average would come down to the old famous 3d. a day. There is the further element — to consider how many days of the year are the different wages earned ! However, even with regard to any high rate, that is, in some districts, the Punjab Government says what is applicable to other parts of India under similar circumstances. The Administration Report for 1867-68 (page 83) says : — ** The rates of unskilled labour range from 2 annas (3d ) to 5 annas (7id.) per diem. There has been a considerable rise in rates in places affected by the railway and other public works, and labour in any shape commands higher remuneration than formerly; but as prices of the necessaries of life have risen in even a higher ratio, owing chiefly to the increase of facility of export, it may be doubted whether the position of the unskilled labouring classes has materially improved." Leaving the cause to be what it may, this is apparent, that higher wages in some places have not done much good to the poor labourer. The general rate of wages is, however, about 2 annas.
In the Central Provinces.
In the Central Provinces (excepting those parts where railway works have been going on), in Raipore, Belaspore,
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 85
Sumbulpore, Balaghat, Bhundara and Chindwara, the rate of -wages for unskilled labour is generally 2 annas only, both for the years 1867-68 and 1868-69. On the other hand, where railway works are going on and the price of food is high, wages are also high— as in Hoshungabad, 3 annas ; Baitool, 4 annas; Nursingpore, 3 annas; Jubbulpore, 5 annas; Nag- pore, 3 annas, etc. Thus, only locally and temporarily are there high wages in some parts. The general rate of wages is not improved. Even with all such high wages for a few, the average all over the Provinces in 1868-69, as well as in 1870-71, is put down as 3 annas, or 4id. ; but if the number of those earning the diflferent wages, and the number of days when such wages are earned, were considered, as well as the temporary eflfect of the buildings of public works, we shall again come to our old friend 3d. per day, or perhaps less. Except, therefore, all over India where railway or public works have congested labour temporarily, without good facility of communication of bringing food, the general rate of wages is scarcely above 2 annas a day. The notion of a general xise of wages, and of the vastly improved condition of the labourer is a delusion. Here is the latest summary of wages on the highest authority (Material and Moral Progress of India for 1871-72, pages 100, loi). In Punjab, wages are 6d. to 2d. a day for unskilled labour. In Oudh i^d. for unskilled labour a day. In Central Provinces, unskilled labour is 3d. to lid. per day. In the Bombay Presidency unskilled labour is 6d. to 3d. a day. The rates of other Provinces are not given. It must be remembered that the lower figure is the rate earned by the majority ; and are these present rates of i|d. to 3d. an enormous rise on the former ones ?
BULLION.
It is often alleged that India has imported large quantities •of bullion, and is very much enriched thereby. Let us see what the facts are !
First of all, India has not got its imports of silver as so much profits on its exports, or making up so much deficit of imports against exports and profits. As far as exports go, I have already shown that the imports (including all bullion) 4ire short of exports plus profits, to the extent of not only the
86 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
whole profits, but the whole opium revenue, and a good deal from the produce itself besides. The import of bullion has been chiefly from commercial and financial necessities, as. will be seen further on, except during the few years of the American War, when some portion was sent in because the people could not suddenly create a large demand for English goods in payment of profits. The total balance of the im- ports and exports of bullion from the year 1801 to 1863, according to Parliamentary Return 133 of 1864, is ^234,353,686; and from 1864 to 1869, according to Return c. 184 of 1870, is ;f 101,123,448 (which includes, mark! the years of the great cotton windfall, and large remittances for railway loans), making altogether ;f 335,477, 1 34 from 1801 to- 1869. The British rulers introduced universally the system of collecting all revenue in money instead of in kind. This circumstance produced a demand for coin. Thejforeign trade of the country having increased (though without any benefit to India), increased the demand for coin. The [coinage o£ India from 1801 to 1869, according to the same returns, amounts to ;f 265,652,749, exclusive of coinage in 'Madras for the years 1801 to 1807, and for Bombay for: the years 1821-22, 1 824- 1 83 1, and 1833 (particulars of which are not given),, leaving a balance of about ;^7o,ooo,ooo of bullion for all other wants of the country. It may be said that some of the coinage must have been re-melted. This cannot be to a large extent, as specie is 2 per cent, cheaper than coin, as the mint charge is 2 per cent, for coining. Mr. Harrison, in reply to question 3993 of the Finance Committee, confirms- this — that the coinage " is burdened with a charge of 2 per cent., which is a clear loss to all persons wishing to use it for any other purpose than that of coin."
Then there is the wear and tear to consider. The wear and tear of shillings and sixpences given by the Return (24 of 1817) is 28 percent, on shillings, and 47 per cent, on six- pences. The period of the wear is not given in the return. In India, this wear, from the necessity of moving large quantity of coin for Government purposes, and a much rougher and more widespread use of the coin by the people generally, the percentage per annum must be a large one: indeed.
Mr. Harrison again says on the subject — *^ Question 3992. — But do you, then, think that a million fresh coinage a year is
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 87
sufiSdent to supply the wants of India ? Mr. Harrison. — More than sufficient, I suppose, to supply the waste of coin or metal." This, I cannot help thinking, is under the mark, but it shows that nearly a million a year must be imported for simply making up waste of coin or metal.
The coinage of India as per return is, from 1801 to 1869, about ;f266,ooo,ooo (not including the coinage in Native States). Deducting only ;f66,ooo,ooo for wastage for the sixty-nine years, there should be in circulation ;f 200,000,000. Taking the wide extent of the country (equal to all Europe, except Russia, it is said), this amount for revenue, commer- cial, and social purposes is not an extravagant one. Strike oflf even ;f 50,000 ,000 for re-melting, though at the loss of 2 per cent, value; I take the coin as only ;f 150,000,000. Deducting this amount and wastage of ;f 66,000,000 — or say even ;^50,ooo,ooo only (to be under the mark) — making a total of ;f 200,000,000, there will remain for all other social and industrial wants, besides coinage, about ;^i 35,000,000. This, distributed over a population of above 200,000,000, hardly gives 13s. 6d. per head, that is to say, during altogether sixty-nine years, India imported only 13s. 6d. per head of bullion for all its various purposes, except coin. What an insignificant sum ! ! Take even the whole import altogether of jf 335,000,000 during the long period of sixty-nine years, and what is it ? Simply about 33s. 6d. per head for all possible purposes, and without making any allowance for wear and tear. Just see what the United Kingdom has retained for its purposes. I cannot get any returns of imports of silver and gold before 1858. I take only, then, 1858 to 1869 (both inclusive). The total imports are ;^322,628,ooo, and the total exports ;^268,3 19,000, leaving a balance of about ;f 54,300,000. Deducting about ;f 10,000,000 for the excess of the quantity in the Bank of England at the end of 1869 over 1857, there remain about ;^44,ooo,ooo for the social and trade use of the country, allowing equal amounts for coin in 1858 and 1869. This, therefore, is about 30s. a head retained by the United Kingdom within a period of twelve years, inde- pendent of its circulating coin, while India retained only 33s. 6d. a head during a period of sixty-nine years for all its purposes. Much is said about, the hoarding by the Natives, but how little is the share for each to hoard, and what amounts are in a shape hoardings, in all plate, jewellery,
88 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
watches, etc., the people use in England ! I do not suppose that any Englishman would say that the natives of India ought to have no taste and no ornaments or articles of use, and must only live like animals ; but, after all, how little there is for each, if every one had his share to hoard or to use. The fact is, that, far from hoarding, millions who are living on ** scanty subsistence " do not know what it is to have a silver piece in their possession. It cannot be other- wise. To talk of oriental wealth now, as far as British India is concerned, is only a figure of speech, a dream ! When we talk of all the silver having a purchasing power, we forget how minutely and widely a large portion of it must be dis- tributed in India to be of any use for national purposes. The notion that the import of silver has made India rich is another strange delusion! There is one important circum- stance which is not borne in mind. The silver imported is iwt for making up the balance of exports and profits over imports, or for what is called balance of trade. Far from it, as I have already explained. It is imported as a simple necessity, but it therefore no more makes India richer because so much silver is imported. If I give out ;f 20 worth of goods to anybody, and in return get £s ^^ other goods and £S ^^ silver, and yet if by so doing, though I have received only ;^io worth in all for the ;^2o I have parted with, I am richer by £s because I have received £$ in silver, then my richness will be very unenviable indeed. The phenomenon in fact has a delusive effect. Besides not giving due considera- tion to the above circumstances, the bewilderment of many people at what are called enormous imports of silver in India is like that of a child which, because it can itself be satisfied with a small piece of bread, wonders at a big man eating up a whole loaf, though that loaf may be but a very ** scanty subsistence " for the poor big man.
The Httle England can have £1 a head out of ;f 30,000,000, the big India must have ;^2oo,ooo,ooo to give this share per head to its population. Yet this 33s. 6d. per head in sixty- nine years appears to the bewildered Englishman something enormously larger than 30s. a head in twelve years they themselves have got, and that as a portion of the profits of trade — while India has it for sheer necessity, and at the highest price, as silver is its last destination, and paying that price by the actual produce of the country, not from any
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 89
profits of trade, thereby diminishing to that extent its own means of subsistence.
Export of Bullion.
There is one more point to be borne in mind. How much did the East India Company first drain away from India, before it, as a matter of necessity, began to re- import bullion for its wants ? What are the statistics of the imports and exports of bullion before 1801 ?
Where can we find an account of the fortunes which the Company's servants made, by foul means or fair, in spite of their masters* orders, and which they may have taken over to their country in various ways independently of the custom- house, with themselves in their own boxes ?
Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord Teynmoutb) says in his minute of 1787 (Report of Select Committee of 1812, appen- dix, page 183) in reference to Bengal : —
** 137. The exports of specie from the country for the last twenty-five years have been great, and particularly during the last ten of that period. It is well understood, although the remittances to China are by the Government, provided by bills, that specie to a large amount has been exported to answer them. . . . Silver bullion is also remitted by individuals to Europe ; the amount cannot be calculated, but must, since the Company's accession to the Dewany, have been very considerable.
" 140. Upon the whole, I have no hesitation in con- cluding that, since the Company's acquisition of the Dewany, the current specie of the country has been greatly diminislud in quantity ; that the old channels of importation by which the drains were forfnerly replenished are now in a great measure closed ; and that the necessity of supplying China, Madras, and Bombay with money, as well as the exportation of it by the Europeans to England, will continue still further to exhaust the country of its silver. . . .
** 142. It is obvious to any observation that the specie of the country is much diminished ; and I consider this as a radical evil."
In a quotation I have given before, Lord Cornwallis men- tions " the great diminution of the current specie," in pointing out the result of the drain.
Such was the exhaustion of British territory in India of
go THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
its Specie before it began to re-import. The East India Company and their servants carried away via China or direct to England, the former the surplus of revenue, the latter their savings and their bribes, in specie. The country was exhausted, and was compelled to re-import specie for its absolute wants, and it is from the time of such re-importations after exhaustion that we have the return of bullion from the year 1801, and which, after all, is only 34s. a head for all possible wants, commercial, social, religious, revenue, indus- trial, trade, railway and other public works, or any other, in a period of sixty-nine years. And having no specie left to pay for the heavy English drain, it began to pay in its produce and manufactures, diminishing thereby the share of its children year by year, and their capacity for production. Be it remembered also that this import of specie includes all imported for building railways, and which is a debt on the country to be repaid. This debt to the end of 1869 was some
;f82,000,000.
As far as I could, I have now placed before you a series of facts and figures directly bearing upon the question of the poverty of India. I now place before you a few further notes as to the moral effect which the chief causes of the poverty of India has produced on our British rulers.
NON-FULFILMENT OF SOLEMN PROMISES.
" We have not fulfilled our duty, or the promises and engagements which we have made," are the words of the highest Indian authority, His Grace the Duke of Argyll. The evil which is the cause of the excessive drain from India, and its consequent poverty, and which consists in the excessive employment of Europeans in every possible way, leads the British Government into the false and immoral position and policy of not fulfilling "their duty, or the promises and engagements made by them." I shall now illustrate this phase of the condition of the Natives in some^of the various departments of the State. Here is a bold and solemn promise made forty years ago. Parliament enacted in 1833 (Chapter LXXXV, Section LXXXVII.)— " And be it enacted that no Native of the said territories,^^ nor [any natural-born subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall,
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. QI
by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment under the said Company.**
Macaulay on Employment of Native Indians.
At the enactment of this clause, Mr. Macaulay, on July TO, 1833, in defending the East India Company's Charter Bill on behalf of Government, said as foUows^on this part of the Bill, in words worthy of an English gentleman : —
" There is, however, one part of the Bill on which, after what has recently passed elsewhere, I feel myself irresistibly impelled to say a few words. I allude to that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause which enacts that no native of our Indian Empire shall, by reason of his colour, his descent, or his religion, be incapable of holding office. At the risk of being called by that nickname which is regarded as the most opprobrious of all nicknames by men of selfish hearts and contracted minds — at the risk of being called a philosopher — I must say that, to the last day of my life, I shall be proud of having been one of those who assisted in the framing of the Bill which contains that clause. We are told that the time can never come when the natives of India can be admitted to high civil and military office. We are told that this is the condition on which we hold our power. We are told that we are bound to confer on our subjects — every benefit which they are capable of enjoying? — No. Which it is in our power to confer on them ? — No. But which we can confer on them without hazard to our own dominion. Against that proposition I solemnly protest, as inconsistent alike with sound policy and sound morality.
" I am far, very far, from wishing to proceed hastily in this delicate matter. I feel that, for the good of India itself,. the admission of Natives to high offices must be effected by slow degrees. But that when the fulness of time is come, when the interest of India requires the change, we ought ta refuse to make that change lest we should endanger our own power — this is a doctrine which I cannot think of without indignation. Governments, like men, may buy existence too dear.
" Propter vitam vivendi ptrdtrt causas is a despicable policy either in individuals or in States. In the present case, such a policy would be not only despicable but absurd. The mere
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extent of empire is not necessarily an advantage. To many Governments it has been cumbersome, to some it has been fatal. It will be allowed by every statesman of our time that the prosperity of a community is made up of the prosperity of those who compose the community, and that it is the most childish ambition to covet dominion which adds to no man's comfort or security. To the great trading nation, to the great manufacturing nation, no progress which any portion of the human race can make in knowledge, in taste for the con- veniences of life, or in the wealth by which those conveniences are produced, can be matter of. indifference. It is scarcely possible to calculate the benefits which we might derive from the diffusion of European civilisation among the vast popula- tion of the East. It would be on the most selfish view of the case far better for us that the people of India were wcU- governed and independent of us, than ill-governed and subject to us — that they were ruled by their own kings, but wearing ^ our broadcloth and working with our cutlery, than that they were performing their salaams to English collectors and English magistrates, but were too ignorant to value, or too poor to buy, English manufactures. To trade with civilised men is infinitely more profitable than to govern savages. That would, indeed, be a doting wisdom which, in order that India might remain a dependency, would make it a useless and costly depen- dency— which would keep a hundred millions of men from being our customers in order that they might continue to be our slaves. It was, as Bernier tells us, the practice of the miserable tyrants whom he found in India, when they dreaded the capacity and spirit of some distinguished subject, and yet could not venture to murder him, to administer to him a daily dose of the poiista — a preparation of opium, the efifect of which was in a few months to destroy all the bodily and mental powers of the wretch who was drugged with it, and to turn him into a helpless idiot. That detestable artifice, more horrible than assassination itself, was worthy of those who employed it. It is no model for the English nation. We shall never consent to administer the pousta to a whole •community, to stupify and paralyse a great people whom God has committed to our charge, for the wretched purpose of rendering them more amenable to our control. What is that power worth which is founded on vice, on ignorance, and on 4nisery — which we can hold only by violating the most sacred
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 93
duties which, as governors, we owe to the governed — which, as a people blessed with far more than an ordinary measure of political liberty, and of intellectual light, we owe to a race debased by three thousand years of despotism and priest- craft ? We are free, we are civilised to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation. Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may keep them submissive ? or do we think that we can give them knowledge without awaking ambition, or do we mean to awaken ambition, and to provide it with no legitimate vent ? Who will answer any of these questions in the affirmative ? Yet one of them must be answered in the affirmative by every person who maintains that we ought permanently to exclude the Natives from high office. I have no fears. The path of duty is plain before us ; and it is also the path of wisdom, of national prosperity, of national honour.
"The destinies of our Indian Empire are covered with thick darkness. It is difficult to form any conjectures as to the fate reserved for a State which resembles no other in history, and which forms by itself a separate class of political phenomena ; the laws which regulate its growth and its decay are still unknown to us. It may be that the public mind of India may expand under our system, till it has outgrown the system ; that, by good government, we may educate our sub- jects into a capacity for better government, that, having become instructed in European knowledge, they may in some future age demand European institutions. Whether such a day will ever come I know not. But never will I attempt to avert or to retard it. Whenever it comes, it will be the proudest day in English History. To have found a great people sunk in the lowest depths of slavery and superstition, to have so ruled them as to have made them desirous and capable of all the privileges of citizens, would indeed be a title to glory all our own. The sceptre may pass away from us. Unforeseen accidents may derange our most profound schemes of policy. Victory may be inconstant to our arms. But there are triumphs which are followed by no reverses. There is an empire exempt from all natural causes of decay. Those triumphs are the pacific triumphs of reason over barbarism; that empire is the imperishable empire of our arts and our morals, our literature and our laws."
94 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
I should not add one word of any other speeches, though others also had spoken at the time, and with general approbation, of the sentiments expressed ; I would only say, that had these pledges and policy been faithfully followed, now, after forty years, great blessing would have been the result both to England and India. Once more I appeal to the British to revive the memory of those noble sentiments, follow the ** plain path of duty that is before you." That unfortunate plea — unfortunate both for England and India — of political danger was fully considered and deliberately cast aside by the statesmen who enacted *' that wise, that benevolent, that noble clause," as unworthy of the British nation, and they as deliberately adopted the policy of plain duty and true glory.
In such language and with such noble declaration was this clause proclaimed to the world. I have made a copy of all the speeches delivered in Parliament on this subject since 1830 ; but as I cannot insert them all here, I content myself with one of the early ones which I have read to you, and the latest delivered by the highest Indian authority which I give further on.
Again, in 1858, our Gracious Majesty, in solemn, honest, and distinct terms, gave the following pledge in her gracious proclamation : — ** We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of our Indian territories by the same obligations of duty which bind us to all our other subjects, and these obligations, by the blessing of Almighty God, we shall faithfully and conscien- tiously fulfil. It is our further will that, so far as may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed, be freely and impartially admitted to offices in our service, the duties of which they may be qualified, by their education, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge." Such were the great solemn pledges given by the Queen and Parliament.
The Duke of Argyll's Promises.
We may now see what the present (1873) highest authority, His Grace the Secretary of State for India, says as to the due fulfilment of these pledges, when the East India Association were making efforts in respect of the admission of natives in the Covenanted Civil Service.
The following is the correspondence between the East India Association and Mr. Grant Duff in 1873, giving His
fHE POVERTY OF INDIA. Q5
Orace's speech, and a brief account of the events from 1867 to 1873 :—
East India Association, 20, Great George Street^ Westminster,
London, September, 1873.
To M. E. Grant Duff, Esq., M.P.,
Under-Secretary of State for India, India Office.
Sir, — By the direction of the Council of the East India Association, I have to request you to submit this letter for the kind consideration of His Grace the Secretary of State for India.
On the 2ist August, 1867, this Association applied to Sir Stafford Northcote, the then Secretary of State for India, asking that the competitive examination for a portion of the appointments to the Indian Civil Service should be held in India, under such rules and arrangements as he might think proper, and expressing an opinion that, after the selection had been made in India by the first Examination, it was essential that the selected candidates should be required to come to England to pass their further examinations with the selected candidates for this country.
Sir Stafford Northcote soon after introduced a clause in the Bill he submitted to Parliament, entitled ** The Governor- General of India Bill."
The enactment of this Bill continued in abeyance, until, under the auspices of His Grace the present Secretary of State, it became law on the 25th March, 1870, as "East India (Laws and Regulations) Act." Moving the second reading of the Bill on the nth March, 1869, Mis Grace, in commenting upon Clause 6, in a candid and generous manner made an unreserved acknowledgment of past failures of promises, non-fulfilment of duty, and held out hopes of the future complete fulfilment to an adequate extent, as follows : —
" I now come to a clause — the 6th — which is one of very great importance, involving some modification in our practice, and in the principles of our legislation as regards the Civil Service in India. Its object is to set free the hands of the Governor- General, under such restrictions and regulations as may be agreed to by the Government at home, to select, for the Covenanted Service of India, Natives of that country,
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although they may not have gone through the competitive examination in this country. It may be asked how far this provision is consistent with the measures adopted by Parlia- ment for securing efficiency in that service; but there is a previous and, in my opinion, a much more important question which I trust will be considered — how far this provision is essential to enable us to perform our duties and fulfil our pledges and professions towards the people of India ? . . .
*« With regard, however, to the employment of Natives in the government of their country, in the Covenanted Service, formerly of the Company and now of the Crown, I must say that we have not fulfilled our duty, or the promises and engagements which we have made.
** In the Act of 1833 this declaration was solemnly put forth by the Parliament of England : — ' And be it enacted that no Native of the said territories, nor any natural-born subject of His Majesty resident therein, shall, by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, colour, or any of them, be disabled from holding any place, office, or employment under the said Company.'
" Now, I well remember that in the debates in this House in 1853, when the renewal of the charter was under the con- sideration of Lord Aberdeen's Government, my late noble friend Lord Monteagle complained, and I think with great force, that, while professing to open every office of profit and employment under the Company or the Crown to the Natives of India, we practically excluded them by laying down regulations as to fitness which we knew Natives could never fulfil. If the only door of admission to the Civil Service of India is a competivive examination carried on in Loiidon, what chance or what possibility is there of Natives of India acquiring that fair share in the administration of their own country which their education and abilities would enable them to fulfil, and therefore entitle them to possess ? I have always felt that the regulations laid down for the competitive examination rendered nugatory the declaration of the Act of 1833 ; and so strongly has this been felt of late years by the Government of India, that various suggestions have been made to remedy the evil. One of the very last — which, however, has not yet been finally sanctioned at home, and respecting which I must say there are serious doubts — has been suggested by Sir John Lawrence, who is now about to
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approach our shores, and who is certainly one of the most distinguished men who have ever wielded the destinies of our Indian Empire. The palliative which he proposes is that nine scholarships — nine scholarships for a government of upwards of 180,000,000 of people ! — should be annually at the disposal of certain Natives, selected partly by competition, and partly with reference to their social rank and position, and that these nine scholars should be sent home with a salary of ;^2oo a year each to compete with the whole force of the British population seeking admission through the competitive examinations. Now, in the first place, I would point out the utter inadequacy of the scheme to the ends of the case. To speak of nine scholarships distributed over the whole of India as any fulfilment of our pledges or obligations to the Natives would be a farce. I ydll not go into details of the scheme, as they are still under consideration ; but I think it is by no means expedient to lay down as a principle that it is wholly useless to require Natives seeking employment in our Civil Service to see something of English society and manners. It is true that, in the new schools and colleges, they pass most distinguished examinations, and, as far as books can teach them, are familiar with the history and constitution of this country ; but there are some offices with regard to which it would be a most important, if not an essential, qualification that the young men appointed to them should have seen something of the actual working of the English constitution, and should have been impressed by its working, as any one must be who resides for any time in this great political society. Under any new regulations which may be made under this clause, it will, therefore, be expedient to provide that Natives appointed to certain places shall have some personal knowledge of the working of English institu- tions. I would, however, by no means make this a general condition, for there are many places in the Covenanted Service of India for which Natives are perfectly competent, without the necessity of visiting this country ; and I believe that by competitive examinations conducted at Calcutta, or even by pure selection, it will be quite possible for the Indian Govern- ment to secure able, excellent, and efficient administrators."
The clause thus introduced, in a manner worthy of an English generous-minded nobleman, and passed into law, is as follows : —
98 THB POVBRTY OF INDIA.
<<6. Whereas it is expedient that additional fiacilities should be given for the employment of Natives of India, of proved merit and ability, in the Civil Service of Her Majesty in India, be it enacted that nothing in the <Act for the Government of India,' twenty-one and twenty-two Victoria, chapter one hundred and six, or in the * Act to confirm certain appointments in India, and to amend the law con* ceming the Civil Service there,' twenty-four and twenty-five Victoria, chapter fifty-four, or in any other Act of Parliament, or other law now in force in India, shall restrain the authorities in India, by whom appointments are or may be made to o£Eices, places, and employments in the Civil Service of Her Majesty in India, from appointing any Native of India to any such office, place, or employment, although such Native shall not have been admitted to the said Civil Service of India in manner in section thirty-two of the first -mentioned Act provided, but subject to such rules as may be from time to time prescribed by the Governor- General in Council, and sanctioned by the Secretary of State in Council, with the concurrence of a majority of members present ; and that, for the purpose of this Act, the words ' Natives of India ' shall include any person bom and domiciled within the dominions of Her Majesty in India, of parents habitually resident in India, and not established there for temporary purposes only; and that it shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council to define and limit from time to time the qualification of Natives of India thus expressed; provided that every resolution made by him for such purpose shall be subject to the sanction of the Secretary of State in Council, and shall not have force until it has been laid for thirty days before both Houses of Parliament."
It is now more than three years since this clause has been passed, but the Council regret to find that no steps have apparently yet been taken by His Excellency the Viceroy to frame the rules required by it, so that the Natives may obtain the due fulfilment of the liberal promise made by His Grace.
The Natives complain that, had the enactment referred to the interests of the EngHsh community, no such long and unreasonable delay would have taken place, but effect would have been given to the Act as quickly as possible ; and they further express a fear that this promise may also be a dead- letter.
THB POVERTY OF INDIA. 99
The Council, however, fully hope that further loss of time will sot be allowed to take place in promulgating the rules required by the Act. The Natives, after the noble and generous language used by His Grace, naturally expect that they will not be again doomed to disappointment, and most anxiously look forward to the promulgation of the rules — to give them, in some systematic manner, <' that fair share in the administration of their own country which their education and abilities would enable them to fulfil, and therefore entitle them to possess," not only as a political justice, but also as a national necessity, for the advancement of the material and moral condition of the country.
I remain. Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
W. C. Palmer, Capt. Acting Honorary Secretary of the East hidia Association.
India Office, London,
loth October f 1873. Sir, — I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd October, relative to the provisions of the 33rd Victoria cap. 3., section 6; and to inform you that the subject is understood to be under the consideration of the Government of India, the attention of which has been twice called to it.
2. The Duke of Argyll in Council will send a copy of your letter to the Government of India, and again request the early attention of that authority to that subject. I am. Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
(Sd.) M. E. Grant Duff. The Acting Honorary Secretary^ East India Association.
Such is the candid confession of non-performance of duty and non-fulfilment of solemn pledges for thirty-six years, and the renewed pledge to make amends for past failures and provide adequate admission for the future for a fair share in the administration of our own country. The inadequacy clearly shown by the ridicule of nine scholarships for 180,000,000 souls, and the proposal to adopt means << for the abolition of the monopoly of Europeans." When was this
. HI
lOO THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
confession and this new pledge made ? It was to pass the 6th clause of Act 33 Vic, cap. 3. The' clause was^passed on 25th March, 1870, one year after the above speech was made, and nearly three years after it was firstTproposed. Next March (1874) it will be four years since this^clause has been passed. Twice did Sir C. Wingfield ask^'questions in the House of Commons, and no satisfactory reply was given. At last the East India Association addressed the letter which I have read to you to the India Oflfice, and^from the reply you have seen how slow our Indian authorities had been, so as to draw three reminders from the Secretary of State.
With regard to the remark in the letter as to the com- plaint of the Natives that, " had the enactment referred to the interests of the English community, no such long and unreasonable delay would have taken place," I need simply point to the fact of the manner in which the Coopers Hill College was proposed and carried out in spite of all difficulties.
Suspension of the Nine Scholarships. Now about the scholarships to which His Grace alluded in his speech. These scholarships had nothing to do with the provision for affording facilities to Natives to enter the Covenanted Service. They were something for a quite different purpose. The following correspondence of the East India Association of 3rd March, 1870, with Mr. Grant DuflF, gives briefly the real state of the case : —
East India Association,
20, Great George Street^ Westminster, S.W., yd March^ 1870. Sir, — I am directed by the Council of the East India Association to request you to submit, for the kind considera- tion of His Grace the Duke of Argyll, the following resolutions passed at a large meeting of the Bombay Branch of the East India Association.
Resolutions. That the Managing Committee, Bombay Branch, be requested to bring to the notice of the head body in London, the recent suspension of the Government of India scholar- ships, and at the same time to lay before it the following representations on the subject : —
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 101
1. That the Bombay Branch has learnt with great regret that the Government scholarships, lately established to enable Indian youths to proceed to England for educational purposes, are not to be awarded this year.
2. That the Bombay Branch are aware that the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for India considers these scholar- ships as quite an inadequate provision for a government of 180,000,000 souls, and they look forward with hopeful con- fidence to the day when His Grace will unfold before the British Legislature a measure suggested by his long experi- ence and study'of Indian affairs, elaborated and matured by the generous and large-minded sympathy and interest which he has always evinced towards the Natives of India, and worthy at once of his own high name and intellect, and those of the country which has entrusted him with his present high post.
3. That, while thus far from being unmindful of the good intentions which have most probably prompted the suspension of these scholarships, the Bombay Branch feel bound to submit that, even as a temporary and inadequate measure, these scholarships were calculated to do an amount of good which the preparation of a larger and more comprehensive scheme did not by any means in the meantime render it imperative to forego.
4. That the suddenness of the suspension of these scholarships has given it a sort of retrospective effect with regard to those youths who framed their course of study in the expectation of obtaining the benefits of the notifications issued by the several Indian Governments in respect of these scholarships, thus entailing great disappointment on particu- lar individuals.
5. That the East India Association will have the kind- ness to carry the above representations to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for India, in the manner it may deem most proper and eflfective.
In submitting these resolutions, the Council respectfully urge that the object of the proposer, the late lamented Sir H. Edwards, of this prayer for scholarships in the memorial presented the 21st August, 1867, to the late Secretary of State, Sir S. Northcote, was " to aid the Natives not merely to enable them to compete for the Civil Service, but to return in various professions to India, so that by degrees they might
lOa THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
form an enlightened and unprejudiced class, exercising a great and beneficial influence on Native society, and con- stituting a link between the masses of the people and the rulers." It is evident that Lord Lawrence, the then Governor-General of India, also understood and declared the objects of these scholarships to be as above; for, in the resolution No. 360, the object is stated to be " of encouraging Natives of India to resort more freely to England for the purpose of perfecting their education, and of studying the various learned professions, or for the civil and other services in this country;" and also, in another part of the same resolution, it is declared to be ** not only to afford to the students facilities for obtaining a University degree, and for passing the competitive examinations for admission into the Indian Civil Service, but also to enable them to pursue the study of Law, Medicine, or Civil Engineering, and otherwise prepare themselves for the exercise of a liberal profession."
The Council, therefore, venture to submit that, consider- ing the important objects pointed out by Sir H. E. Edwards, it is very desirable that the scholarships be continued.
The Council are glad to find, from your speech in the House of Commons, that the question of these scholarships has not yet been settled, and they therefore trust that His Grace will accede to the request so urgently made in the above resolutions.
The Council have every reason to believe that the Natives of the other Presidencies also share similar feelings, and con- fidently leave the matter in the hands of His Grace. I have the honour to be.
Your obedient Servant,
Dadabhai Naoroji,
Hon. Secretary. MouNTSTUART E. Grant Duff, Esq., M.P., Under-Secretary of State for India.
India Office, March 18, 1870.
Sir, — I am directed by the Secretary of State for India in Council to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, on the subject of the Government of India scholarships.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I03
In reply, I am instructed to inform you that the Secretary of State in Cotmcil has very fully considered the whole subject, and does not deem it expedient to proceed further with the scheme of scholarships.
You are aware that a Bill is now before Parliament which will enable the Government to give to the Natives of India more extensive and important employment in the public service.
I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant,
Herman Merivale.
It is now (1873) nearly four years, and this "employment" is still under consideration ; but the scholarships which had nothing to do with this matter, after being proclaimed to the world in the Indian Gazette, and after a brief life of one year, are gone. I next examine how far the great pledges of 1833 and 1858 have been carried out in the uncovenanted and other services.
The Uncovenanted Service.
Sir S. Northcote, in his despatch of 8th February, 1868, wrote to the Indian Government : — ** The Legislature has determined that the more important and responsible appoint- ments in those provinces shall be administered exclusively by those who are now admitted to the public service solely by competition, but there is a large class of appointments in the regulation, as well as in the non-regulation provinces, some of them scarcely less honourable and lucrative than those reserved by law for the Covenanted Civil Service, to which the Natives of India have certainly a preferential claim, but which, as you seem to admit, have up to this time been too exclusively conferred upon Europeans. These persons, however competent, not having entered the service by the prescribed channel, can have no claim upon the patronage of the Government — none, at least, that ought to be allowed to override the inherent rights of the Natives of the country ; and therefore, while all due consideration should be shown to well-deserving incumbents, both as regards their present position and their promotion, there can be no valid reason why the class of appointments which they now hold should not be filled, in future, by Natives of ability and high
104 '^HB POVERTY OP INDIA.
character." Now, is this done 7 I have not been able to get a complete return of the higher Uncovenanted Servants. I shall use what I have got. The Government of India, in their dispatch in the Financial Department, to the Secretary of State for India, No. 227, dated 4th October, 1870, gives two tables ; the first headed — " Abstract of Appendix A re- ferred to in the 6th paragraph of the above dispatch, being a statement of the number of offices in India which were filled in 1869 by Uncovenanted Servants, but wkick might have bun filled by Covenanted Servants or Military Officers.** Now, this list gives of such Uncovenanted Servants 1,302 Europeans and 221 Natives.
I am sorry I cannot get a return of the salaries of these 1,302 European Uncovenanted Servants; but, with regard to Natives, the second table of the same dispatch shows that out of these 221
Only I gets a salary of Rs. 1,500 to 1,600 per month, I „ „ 1,200 to 1,300 „
I II
5
14 47 60
125
1,100 to 1,200 „ 1,000 to 1,100
800 to 900
700 to 800
600 to 700
500 to 600
400 to 500
265 ** One Native Judge of the Bengal High Court at Rs.4,i6o-io-8 per mensem."
Out of the last 125 there must be about 44 which the Government of India did not think fit for the Covenanted Servants or Military Officers. And it must also be borne in mind that the 1,302 do not include all those Uncovenanted appointments which are filled by military officers already. If we can get a return of all Uncovenanted appointments from Rs.400 upwards, we shall then see how " the inherent right " possessors, the children of the soil, have fared, even in the Uncovenanted Service, before and since the dispatch.
If anything, the tendency and language of the Indian Government is such, in the very correspondence from which I have given the table, that even the small number of Natives may be squeezed out. All appointments that are worth any- thing are to pass to the Covenanted Servants and the military officers, and to the rest the Natives are welcome 1 Here and
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I05
therci perhaps, a few better crumbs will be thrown to them. I sincerely hope I may prove a false prophet. An annual return is necessary to show whether Sir S. Northcote's dispatch has not been also one more dead-letter.
The Engineering Service.
When Coopers Hill Engineering College was in contem- plation, some correspondence passed between me and His Grace the Secretary of State. In this I gave detailed par- ticulars of the cases of Messrs. Daji Nilkunt, Lallubhoy Kheshowlal, Chambas Appa, Gungadhur Venaek, and Bomanji Sorabji. Now, the first four had duly qualified themselves, and were entitled to be promoted to the Engineering Department as far back as 1861, and the fifth in 1867, and yet they never got admission into the Engineering Department as far as I was then (1873) aware, though a large number of appointments had been made during the period. I said, in connection with this part of my letter, that such treatment and bitter disappointments produced much mischief, that the Public Works Department rules were a mere farce, etc., etc., and requested enquiry. This His Grace promised to do, but I do not know what has been done. But Mr. Grant Duff, in his speech on 3rd March, 1871, in Parliament, said : '* Then we are told that we were asking too much money, that the Engineering College would be merely a college for the rich. We replied that we asked £iSo a year for three years, in return for which we gave to those young men who passed through the college ;f420 in their very first year of service. It is said, too, that we are excluding the Natives from competing. So far from this being the case, young Englishmen are obliged to pay for Being educated for the Public Works Department, while young Natives of India are actually paid for allowing them- selves to be educated for that service, and the scholarships available for that purpose are not taken up." Now, somehow or other, it did not please Mr. G. Duflf to tell the whole truth. He omitted the most essential part of the whole story. He did not tell the honourable members that what he said about the encouragement with regard to the English youths, only a minute before, did not at all exist with regard to the Natives. He did not tell that, in return for any Natives who duly qualify themselves in India, we do not give £^20 in their
I06 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
very first year of service, or allow them fair and equal pro- motion with the English. The Native, on the contrary, has every possible discouragement thrown in his way, as will be seen subsequently. And, lastly, in his peroration, what great things done by the " we " of the India Office, Mr. Duff points out : ** We claim to have done, first, an imperative duty to India in getting for her the trained engineering ability which she wanted." From whom, gentlemen ? Not from her own children, but from English youths, as if India was simply a howling desert and had no people in it at all, or was peopled by mere savages and had no national wants. But after this clever way of benefitting India, Mr. Duflf proceeds to point out what the "we" have done for England: "We have created a new profession. We have widened the area of competition. We have offered a first-rate education cheaper than a third-rate education can now be got. We have done service even to those institutions which growl most at
us We have done service to practical men
Lastly, we have done good service to English scientific education." It would appear as if India and Indians existed only to give England the above advantages. Now, here is His Grace giving the first intimation of his intention for establishing a college on 28th July, 1870, before the House of Lords. And on what ground does he recommend it? Among others, the following : — " It would afford an opening to young men in this country, which they would, he thought, be anxious to seize, because it would enable them to secure a very considerable position almost immediately on their arrival in India, where they would start with a salary of about ;^400 a year, and rise in their profession by selection and ability. They would be entirely at the disposal of the Governor-General of India, and they would have the prospect of retiring with a pension larger than in former times." It would appear that while saying this. His Grace altogether forgets that, besides these "anxious" young gentlemen of England, there were India's own children also, who had the first claim to be provided for in their own country, if India's good were the real policy of England ; and that there were solemn pledges to be fulfilled, and the national wants of India to be considered. Why did it not occur to him that similar provision should be made for the Natives ?
The case of the five Natives referred to before is enough
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I07
to show how the code and rules were a mere farce. But this is not all. The following will show how even when a positive pledge for one appointment was given in Bombay, in addition to the rules of the code already referred to — how even that was trifled with, and how only under strong protest of the Principal of the College and the Director of Public Instruc- tion that it is restored this year (1873). In 1869, Sir Seymour Fitzgerald, at the Convocation, exhorted the students to emtilate their forefathers in their engineering skill, etc. I immediately complained, in a letter to the Tinus of India^ of the uselessness of such exhortations, when every care was taken that the Natives shall not get into the service. Soon after, it was some consolation to find a little encouragement held out, and the first Licentiate of Engineering every year was guaranteed an Assistant Engineership, and the first year Government became liberal and gave three instead of one. But the fates again pursue us, and that guarantee of one Assistant Engineership soon virtually vanished. Let the authorities themselves speak on this subject.
In the report of 1869-70, the Director of Public Instruc- tion said (page 65) — " In the University Examination three candidates passed the examination for the degree of L. C. E. The best of these received the appointment in the Engineering Branch of the Public Works Department, which Government guarantees yearly. Eight such appointments are guaranteed to the Thomason College at Roorkee, where the first Depart- ment on 1st April, 1870, contained 31 students, while the University Department of the Poona College contained 38 on the same date. But the Poona College has no cause to complain of want of encouragement, as Government has since been pleased to appoint the remaining two Licentiates also to be Assistant Engineers. All the graduates of the year have thus been admitted to a high position in the public service, and I hope that they will justify the liberality of Government." So far so good. But the effort of liberality soon passed ofi"; and we have a different tale the very next year, which is the very second year after the guarantee.
The Principal of the Poona College says (Report 1870-71, para. 8, Public Instruction Report, page 365) — " The three students who obtained the degree of L. C. E. in 1869 have all been provided with appointments by Government. Up to the present, however, the first student at the L. C. E.
Io8 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
examination in 1870 has not been appointed, though it is now more than six months since he passed. This delay on the part of the Public Works Department in conferring an appointment guaranteed by Government, will, I fear, afifect injuriously our next year's attendance."
Upon this the Director of Public Instruction says : " In 1870 two students of the University class passed the examination for the degree of Licentiate, and eight passed the first examination in Civil Engineering. The great attraction to the University department of the College is the appointment in the Engineering branch of the Public Works Department, guaranteed by Government yearly to the student who passed the L. C. E. examination with highest marks. This guarantee has failed on this occasion" (the usual fate of everything promised to Natives), " as neither of the Licentiates of 1870 has yet received an appointment. For whatever reason the Public Works Department delays to fulfil its engagement, it is much to be regretted that any doubt should be thrown on the stability of the Government's support."
Such is the struggle for the guarantee of one appointment — I repeat, one single appointment — to the Natives of the Bombay Presidency, and the following is the way in which Government gets out of its guarantee, and replies to the just complaint for the precious great boon : " The complaint made in para. 657, the Report for 1870-71, that Government had withdrawn the Engineering appointment promised to the graduate in C. E. who shall pass with the highest marks, appears to be without sufficient foundation. All that Govern- ment has done is to limit the bestowal of this appointment to those who pass in the first class, while three appointments in the upper subordinate establishments (of the Public Works Department) are reserved for those who pass the final exami- nation of the College. This would seem at present sufficient encouragement to the pupils of the institution, and the con- finement of the highest prize to those who pass in the first class will probably act as a stimulus to increased exertion on the part of candidates for degrees."
We may now see what the Principal of the College says on this. (Extract from Report of Principal of Poona Engineer- ing College, 1871-72, Director of Public Instruction's Report, page 500.) The Principal says : " Government have, how-
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I09
ever, I regret to say, during the past year withdrawn the guarantee of one appointment annually to the first student in order of merit at the L.C.E. examination, and have ordered that in future, to gain the single appointment, a first-class degree is to be considered necessary. This condition practi- cally removes the guarantee altogether ; for, with the present high standard laid down for the University test, it will not be possible for a student to obtain 66} per cent, more frequently than once perhaps in five or six years. I have proposed that 50 per cent., which is the standard for a first-class B.A., be also adopted as the standard for the first-class degree in Civil Engineering. . . . The offer of an appointment to the student who obtains a first-class degree only, is, as I have already said, equivalent to a withdrawal of the guarantee altogether. The University calendar shows that a first-class at the B.A. examination has only been gained by 11 students out of 129 who have been admitted to the degree, and I do not suppose that any larger proportion will obtain a first-class at the Engineering examination. In what condition, then, do the graduates in Civil Engineering at present stand ? One man, Abraham Samuel Nagarkar, who passed the L.C.E. exami- nation in 1870, was offered a third grade overseership at Rs. 60 per mensem — a post which he could have obtained by simply passing successfully the final examination of the second department of the College. The case of another Licentiate, Mr. Narayen Babaji Joshi, is a still harder one. This youth passed the final examination of the second department of this College (taking second place) in October, 1867. ^^ sub- sequently served as an overseer in the Public Works Depart- ment for two years, during which time he conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his superiors. He resigned his appointment, and joined the University class in this College in November, 1869; and now that he has obtained the University degree, for which he has sacrificed a permanent appointment, he is without any employment, and is obliged to hold a post in the College on Rs. 50 per mensem — a much lower salary than he had when he was an overseer in the Public Works Department two and a half years ago. . . . But the Engineering graduates have absolutely no future to look forward to, and it cannot be expected that candidates will be found to go up for the University degree if there be absolutely no likelihood of subsequent employment. At present almost
no THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
all the engineering employment in the country is in the hands of Government. The work of the old Railway Companies in this Presidency is completed, and the new railways are being undertaken under Government supervision. Except in the Presidency towns, there is little scope for private engineering enterprise, and if Government does not come to the assistance of the College and its University graduates, the University degree will, three or four years hence, be entirely unsought for, and the University department of the College will be numbered among the things of the past.'* I understand from Mr. Nowroji Furdoonji's evidence that Government has yielded, and re-guaranteed one appointment as before. Such is the story of the grand guarantee of one appointment in our Presidency. Now with regard to promotions.
In 1847, after a regular course of three years under Pro- fessor Pole, nine Natives passed a severe examination, and were admitted into the Public Works Department, but, to their great disappointment, not in the Engineering depart- ment. The little batch gradually dispersed — some leaving the service, seeing poor prospects before them. After a long eleven years, three of them had the good fortune of being admitted in the Engineering department in 1858, but one only now continues in the service. What is Mr. Kahandas's position later on ? In the list of ist October, 1868, 1 find him an Executive Engineer of the third class, while the following is the position of others in the same list, for reasons I do not know : — Three Executive Engineers of the 2nd Grade whose date of appointment in the Department is 1859, and of one in i860. Of the five Executive Engineers of the 3rd Grade above Mr. Kahandas, the date of appointment of three is i860, of one is 1862, and of another 1864. How Mr. Kahandas is placed at present relatively with others I have not yet ascertained. Mr. Naservanji Chandabhoy, after all sorts of praises, is much less fortunate, and leaves the service, as he calls it, in disgust. Now we may see how our neigh- bours are faring.
Madras.
The following is the cry from Madras. In the Report on Public Instruction for the year 1870-71, at page 242, Captain Rogers, the Acting Principal of the Civil Engineering College, says : " In the case of Natives, it is evidently the difficulty of
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. Ill
obtaining employment, after completing the course, which deters them from entering the institution.*' The Director of Public Instruction, Mr. E. B. Powell, says (page 21) : " It is to be remarked with regret that, owing to the absence of en- couragement, the first department exists rather in name than in reality. It is clearly most important that educated Natives of the country should be led to take up Civil Engineering as a profession ; but in the present state of things, when almost all works are executed by Government, Hindus of the higher classes cannot be expected to study Civil Engineering without having a fair prospect of being employed in the superior grades of the Public Works Department."
RooRKEE Engineering College.
In its first institution in 1848, the Natives were not admitted in the upper subordinate class at all— till the year 1862. In the Engineering Department I work out from the College Calendar of 1871-72 the Natives passed and their present appointment, as follows : —
Names of Natives Their present
Year. passed. Appointments.
1. 1851 . . Ameerkhan —
2. 1852 . . Huree Charan .... —
3. „ . . Kanyalal Exc. Engr. 2nd Grade.
4. 1853 . . Nilmoner Mitra .... —
5. 1854 . . AzmutooUah —
6. 1855 . . Rampursad —
7. „ . . Madhosadan Chatterji . Asst. Engr. ist Grade.
8. 1858 . . Soondarlal —
9. 1859 . . Narandas —
10. „ . . Ghasuram —
11. „ . . Sheoprasad —
12. i860 . . Khetternath Chatterji. . Asst. Engr. ist Grade.
13. 1862 . . Isser Chandar Sircar . . „ „ „
14. „ . . Beharilal „ „ „
15. 1870 . . Rhadhilal Engineer Apprentice.
16. „ . . Bujputroy „
17. 1871 . . Bhajat Sing —
18. „ . . Sher Nath —
Out of the total number of 112 that 'passed from 1851 to 1870 there are 16 Natives, and seven only have appointments at present. Why the others have not I am not able to ascertain. About the first Bengalee that passed, the Hindoo Patriot says he was so ill-treated that he resigned Government service in disgust, and alludes to another having done the same. From the falling-off &om the year 1862 to 1870, I
112 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
infer that there was no encouragement to Natives. Out of the 96 Europeans passed during the same time, 10 only have " no present appointments'* put after their name, and two are with their regiments. Again, Kanyalal, who passed in 1852, is an Executive Engineer of the 2nd Grade, while one Euro- pean who passed a year after, two Europeans who passed two years after, and three Europeans who passed three years after, are Executive Engineers ist Grade; and two passed two years after, one passed three years after, one passed five years after, and one passed six years after, are also Executive Engineers 2nd Grade ; and these lucky persons have super- seded some European seniors also. Madhosadan Chatterji, passed in 1855, ^^ now an Assistant Engineer of the ist Grade, while two Europeans passed a year after him are Executive Engineers of ist Grade, one passed two years after him is in "Survey Department" (and I cannot say whether this is higher or not), one passed three years after is an Executive Engineer of the 2nd Grade ; and of those passed four years after him, two are Executive Engineers of 3rd Grade, one Executive Engineer of 4th Grade, and one Deputy Conservator of Forests (I do not know whether this is higher) ; and two Assistant Engineers of the ist Grade, i.e., in the same footing with him ; of those passed five years after, one is Executive Engineer of 3rd Grade, two Executive Engineers of 4th Grade, and one Assistant Engineer of ist Grade ; of those passed six years after, one is Executive Engineer 3rd Grade, and one Executive Engineer 4th Grade ; of those passed seven years after, two are Executive Engineers 4th Grade, one Assistant Superintendent ist Grade Revenue Survey, and one Assistant Engineer ist Grade ; of those passed eight years after, one is Executive Engineer 4th Grade, and one Assistant Superintendent ist Grade Survey Department; of those passed nine years after, four are Executive Engineers of 4th Grade, one is Assistant Superintendent ist Grade Survey Department, and two are Assistant Engineers ist Grade ; of those passed ten years after, one is Executive Engineer 4th Grade, one Deputy Assistant Superintendent (?) Revenue Survey, and one Assistant Engineer of ist Grade; of those passed 1 1 years after, one is Assistant Engineer ist Grade; of those passed 12 years after, one is Executive Engineer 4th Grade, one is Assistant Engineer ist Grade, and one is Deputy Conservator of Forests. As to the Natives, the above-
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. II3
mentioned one passed in 1855, one passed in i860, and two in 1862 — are all only Assistant Engineers of the ist Grade, so that the very few who have been fortunate enough to get appointments are all at a stand at the ist Grade of Assistant Engineers, except one who is Executive Engineer of the 2nd Grade. What may be the reason of such unequal treatment ? And yet Mr. Grant Duflf coolly tells Parliament " that the scholarships available for that purpose are not taken up," as if these scholarships for two or three years were the end and aim^of their life-career. The upper subordinate department was entirely closed to Natives till 1862 ; the lower subordinate was only open to them. Under such circumstances, is it any wonder that the Natives do not go in for the higher Engineer- ing Department ? I cannot do better than let the Principal of the College himself speak to show how he struggles to get a guarantee for the Natives which he thinks will not commit Government to more than one or two appointments annually, and what he .thinks of the fitness of Natives and their first claims (Principal Lang's Report for 1870-71, College Calendar for 1871-72, page 269) : ** Nor can I hope to see many Natives join it, although I consider that they have perhaps the first claims upon the College, and should be more encouraged to enter the higher grades of the Public Works Department. ... A sub-overseer as turned out of this Col- lege is in many particulars a more highly-trained subordinate, after his two years* curriculum, than the overseer who leaves after one session in the College ; and I am by no means pre- pared to assent that he is not, on 35 rupees a month, quite as useful a man in most cases as the European overseer on Rs. 100. . • • But few, however, comparatively of the higher or wealthier families have furnished candidates for the superior grades of the Engineering profession. . . . That the Natives of this country under favourable conditions are capable of excellence both as architects and builders, the beauty and solidity of many of the historical monuments of the country fully testify ; and that they could compete with European skill in the choice and composition of building materials, may be proved by comparing an old terrace-roof at Delhi or Lahore with an Allahabad gun-shed, or many a recent barrack."
After referring to the encouragement given to one Native, the Principal proceeds : " But I consider that yet more en-
i
114 '^^^ POVERTY OP INDIA.
couragement should be given. I do not think that the Natives have yet made sufficient way in the profession to feel confi- dence in themselves, or to command the confidence of the public. Such we may hope to see eflfected ere long, but the time has not yet come for State aid and encouragement to be withdrawn ; and it is with this view that I have urged that, for the present, Government should guarantee appoint- ments to all passed Native students in the Engineering classes, whether they stand amongst the first eight on the lists at the final examinations or not, especially as such a guarantee would commit them to but very few — one or two— appoint- ments annually. When the guarantee did commit Govern- ment to a larger number of appointments it would be time to withdraw it ; its object would have been gained, the stream would have set in in the required direction, and might be expected to flow on.
** 1 8, Although this proposition has not yet received the approval of the Government of India, I hope that it may be found possible to sanction it, as such a guarantee, published in the calendar and circulars of the College, will be a thoroughly satisfactory assurance to a candidate or student that it rests only with himself to command an entrance into the Public Works Department."
Such is the struggle, and such are the reasons which Mr. DufF might have told Parliament why the scholarships were not taken up.
Bengal.
Bengal appears to have been liberal about 1867-68, but, with the usual misfortune of Natives, seems to be falling oflF. The Administration Report of 1871-2 speaks in somewhat hopeful language, but we must wait and see. I give the extracts from the reports of the College since 1867-68 to explain what I mean (Educational Report of 1867-68, p. 522, Presidency College) : "The six Licentiates of 1867-68 have received appointments in the grade of Assistant Engineers in the Public Works Department on probation." I under- stand all the six to be Natives.
(1868-69, page 437) : " Three out of the four final students of the Session of 1867-68 went up to the University examina- tion for a license, and two were passed — one in the first class, and one in the second." (Page 438) : " The two Licentiates
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. II5
were awarded scholarships. . . . But after being attached for a short time to some of the works in progress in Calcutta, they applied for and obtained appointments as Engineer apprentices in the Public Works Department." Why they applied for the apprenticeship, and did not get the Assistant Engineership, I cannot ascertain. It looks as if this were the first step towards the cessation of former liberality, for we see afterwards as follows (Report 1869-70, page 302) — ** There were eight students in the final class of the Session who went up to the University examination. One was a B.C.E., and he passed in the second class. The other seven went in for the license, and four passed in the second." Whether these have obtained appointments I cannot say; there is complete silence on this matter — as if this were the second step towards the discouragement. We do not read even of the apprenticeship now. (Report 1870-71, page 305) : " Nine of the students in the third year class went up to the University examination for a license, and three were passed, one being placed in the first class, and two in the second." I could not find out whether appointments were given to these — the report is again silent. The following is the hope- ful, but unfortunately no very clear, language of His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor (Bengal Administration Report, 1871-72, page 237) : ** Students who obtain a Licentiate's certificate are, after a short probation, eligible for the grade of Assistant Engineer." Now, what this expression " eligible " means, it is difficult to say. Were not the five men of Bombay, about whom I have already spoken, eligible to be Assistant Engineers ? And there they were with the precious eligibility, and that only, in their possession for years, and I do not know whether this eligibility of some of the previous Bengal successful Licentiates has ripened into appointment.
" The several branches of the Public Works Department have hitherto been able to provide employment for all, or nearly all, the students who pass the several Civil Engineer- ing examinations, and adopt Engineering as a profession." The word " nearly " is again a very suspicious one. That the subordinates may be all employed is a necessity — for Europeans cannot be got for inferior work, but if the word "nearly" is applied to the Licentiates, then we have the same story as in the other Presidencies. In 1872, seven have passed the Licentiate and one the degree of Bachelor.
Il6 THB POVERTY OP INDIA.
It would be very interestiag and gratifying to know whether these eight have obtained appointments as Assistant Engineers, or will get them. Altogether, I think some forty- five passed the Licentiate since 1861 — a return of how these men have fared in their appointments and promotion will be a welcome one. The following sentence is an encouraging one, and makes me think that Bengal has not been so unjust as the other Presidencies: — "Some Bengalees who graduated in the Civil Engineering College have already obtained lucrative and responsible posts in the Engineering Depart- ments of Government, and a few years* experience will show whether Bengalees are, or are not, imsuited for, and whether the best Bengalee students will continue to keep aloof from, the profession of Civil Engineering." Are these appointments like those of the passed Natives of Roorkee, to a certain point and no further ; or have the Natives fared, and will they fare» equally with the Europeans in their promotion ? The only pity is that the word *'some*' commences this sentence instead of ally unless it means all who have graduated, or who liked to enter Government service. We shall have not only to know whether the Bengalee is or is not unsuited, etc., but also what treatment he receives at the hands of the P. W. Department in his future career. Unless both these matters are taken together, the conclusion about suitability or other- wise will be simply absurd and worthless.
The Native Medical Service.
In this also the Natives are put at a great disadvantage in having to go to England to find admission. But apart from this, the treatment in India is as follows. I give below a statement of the difference between the treatment of the European and Native divisions.
sub-assistant surgeons.
Sub-Assistant Surgeons. Apothecary Class.
(i) Preliminary Education — (i) Preliminary Educaiion^^
Individuals, Natives of Bom- The members of the apothe-
bay, who ultimately wish to be- cary class enter the service aa
come sub - assistant surgeons, hospital apprentices, and candi-
must enter the Medical College dates who enter the service pass
by first producing the University a most elementary examinauon»
certificate of having passed the consisting of reading an ordinary
Matriculation or First Examina- school-book, some knowledge of
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
117
tion in Arts. When admitted, they have to pay an entrance fee of Rs. 25, and a monthly fee of R8.5 throughout the College coorse of five years.
explaining sentences, dictation » and arithmetic as far as Rule of Three and fractions. A candi- cate satisfying the examiners on these points is admitted into the Medical Service as a hospital apprentice, and draws from Rs.i6 to Rs. 20 a month, with an addi- tional allowance of Rs. 10 for rations or batta. It will thus be seen that the members of the apothecary class enter the Medi- cal Service in the first place, and this gives them the privilege of acquiring a fru medical educa- tion at the Medical College, that is, without any cost, and while in the receipt of Government pay.
Course of Study.
(2) A full and thorough college course on the following sub- jects : — Anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica, com- parative anatomy, pharmacy, medicine, surgery, medical juris- prudence, midwifery, opthalmic surgery, hygiene, practical chemistry, practical toxicology, dissections, hospital practice, and surgical operations. This course extends over five long years — ^in so thorough and com- plete a manner as to be equal, and in some cases superior to the College courses given in Great Britain. These constitute the students' classes. They are composed of students from the Hindoo, Parsee, Mussalman, and Portuguese communities.
(3) At the end of three years the students proper have to pass what is called the First L. M. Examination at the University of Bombay. At the end of the fifth year, the second or final L. M. Examination has to be passed, and, if successful, the students receive the degree of L. M. Before the Bombay University came into existence there were
(2) Hospital apprentices, after enlisting into the Medical Ser- vice, serve at some regimental hospital for two years, during which time they are transferred to Sir Jamsetji Jijibhoy Hospital, and, whilst serving there as medical apprentices, draw Go- vernment pay ; they are also admitted into the College as medical apprentices to acquire medical knowledge. These ap- prentices then are made to attend the same lectures which are given to the students proper to whose classes they are at- tached, but the standard of their acquirements and final examina- tions is altogether different ; it is greatly inferior to that of the students proper. The appren- tices are called upon to attend the College for three years only.
(3) At the end of the three years they are examined by the College Professors in the College itself, and if they pass their stan- dard of examination, they are made *' passed hospital appren- tices.** They now leave the College to serve again at some regimental hospital and draw Rs. 50 a month.
N.B. — In the last two paras, it
ii8
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
twocorrespooding examinations, then called A and B Examina- tions, and at the end of five years* course the successful stu- dents received the diplomas and were called G. G. M. C. It is from these successful students that the sub-assistant surgeons were made, but within the last two years they are also made (very unjustly) from the ai>othe- cary and hospital assistant classes, as will be seen further on, on very different an4 com- paratively trifling examinations.
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(5) A sub-assistant surgeon cannot become an honorary as- sistant surgeon. During the course of the last 23 years, dur- ing which the class of sub-assis- tant surgeons is in existence, no
is stated that the apprentices attend the same class-lectures for three years as the students proper. This arrangement is adopted in the College as the Professors cannot give separate course to the students and to the apprentices. But the amount of knowledge required at the final examination of the appren- tices at the end of three years is much smaller than the know- ledge required at the final ex- amination of the students proper at the end of five years.
(4) The " passed hospital ap- prentices" then go on with their regimental duties, and are pro- moted in the following order, till they reach the grade of senior apothecary : —
Rs. Passed Hospital Apprentice 50 Assistant Apothecary under
5 years 75
Assistant Apothecary after
5 years xoo
Apothecary under 5 years . 150 Apothecary after 5 years . 200 Senior Apothecary .... 400
Education of the Apothecaries.
Soon after the opening of the G. M. College, Government ordered that the members of the apothecary class should receive medical education in the College. They then attended the same lectures as are given to the students* classes for three years, at the end of which perioa they are examined. The standard of the examination is the same easy one which is now adopted for the apprentices, also at the end of three years* course. These examinations are taken at the College, not by the Bombay Uni- versity.
(5) The members of the apo- thecary class can be made hon- orary assistant surgeons. An honorary assistant surgeon, or an assistant apothecary, or apo- thecary, draws Rs.450 a month
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
119
medical charge ever given to him has brought him more pay than Rs. 350 a month.
(6) No provision of this sort for sab-assistant surgeon.
(7) The following is the Finan- cial Resolution No. 2,295 of April, 1867:—
"Governor-General of India in Council is pleased to lay down the following revised scale of consolidated salaries for uncove- nanted medical officers, other than sub • assistant surgeons, when in medical charge of civil stations." From this it is clear that sub-assistant surgeons are particularly debarred from re- ceiving the advantages of this Financial Resolution; they can- not become uncovenanted medi- cal officers.
(8) The following two sub- assistant surgeons hold medical charge of the stations opposite their names, with their pay : —
Rs. Buijorjee Ardesir, Savunt-
varee 350
Abdool Rahim Hakim, Bas-
sadore 200
These are the only two sub-assis- tant surgeons who hold charge of civil stations. There are now 34 sub-assistant surgeons on the Bombay Medical Establishment ; not one of them receives more than Rs.350 a month; 34 sub- assistant surgeons receive pay as follows : —
Monthly Rs.
8 Sub- Assistants. . each 350
9 »» . . If 300
X2 „ . • „ 200
5 II . . „ TOO
if placed in temporary medical charge of a Native regiment.
(6) When an honorary assis- tant surgeon, or an apothecary, or an assistant apothecary, is allowed to retain medical charge of a Native corps for upwards of five years, his salary is mcreased to Rs.6oo a month.
(7) Honorary assistant sur- geons and other members of the apothecary class, when em- ployed in independent medical charge of civil stations, will re- ceive pay according to the scale laid down in Financial Depart- ment's Notification No. 2,295, dated the 25th April, 1867, namely —
Rs. Under 5 years* service in in- dependent civil charge . 350 From 5 to 10 years . . . 450 From 10 to 15 years . . . 550 Above 15 years 700
(8) The following apothecaries are in medical charge of the stations placed opposite to their names, with their pay : —
Rs. B. Burn, Nassick .... 700 A. Pollard, Dapoolee . . . 450
D. Munday, Vingorla . . . 350
E. H. Cook, Shewan . . . 350
t Leahy, Sukkur .... 450 , George, Gogo .... 480 J. Sinclair, Kolapore . . . 450 . Anderson, House-Surgeon
to J. J. Hospital .... 450 W. Conway, Sada Political
Agency 350
W. Waite, Khandeish Bheel
Corps 450
T. MacGuire, Honorary As- sistant Surgeon .... 450 And there are others also, but they are omitted here, as their salaries cannot be made out just now.
(9) The rank of sub-assistant surgeons is that of ** Native com-
Rank or Position.
(9) Apothecaries generally are
warrant medical officers (Rule 8 of
I20
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
missioned officers of the army," whose designations and pay are as follows : —
Monthly.
Subadar Rs. loo
Jemadar ,f 35
Havildar •> i6
Sub-assistant surgeons must re- main sub-assistant surgeons all their lifetime, with such low rank as Native commissioned officers, whose education is next to nothing. It is also under- stood that when in civil employ (which is not often the case) the sub-assistant surgeons hold the relative ranks of mamlatdars, deputy collectors, and subordi- nate judges. I'heir relative ranks were mentioned in the first set of rules published some 24 years ago. They are omitted in the rules of " Sub-Assistant Surgeons and Charitable Dis- pensaries," published by Govern- ment under date 25th March, 1861. Rule 8 says : *' In official intercourse it is the wish of Government that sub-assistant surgeons should be treated with the same degree of respect which is paid to Native commissioned officers of the army, etc." What this *' etc.*' means I do not know.
xst July, 1868)— 5 apothecaries now hold the rank of honorary assistant surgeon, or that of lieu- tenant ; junior assistant apothe- caries can reach the rank of sub - assistant surgeons by a College study of two years, and the same privilege is allowed to hospital assistants. This is being done within the last two years. Now, contrast the rules for the sub-assistant surgeons with those of the apothecary class, so very different ana favourable in every respect for the favoured class.
These rules can be seen in the supplement to the Indian Medical Gazette of ist July, 1868. They are too long for insertion here.
Sub-Assistant Surgeons.
Assistant Apothecaries and Apothecaries.
Promotion.
(10) For the students who form the College classes proper.
For the graduates of the Grant Medical College there was first an entrance examination in the College. Then the A examina- tion (medical) at the end of three years* College course, and a final examination at the end of five years* course. After the open- ing of the Bombay University the Entrance Examination is the present Matriculation Examina- tion. Then, at the end of the third year, there is the First L. M. Examination taken at the
(10) The only examinations which the members of the apo- thecary class are required to undergo are two^namely, one (of English knowledge) on the apprentices entering the Medi cal Service, that is, the same as mentioned in par. i under the head of " Prehminary Educa- tion ; *' the second is the medical examination, which is taken at the end of three years' College course, as mentioned in par. 5 and N.B. There are no more examinations than these two, although the apothecary may
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
121
University, and at the end of the fifth year there is the Second L. M. Eiamination.
After this the student becomes a snb-assistant surgeon, and is admitted into the 3rd class. After seven years' service he is again examined in the College, and, if successful, is promoted to the 2nd class of sub-assistant sturgeon. Then, at the end of 14 years' service, he is examined again, and, if successful, is pro- moted to the ist class of sub- assistant surgeon. After this there is no promotion till the snb-assistant surgeon is either pensioned or dies.
(11) Thus for the graduates or licentiates becoming sub-assist- ant surgeons, and during 30 years' service, there are five ex- aminations— one Entrance, and four Medical, viz. : —
IS*. — ^The First Entrance or the Matriculation Examination on entering the College.
2nd. — First L. M. Examination.
^rd. — Second L. M. Examina- tion.
Then, after joining the Medi- cal Service as sub-assistant sur- geon-—
4/A. — First promotion exami- nation at the end of 7 years' service.
5^. — Second promotion ex- amination at the end of 14 years' service.
N.B. — ^The last two examina- tions are taken with a view to find out whether the sub-assist- ant surgeon has kept up to the advances made by the Medical Senice.
serve the State for full 30 years, and although he may rise from the rank of apprentice (Rs.i6 pay) to that of uncovenanted medical officer on Rs. 700 monthly.
(11) During 30 years' service there are only two examinations ~-one in English, the entrance examination ; and the other the medical, at the end of three years' course — and the man may rise up to Rs.700 per month. For further encouragement, Rule 46 of the Rules of 1868 provides for the further advancement of the junior members of the apo- thecary class, when well recom- mended, to rise to the position of sub-assistant surgeon, and allowed after 5 years' service to attend the Medical College for a period not exceeding two years, to qualify themselves for the grade of sub-assistant surgeon. Now, the rule does not state whether after these two years' study the person has to pass any such examination as the 2nd L. M. before he is appointed to the post. But I think it is merely a much simpler examination at the College — and not the Uni- versityexaminationof 2nd L. M., or anything like it. N.B. — An assistant apothecary is promoted to the grade of full apothecary, and this again to that of senior apothecary, and the latter again to that of uncovenanted medical officer or honorary assistant surgeon without any examination whatever.
122
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
(12) Sub-assistant surgeons are pensioned agreeably to the rules of the Uncovenanted Service generally. Widows of this ser- vice are refused any pension. This subject is brought forward to show how well the apothe- caries are cared for.
(12) Special provisions are made for the apothecary class for retiring, invalid, and wouod pensions, as from paras. 22 to 26 of General Order No. 550 of 1868. Para. 27 provides pensions to the widows of the apothecary class.
What can be a better test of the comparative merits of these two classes of servants than the following, and how different is their treatment in spite of all professions of equality of all British subjects, without reference to colour or creed ! —
Graduates and L. Ms.
During the last sixteen years the following graduates of G. M. College and licentiates of medi- cine of the University of Bombay have passed the examination of assistant surgeon in England, without a single failure, and they are all now in the Medicsd Service. Many more would prove their competence but for the unfair disadvantage at which they are placed in having to go to England at much expense and inconvenience.
G. G. M. C. I.— Rustomji By- ramji, M.D. He passed in 1856 ; so he is now full surgeon. He is now serving at Jacobabad.
L. M. 2. — Atmaram S. Jayaker, assistant surgeon, passed in 1867, acting civil surgeon at Muscat.
L. M. 3. — A. J. Howell, assist- ant surgeon, passed in 1869.
L. M. 4.--Kuttonlal Girdhur- lal, M.D., an assistant surgeon, passed in 1872. He is now serving in the Bengal Presi- dency. Although he was a can- didate from Bombay, he pre- ferred to go to the Bengal Presidency.
Besides all these —
G. G. M. C— Dr. Muncherji Byramji Cohola, M.D., should be mentioned. This gentleman is now in the Bombay Medical Service as an uncovenanted medical officer and superinten-
Apothecaries.
This class of subordinate medi- cal servants are in existence fully for half-a-century at least. Their number has always been large, and they are now 105 in all.
Not a single apothecary or assist' ant apothecary has up to this day ventured to appear for the ex- amination of an assistant sur- geon.
It is true that five apothecaries now hold the honorary rank of assistant surgeon, but this hon- orary rank is only given to them in India by the Indian Govern- ment in consequence of that strange order of the Government of India No. 550 of 1868.
Before the publication of this order the two most senior apo- thecaries used to be made hon- orary sub - assistant surgeons, beyond which grade they could not aspire. Nowadays the same senior apothecaries laugh at the idea of being called sub-assistant surgeons, as Government could accord them the higher rank of honorary assistant surgeon. The attainment of this rank does not involve the idea of any exami- nation whatever. All promo- tions take place in this class of servants by length of service only.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 1 23
dent of vaccination, Northern Division. He had gone to Eng- land to pass for an assistant sorgeon, but unfortunately for him he had gone there soon after the Indian Mutiny, when all Natives of India were pro- hibited admission into the Indian Medical Service, and therefore he had to return disappointed to Bombay without the exami- nation. He, however, passed a successful examination in Eng- land for M.D.
Even an honorary assistant surgeonship is not accorded to the sub-assistant surgeon, no matter what his merits.
This comparison shows how Natives, far better educated, are put very much inferior in rank, position, and emoluments to Europeans very much inferior in acquirements. The class of Natives from which alone some have gone over and success- fully passed the examination in England is put below a class of Europeans from which not one has even ventured, as far as I can ascertain, to stand the ordeal of the same examina- tion.
Telegraph and Forest Services.
In the Telegraph and Forest service it is the same ; Natives are virtually debarred by being required to go to England to enter the higher departments, as far as I am aware. So here we are after forty years, as if the great enactment, of which great statesmen were proud, had never taken place, and all pledges, even such as that of Her most Gracious Majesty, were idle words.
Now I conclude my notes on the Poverty of India. As I told you before, these notes were written more than two to three years ago. It remains to be seen what modification should be made in these views by the light of the events of the subsequent years. For the present the inevitable conclu- sion is that there is a heavy and exhausting annual drain, both material and moral, from India caused by the excessive employment of Europeans; and to remedy this unnatural and serious evil, such employment needs to be limited to some reasonable extent, so that India may be able to retain to itself some portion of the profits of its trade, and, by thus
124 THE POVBRTY OF INDIA.
increasing its capital and prosperity, may be strengthened and confirmed in its loyalty and gratitude to the British nation. I hoped to be able to speak more definitely on this point, but though it is now nearly three years since Sir D. Wedderburn moved for a return of the number, salaries, allowances, etc., of all Europeans and Natives employed in all the departments of the State drawing a salary of above Rs. loo, it is not forthcoming yet.
I expected that such a return would enable us to consider more carefully the extent and remedy of the serious evil I am complaining of. I would have closed my paper here, but as I have seen what appears to be a confirmation of the remedy I ask for, of the necessity of clipping European service, from a most unexpected quarter, I desire to say a few more words. The quarter I mean is the Bombay Gazette, or Mr. Maclean. If I understand him rightly, we do not appear to be far from each other, except what difference may arise from his inter- pretation of his own words. In his paper of 23rd March last, in commenting upon the causes of " the debased rupee," he considers home remittances to have some effect in that direc- tion. And he proposes the remedy. I give his own words. He says — " To decrease these (home remittances) by clipping establishments, or rather re-framing them on an economical basis by never employing other than Natives of this country ^^ except where good policy and public convenience demand it, and if possible by establishing some check on the extravagant follies of the Secretary of State, should be the task of the Indian Government." This is just what I ask now, and what I asked before the Select Committee. Not only that the Native services will be economical in themselves, but that, even if they were as highly paid as the European services were at present, the economical result to India will be pure gain, as all such payments will continue and remain as the wealth and capital of the country. The only thing to be ascertained is, what Mr. Maclean's ideas are as to the extent of the employment of Europeans that ** good policy and public convenience may demand."
The demoralising effect upon our rulers of this fundamental and serious evil shows itself in various ways, besides the most prominent one of the open non -performance of engage-
^ The italics are mine.
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. 125
ments, etc., which I have already pointed out. Take, for instance, the revenue legislation for the Presidency of Bombay. This legislation, instead of maintaining the height of EngUsb justice, in which it commenced in the earlier Regu- lations of 1827, and in which English prestige took its foundation, gradually degenerated into a legalised Asiatic despotism, till the new Revenue Jurisdiction Bill crowned the edifice, and by which the Collector, who was hitherto the *• king," now becomes the emperor, and whose will generally will be the law of " the land."
The drain of India's wealth on the one hand, and the exigencies of the State expenditure increasing daily on the other, set all the ordinary laws of political economy and justice at naught, and lead the rulers to all sorts of ingenious and oppressive devices to make the two ends meet, and to descend more and more every day to the principles of Asiatic despotism, so contrary to English grain and genius. Owing to this one unnatural policy of the British rule of ignoring India's interests, and making it the drudge for the benefit of England, the whole rule moves in a wrong, unnatural, and suicidal groove.
As much as our rulers swerve from <'the path of duty that is plain before them," so much do they depart from "the path of wisdom, of national prosperity and of national honour."
Nature's laws cannot be trifled with, and so long as they are immutable, every violation of them carries with it its own Nemesis as sure as night follows day.
MR. DADABHAI NAOROjrS REPLY TO CRITICISMS ON "THE POVERTY OF INDIA/'
I begin with Mr. Maclean. His remarks consist of violent declamation and criticism proper. With the former I have nothing to do.
He has very much misunderstood my papers. As a first instance : — when he asks me to deduct the exports of India (less the exports from Native States) from my estimate of the production of India, he does not see that my estimate is for the total production in India, and that what is exported is not to be deducted therefrom. Besides, my estimate is for British India, and is not aflfected in any way by the exports from the Native States.
As a second instance — he asks me to add ;f 15,000,000 for Cotton manufactures. My estimate of production includes all raw Cotton of British India. The only thing to be added (which is already included in my estimate) is the additional value the raw Cotton acquires by the application of industry in its conversion into cloth. Coal and foreign stores that are used in the mills are paid for from and are therefore included in the production I have estimated. The only additional value is that of the labour employed. But even if we allowed the wliole additional value acquired by raw cotton in its conversion into cloth, what will it be ? Mr. Maclean's Guide to Bombay (1875) gives the number of the then work- ing spindles (which is much later than the time of my notes) as about six lacs in the whole of the Bombay Presidency. Taking 5 ozs. per day per spindle, and 340 working days in the year, the total quantity of raw cotton consumed will be about 81,300 Candies, which, at Rs. 150 per Candy amounts to about ;^i, 220,000. The price of cloth is generally about double the price of raw cotton, as I have ascertained from the details of two or three mills of Bombay, so that the whole addition caused by the mills to the value of raw cotton is only nearly ij millions, say ij millions sterling to leave a
( "6 )
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I27
mde margin. Then, again, there are about the time of my notes, yarn imports into India worth about ;f 2,500,000 per annum. This, of course, is paid for from the production of the country. The value added to it is its conversion into cloth. Now the cost of weaving is about 25 per cent, of the value of yam, so that the value thus added is about ;^6oo,ooo, say a million to include any contingency, making the total value to be added to the raw production of about ;f 2,500,000. If deduction is made for coal and foreign stores, this amount will be much lessened. Again we know that hand spinning is much broken down, and there can be but a little quantity of cloth woven out of hand-spun yarn in India. Giving even ;^500,ooo more Jor that industry, the outside total of addition to the raw produce would come to, as a high estimate, ;^3,ooo,ooo instead of the ;f 15,000,000 which Mr. Maclean asks me to add without giving a single figure for his data. Let him give any reasonable data, and I shall gladly modify my figures so far. As a third instance of his misunderstanding my paper — when he asks me to take ;^5,6oo,ooo for gold and silver ornaments made in this country, he forgets that gold and silver are not produced in this country. All bullion is imported and is paid for from the produce of India. It, there- fore, can add nothing to my estimate of production. The only addition is the industry employed on it to convert it into ornaments. This industry for the ordinary Native ornaments will be amply covered by taking on an average an eighth of the value of the metal, which will give about ;f625,ooo, or, say, three quarters of a million sterling, or even a million, while Mr. Maclean wants me to take ;^5,ooo,ooo.
As a fourth instance : — while Mr. Maclean tells me errone- ously to add ;^i 5,000,000 and ;f 5,000,000 when there should be hardly one fifth of these amounts, he does not see that I have actually allowed in my paper for all manufacturing industrial value to be added to that of raw produce as ;^i7,ooo,ooo. And further for any omissions ;^3o,ooo,ooo more {Supra pp. 24-5).
These four instances, I think, would be enough to show the character of Mr. Maclean's criticism, and I pass over several other similar and other mistakes and mis-statements. I come to what is considered as his most pointed and most powerful argument, but which, in reality, is all moonshine. After contradicting fiatly in my paper his assertion that the exports
128
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
of the United States were in excess of imports, I had said that I had no reliable figures for the years after 1869. To this he replies : << Here they are," and he gives them as follows. I quote his own words.
" Mr. Dadabhai says he cannot get * authentic figures ' of Anierican trade for a later year than i86g — Here they are for him: —
Merchandise
Merchandise
and bullion.
and bullion.
Imports.
£
Exports.
£
1869 . .
. 87,627,917
1869 .
• . 99,330,735
1870 . .
. 97»779»35i
1870 .
. . 117.534,993
1871 . .
. 112,552,770
1871 .
. . 138.084,908
1872 . .
. 117,250,899
1872 .
. • 128.337,183
1873 . .
. 132,709,295
1873 .
. . 142,240,730
1874 . .
. 119,172,249
1874 .
. . 130,582,689
;f667,o85,48i
;f 756,111,238
" The excess of exports over imports for the six years is, therefore, 89 millions sterling, giving a yearly average of nearly 15 millions against only 11^ for India. The explana- tion of the deficit in imports in the case of the United States is, of course, similar to that which accounts for so much of the Indian deficit. The United States form a favourite field for investment of English Capital, the interest of which is paid by America in the form of exports of produce. Yet we never heard an American citizen complain that his country was being drained of its wealth for the benefit of foreigners. He is only anxious to borrow as much English Capital as he can, knowing that invested in reproductive works, it will repay him a hundred-fold the paltry rate of interest he has to send abroad."
To these remarks of Mr. Maclean I reply that he is as utterly wrong now as he was before. When he first made the mistake which I have pointed out in my paper there was some excuse for him — that he was misled by what was sup- posed to be a book made up from authoritative statements — but after I fiatly contradicted him once, it was his duty to ascertain whether my contradiction was correct, and if so not to follow the same blind guide again. He did nothing of the kind, and his conduct now was quite inexcusable in dealing recklessly with such important matters. He has taken his figures from the '* Statesman's Year Book." This book has
THB POVERTY OF INDIA.
129
made curious mistakes. It has included bullion in the figures for exports of << Merchandise," and again given bullion separately ; and it has not converted the ** currency " value of exports of <* domestic produce " from the Atlantic ports, into gold. These two and some such other mistakes render this book's figures for the years taken by Mr. Maclean utterly wrong. I give the following illustration of these mistakes in the figures for the year ending 30th June, 1871. The correct official^ figures are : —
Merchandise. Si4,42i,270
Merchandise.
Re-exports.
(gold value.)
Gold and Silver.
Si4,038,629
Total. Sa8,459,899
from Atlantic ports.
Currency
Valne.
•
464.300,771
eqoal to gold
Value.
t
414,826,393
from Pacific Ports.
Gold Value.
S 131712.624
13,712,624
Exports.
Specie and bullion.
Gold Value.
from Atlantic I from Pacific
Ports. Ports.
76,187,027 I 8,318,229
Total 84.505»«56
Domestic exports. (Gold Value.)
5x3,044,273
Total Exports.
Re-exports.
(Gold Value.)
t
28,459.899
Total. Mixed Value,
562,518,651
equal to Gold Value.
S 513,044,273
Total. (Gold Value.)
541.504.x72
Now instead of the above correct official figure of $541,504,172 as the Mai exports from the United States (including bullion), the Statesman's book makes '< Merchan- dise'* $590,978,550 and bullion $98,441,989, which I find to be made up as follows : — It takes from the official returns total mixed value of domestic Exports, $562,518,651 and then adds to it the total re-exports $28,459,899, and makes the addition of the two figures as the total for ** Merchandise " — ^viz.y $590,978,550. It will now be seen by a comparison of
> Monthly Reports on the Commerce and Navigation of the United StatM. By the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics for the year ending 30th JuM, 187X, page 386.
K
I30
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
these figures with the official ones, that the " Currency " value of the domestic Exports from the Atlantic ports is not converted into gold, and that though in the two official totals of $562,518,651 and $28,459,899, bullion is already included^ the total of these in the Statesman's book is given for *' Merchandise" alone and a further statement is given for bullion as $98,441,989, made up nearly of $84,505,256 of domestic exports, and $14,038,629 of re-exports.
Mr. Maclean takes the total $590,978,550 of " Merchan- dise " (which already includes bullion) and bullion over again^ $98,543,885, and makes the exports $689,420,539 or ;^i 38,084,908. It will thus be seen that Mr. Maclean's figure for 1871 contains bullion to the extent of $98,543,885, or ;^I9,889,I98 taken twice^ and the ^^ currency'* value of domestic produce exported from the Atlantic ports, is not converted into gold value, making a further error of $49,474,378 ; or the total error in Mr. Maclean's figure for exports for 1871 alone is $98,543,885 + $49,474»378 = $148,018,263, or nearly ;^3i,ooo,ooo sterling @ 5od. per $•
I take 5od. per $ as the Parliamentary Returns for foreign States No. XII. has taken this rate of Exchange.
Mr. Maclean has given the figures for six years. I am not able to verify the figures for 1874, ^ ^ ^^^ ^ comparison of the official correct figures and Mr. Maclean's figures for the years ending June, 1869 to 1873.
The Statesman's book's wrong figures.
Imports.
Exports.
Years ending June.
1869 . .
1870 . .
1871 . .
1872 . .
1873 . .
Merchandise.
s
4i7»5o6,379 462,377.587 541.493,774 572.510,304 642.030,539
Bullion.
$ 19,807,876 26,419,179 21,270,024 13,743,689 21,480,937
Merchandise.
$ 439,134,529 529,519,302 590.978,550 561,808,381 626,595,077
Bullion.
sins
98,441,989 79.877.534 • 84,608,574
Add . .
2,635,918,583 102,721,705
102,721,705 Imports.
2,748.035,839 378,222,143
378,222,143
Total. .
2,738,640,288
3,126,257,982 2,738,640,288
Total Exporto. Deduct Imports.
Excess of jE«/or^«.
387,617,694
THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
131
Official correct figures.^
Yaan Jnne.
Imports.
Inclading bullion,
gold value.
1869 437»3i4.255
1870 V .... 462,377,587
1871 541,493.708
187a 640,338,706
X873 663,617,147
Total Iinports . 2,745,141,403 Deduct Exports . 2,466,589,293
'Exceaaoi Imports 278,552,110
Exports.
Including bullion,
gold value.
Domestic.
S
318,082,663 420,500,275 512,802,267 501.285.371 578,938.985
Foreign.
s 25,173,414 30,427,159 28,459.899 22,769,749 28,149,511
2,331,609,561
134.979.732
Total.
2,466,589.293
Mr. Maclean's total error for the five years 1869 to 1873 is therefore $278,552,110 + 387,617,694 = $666,169,804 = /i38,78SiOoo @ 5o<l-per$; or $i33»233»96i = ;^27,757,ooo per annum.
In making, however, a comparison between the trade returns of India and the United States, there is one important matter to be considered, and which, when taken into account, as it ought to be, the Imports of the United States will be some 16 per cent, more than they are above shown to be. In India the exports are declared at the value at the ports of export. It is the same with the United States. The imports in India are declared at the << wholesale cash price less trade discount " ' at the Port of Import^ which means the value at the foreign port of export, plus freight, insurance, and other charges to the Indian port of import, and also plus 10 per cent, for profits. This is the principle on which the im- ports are declared in the Custom Houses in India, when the tariff value is not already fixed, or the market price not agreed upon by the importer and the Custom House. But in the case of the United States the declared value' of im-
1 Monthly Reports on Commerce and Navigation of the United States. By Edward Young, Ph.D., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics for the year ending 30th June, 1874, page 177.
* Customs Act (6) ox 1863, Section 180 ; also enquiry at the Customs House gave zo per cent, to be added on the Importer's Invoice, or 20 per cent, on the Manufacturer's Invoice.
* Annual Report of Commerce and Navigation, 1873. says, page 3, " Import entries : sworn specie values at foreign places of export."
K 2
132 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
ports is only the value declared at Hie foreign port from which the Merchandise was exported^ which means, withoui adding the cost of freight, insurance, and other charges and zo^/^ profits. Now Mr. Edward Young, the " Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department " of the United States calculates 6^/^ ^ as representing the freight from foreign ports to America.
This 67o i^^ freight (without taking the further additional charges for insurance, commission, &c., into account) together with the lo^o ^^ calculated in India for declaration for Imports, makes it necessary to add 167^ ^^ ^^^ Imports of the United States before the actual excess of imports of the United States on the principle adopted in India can be ascertained and compared with that of India. In that case the actual excess of imports over exports in the United States will be $717,774,734 = ;f 149,536,403* for the five years 1869 to 1873, or $143,554,947 = ;f 29,907,280 per annum. Thus the correct result about the United States (on the prin- ciple of the Indian Custom House) is that, instead of there being an excess of exports of 15 millions sterling per annum, there is actually an excess of imports of double that amount^ or nearly 30 millions sterling, thus making a difference between Mr. Maclean's and the correct figures of nearly 45 millions sterling per annum.
Now after all Mr. Maclean's recklessness what does he come to? He clearly admits my most important statements. He says : —
" It has been estimated that the amount of the annual earnings of Englishmen connected with India, which are thus transmitted home, cannot be less than ;|fao,ooo,ooO|
» Monthly reports for the year ending 30th June, 1874, page 33a : " The value of the imports of merchandise as presented in the first table bdag those at the ports of shipment, it will be proper to add thereto the amoimt
of freights to the several ports of the United States It is believed
that 6 per cent, on the total value of imports is an estimate of approximate accuracy."
" Total imports.. 12,745,141,403 Add 16 p.c 439,222.624
3,184,364,027 Deduct exports.. 2,466,589,293
Excess of imports J7i7.774.734 at 5od. for 5 years — /X49.336.403 Average per annum, Ji43.554.947 at 5od. =■ ;f 29,907,280.
THB POVBRTY OP INDIA. I33
and we should be inclined to place it at a very much higher
Again : — " To decrease these (home remittances) by clip- ping establishments or, rather, reframing on an economical basis by never employing other than Natives of this country ^^ except when good policy and public convenience demand it, and if possible by establishing some check on the extravagant follies of the Secretary of State, should be the task of the Indian Government."
This is just what I say, that there is an enormous transfer of the wealth of this country to England, and the remedy is the employment of Natives only, beyond the exigencies of the British rule. But for this single circumstance, his remarks about the United States would apply to India perfectly well, vis : — " He (the American) is only anxious to borrow as much EngUsh capital as he can, knowing that invested in repro- ductive works it will repay him a hundred-fold the paltry rate of interest he has to send abroad."
The Indian will do just the sai/w, but Mr. Maclean, blinded by his blind patriotism, does not see that this is just the di£5culty ; that while the American derives the full benefit of what he borrows, the Indian borrowing with one hand, has to give the money away to England with the other hand in these <<home remittances" of En|;lishmen and ''home chargeSy " getting for himself the burden only of the debt. The very idea of comparing the circumstances and condition of the United States and India as being similar is simply absurd, for which another reason will be given further on. When Mr. Maclean has digested the figiu-es I have given above there will be time enough to discuss whether even if the United States exported more than it imported for any particular period or periods, there will be anything at all similar to India's case. The fact is there is no such similarity except the intetest paid on loans for reproductive works.
Next Mr. Shapoorjee says I have discarded official figures and substituted my own. I have done nothing of the kind. I have requested him to point out, but he has not done so. Mr. Shapoorjee says India is in the same boat with the United States. From the remarks I have already made, it may be seen that no weight can be given to this statement. In sup-
^ Italics are mine.
134 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
port of his assertion he says the United States have foreign debts of about £ifi2S millions. I requested him to show me any official or sufficiently reliable authority for these figures, and he shows me none.
From what I have already shown about the imperfections of even such a book as the '* Statesman's Year Book," and the reckless reliance of Mr. Maclean upon it, I cannot but be careful in accepting such oflf-hand assertions of Mr. Shapooxjee. He is kind enough to advise me to adhere to official figures, and I need simply request him to do the same himself. Like Mr. Maclean, Mr. Shapoorjee also does not read my paper carefully ; or he would not have said a word about America's public debt. He would have seen that I have excluded from my total of imports and exports those very years in which the United States contracted nearly the whole of its public debt (1863 to 1866). Again, Mr. Shapoorjee tells us that the Railways of the United States <' could not have cost less than ;f 20,000 a mile,** while the Railway Manual for 1873-4, which Mr. Shapoorjee has kindly lent me, gives the average cost at $55»ii6, and Mr. Maclean's guide, the Statesman's Book, gives $50,000 a mile. This is about ;f 10,000 to ;f 11,000, or nearly half of Mr. Shapoorjee's figure ; and thus nearly half of his ";^85o millions if not more" of foreign Capital for Railways disappears. Now I give one more reason why Mr. Shapoorjee's figure of 1,625 millions sterling as the present foreign debts of the United States cannot be accepted. Mr. Edward Young, whom I have already mentioned, the highest official and authority on the treasury statistics of the United States, calculates and gives (in his official " Monthly Reports on the Commerce and Navigation of the United States for the year ending June 30th, 1874, p^ge 352) his own personal and unofficial estimate of the " Aggregate foreign debts " of the United States. He says: "Although there wlfere no national securities held abroad at the commencement of our late war, yet some of the bonds of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and, probably, of Massachusetts and other States, as well as railroad shares and securities, were owned in Europe. In the absence of accurate data on the subject, it is believed that fifty millions is an ample estimate for these ante helium securities. With this addition, our aggregate foreign debt amounts to nearly TWELVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS." Such is Mr. Young's estimate of
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I35
the aggregate debts, " national, State, Municipal and Cor- poration— held in foreign countries** — i,e., $1,200,000,000, when Mr. Shapoorjee asks us to take the figure nearly seven times larger — ^;f 1,625,000,000 equal to $7,800,000,000. Mr. Shapoorjee will, I trust, therefore excuse me for not accepting his figures and his conclusions based thereon. Again, Mr. Shapoorjee has been good enough to give me an extract from the Westminshf Review of January, 1876. This extract gives (in 1875) the national production of the United Kingdom as ;jf 28 per head of population ; of the United States as £2$ per head, and of Russia as /7-10 per head, France ;f 22, Austria ;f 18, and Italy £1$ ; while India hardly produces £2 a head. The simple fact, then, that the United States is the second richest country in the world, and its people have all their revenues and resources at their own command and for iheir own benefit only, is enough to shew that it is simply absurd and idle to compare it, in its circumstances and condition, as beiiig in the same boat with the half-starving and ever-draining India. Mr. Shapoorjee's and Mr. Maclean's wonder that the Americans are not lachrymal is a great wonder in itself. When the Americans are subjected to a ** home remittance ** to a foreign country of some " very much higher figure '* than twenty millions sterling a year, and " Home charges,*' and when a large number of foreigners engross all official and important positions to their own exclusion, causing thereby such heavy drain, then will be the proper time to make a comparison between America and India.
Mr. Shapoorjee's comparison with Russia and other Euro- pean States is equally unreasonable. In spite of the inferior administration of Russia and the great Military expenditure, its national income is nearly four times as much as that of India, and that of the other European States is much larger still ; and they have no ** home remittances and charges ** to remit, which India has to do from its wretched income of hardly £2 per head per annum.
Mr. Schrottky misunderstands me when he thinks that in the present discussion about the Material Condition of India I mention the necessity of the employment of Natives as any- thing more than the only remedy by which the capital of the country can be saved to itself to enable the agricultural as well as all other industries to get the necessary life-blood for their maintenance and progress. If it be possible that
136 THB POVERTY OP INDIA.
every European coming to India would make it his home, so that the item of the " home remittance and charges " is nearly eliminated, it would not matter at all, so far as the present question of the material prosperity of the country is- concerned, whether the European or the Native is in ofiSce. The only remedy is that either the European must, like the Mahomadan conquerors, become Natives and remain in the country, or remain out of office beyond the exigency of the British rule, and for which British interests Britain must pay its share. If not, then it is idle to hope that India can rise in material prosperity, or be anything else but a wretched drudge for England's benefit. On the other hand a natural and just policy will make India with its teeming population one of the, if not the best customer for England and the best field for England's enterprise, and its agriculture will derive all the aid which Mr. Schrottky could desire in the goodness of his heart. Under the present unnatural policy England takes from India's scanty ; under a natural and just policy, it will gain from India's plenty, and Manchester may have its free trade to its heart's utmost content.
To Mr. Trant I have to say only this, that mere assertions are not worth much and that all his political economy may ^-e all right, in a Native-governed country, but when he takes the element of the " home remittances and charges *' into account, he will not differ much from me.
In reply to Mr. Collet's remarks, I have to request him to take several elements into account which he appears to have forgotten.
I. To add 15 per cent.^ profits to exports (during the
^ For the following countries the profits, or excess of imports exports, are as under, subject to modification for foreign debts or loant. The United Kingdom . .25 per cent. (1858 to 1870}
Australia ^5 *» (1858 to z868l
British North America • 29 .. ( ,. „ )
ISufra, pp. 32-33.]
United States . z8 per cent. (1869 to 1873)
as under : —
Imports $2,743,14x^3
Add 6 per cent, freight (leaving other charges — commission ) ^ ^ ^ insurance, etc.. alone) j 104,708484
^ ^ J2.909.849.887
Deduct exporto 2.466,589,393
Excess of Imports, or profits —say z8 per cent, above exports . #443ta6o,594
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I37
American War the percentage of profits on the exported produce was very much larger).
a. To deduct from imports nearly ;^i4o,ooo,ooo of foreign debt (public and railway) incurred during the eighteen years he has taken.
3. To remember that the profits of opium as well as of all India's commerce are as much India's property and resources as the profits in coal, iron, and all other exported produce and manufactures of England are England's property and resources, though all such profits are derived from foreign nations, and that all the profits of opium and general com- merce of India are included in my total production of India.
4. To remember that notwithstanding that opium and the profits of commerce are legitimate property and resources of India, that even after deducting these amounts, or that in addition to these amoimts being sent away to England, there is the further amount of about ;^2oo,ooo,ooo in principal alone gone to England during the thirty-eight years I have taken ; and that Mr. Collet has not pointed out any mistake in my calculations.
For his eighteen years also, if he will take the items he has forgotten, his result will not differ from mine.
For X858 to 1875 his figures for exports are • • ;C9io,995,ooo Add 15 per cent, profits 136,649,250
Total proceeds of exports 1,047,644,250
His imports are ;C764,3 10,000
Deduct loans imported, about . . 140,000,000
Actual commercial imports 624,310,000
^eluding Government stores)
Eacess of proceeds of exports 423i334t250
Deduct rulway interest 5^*^55*9^7
Transfer to England from India's resources • • 372,200,263 (excluding interest in railway loans)
This transfer is equal to the whole of the opium revenue .... £108,156,107
The whole of profits on exports . . 136,649,250
And furthermore from India's re- ■oorces 127,394,906
Or nearly ;^i30,ooo,ooo in addition to the railway interest. The actual transfer is even larger than this, as will be seen farther on.
Mark, then, during Mr. Collet's eighteen years all opium
138 THE POVERTY OF INDIA.
revenue, all profits of commerce and guaranteed interest on railways are transferred to England, and ;f 130,000,000 besides, making a total in principal alone of ;^424,ooo,ooo, or ;f 372,000,000 excluding railway interest. Moreover it must be remembered that during the American War great profits were made, and this having to be added to the exports is so much more transferred to England.
Thus as Mr. Collet's figures are imperfect I need not trouble the meeting with any comments on the confusion into which he has fallen on account thereof. I have taken his own figures and shown what they lead to as the best way of pointing out his mistake. He seems to have also a some- what confused notion of a balance sheet. But this is not the time or place for me to go into that matter.
Thanks to my critics, they have led me into a closer exami- nation of some points, and I find the case of India worse than what I have already made out. I have to modify some of my figures' which I now do.
I have shown that the imports into India {including bnUion) from 1835 to 1872 are ;^943,ooo,ooo. Now in making out a nation's balance sheet with foreign countries, the balance of profit should be taken between the price of exports at the port of export, and the price of imports, as laid down or costing at the port of import, and not the market price at the place of import, which includes the profit on the import obtained in the importing country itself.
I may illustrate thus. I laid out Rs. 1,000 in cotton and sent it to England. There it realised proceeds, say, Rs. 1,150. This may be remitted to me in silver, so that when the trans- action is completed, I receive in my hands Rs. 1,150 in the place of Rs. 1,000 which I had first laid out, so that the country has added Rs. 150 thereby to its capital. But suppose instead of getting silver I imported, say, 10 bales of piece goods which laid down in Bombay for Rs. 1,150. The gain to the country so far, is the same in both cases — an addition of Rs. 150. But any gain to me after that, in the sale of these piece goods in India itself, is no gain to India. Suppose I sold these goods for Rs. 1,300. That simply means that I had these goods and another person had Rs. 1,300, and we simply exchanged. The country has no addition
' (Supra, p. 33.)
THE POVERTY OF INDIA. I39
made to its already existing property. It is the same, viz., the 10 bales of piece goods and Rs. 1,300; only they have changed hands. Bearing this in mind, and also that the declared value of imports into India is not the laying down price but the market* price, which means the laying down price plus 10 per cent, profit, it is necessary for ascertaining the real profits from the foreign commerce of India to deduct 10 per cent, from the declared value of imports (merchandise). Doing this, the total imports from 1835 to 1872 should be taken ;^943,ooo,ooo minus ;f 62,000,000,' which will be equal to ;^88 1, 000,000. In that case the real deficit of imports under what the imports ought to have been (;^i ,438,000,000) will be ;^557,ooo,ooo in place of the nearly ;^5oo,ooo,boo I have given in my paper.
The figure of the amount, after deducting opium and profits of commerce, will be ;^248,ooo,ooo, instead of nearly if 200,000,000 ; or the total transfer of wealth to England in addition to the railway interest (;f4o,ooo,ooo) will be ;f 517,000,000 instead of ;^453,ooo,ooo given in my paper, and the yearly average of every five years of this amount of jf5 1 7,000,000 will be proportionately larger, about 13 per cent. : —
Averages will be about
X835— -1839 . . ;f6,ooo,ooo 1855— 1859 . . ;f8,7OO,OO0
1840 — 1844 . . 6,600,000 '1860^1864 . . 19,000,000
1845 — 1849 • • 8,700,000 1865 — 1869 . . 27,500,000
1850 — 1854 . . 8,400,000 1870^1872 . . 31,000,000
This average during the American War would be much increased if the whole profits on the exported produce of the time could be ascertained.
In preparing this reply I have had to work out all the figures hurriedly, but I hope they will be found correct.
I have not seen the late Administration Reports, but I trust they give fuller details than the previous ones with which I had to deal, and, if so, more precise results could be attained as to the actual annual production of the country, which is the most important point to be settled to give us an
* See the second note at page 131.
* Imports-merchandise, 1834-5 ^o '872, /6i8.ooo,ooo, 10 per cent, of which is nearly ;{62,ooo,ooo.
* I could not find the amount of enfaced paper given for every year before i860. I have therefore taken the whole amount in i860, which increases the average for 1860-64 and correspondingly diminishes the average of the previous years, but not to a large extent.
140 THB POVBRTY OF INDIA.
accurate knowledge of the actual poverty or otherwise of this country.
Since I wrote the above I purchased a copy of the latest Administration Report of Bengal (1874-5) to see if I dan at present give some more definite statistics about production than I have already done in my paper. Fancy my disappoint- ment when I read Sir R. Temple saying : —
" Again the survey embraced only the exterior boundaries of each village or parish, and afforded no details of cultivation and waste, culturable or unculturable."
To the latter part of Mr. Collet's paper I have simply to reply — any amount of mere assertion or assumption can do no good. The question is a simple matter of facts and science. Is there so much cultivated land or not ; is there so much produce or not ; and are such and such the prices or not ? And then common arithmetic gives you certain results. No amount of indirect reasoning or assumption can falsify facts and arithmetic and make 2 and 2 equal 5. So far as the official statistics are imperfect, it is the duty of the Govern- ment to give to the public full details. We know the national production of other countries, and there is no reason why the Indian Government should not be able to give us such most important similar information. That will be the best and surest guide and test of the actual condition of the people of India, and our rulers will see their way clearly to the most proper and effectual remedies. I have not the least doubt in my mind about the conscience of England and Englishmen, that if they once clearly see the evil, they will not shrink to apply the proper remedies. My estimate of 40s. a head has been accepted and argued upon by an Under-Secretary of State (Mr. G. Duflf), and a Viceroy (Lord Mayo), and another Viceroy (Lord Lawrence) has told us that the mass of the people are half fed. It is not the question of the ordinary pro- portion of the poor in every country. Mr. Grant Duflf in his reply to Mr. Lawson asked whether the *' already poor popu- lation of India" was to be ground down " to the very dust " by the removal of the opium duty. So the margin between the present condition of India and of being ground down " to the very dust " is only the opium revenue. This is prosperity with a vengeance. I would not take up more of your time. Mr. Collet's remarks about the United States are already disposed of in the reply to Mr. Maclean. I have been lately
THB POVBRTY OF INDIA. I4I
reading the expression <* balance in favour of India.'* The writers evidently suppose that what they call the balance of trade in favour of India was something that India had to receive sometime or other.