INDIA - GEOGRAPHY (cont.)
Commerce
The trade of India may be considered under four head:—(1)-borne trade with foreign countries ; (2) coasting trade ; (3) frontier trade, chiefly across the northern mountains ; (4) internal traffic within the limits of the empire.
Sea-borne Trade.—With an extensive seaboard, Indian has but few ports. Calcutta monopolizes the commerce, not only of Lower Bengal, but of the entire basins of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. Bombay is the sole outlet for the agricultural wealth of Guzerat, the Deccan, and the Central Provinces ; while Karáchi (Kurrachee) performs a similar office for the Indus, and Rangoon for the Irawadi. The natural value of these four ports has been permanently confirmed by the construction of the main lines of railway communication. In the south of India only is sea-borne trade distributed along the coast. The western side has a succession of tolerable harbours, from Goa to Cochin. On the east there is not a single safe roadstead nor a navigable river, but ships anchor some distance off the shore at Madras, and at other points, generally near the mouths of the rivers. Of the total foreign trade of India, Calcutta and Bombay control about 40 per cent. each ; Madras has 6 per cent., Rangoon 4 per cent., and Karáchi 2 per cent., leaving a balance of only 8 per cent. for all the remaining ports of the country. Calcutta and Bombay may be called the two centres of collection and distribution, to a degree without a parallel in other countries ; and the growth of their prosperity is identical with the development of Inidan commerce.
== TABLE ==
The preceding table, which has been compiled from materials furnished by the Parliamentary Abstract for 1879, demands a few words of explanation. The average of quinquennial periods has been taken in order to counteract, as far as possible, accidental fluctations. The two colums giving the imports of treasure and the exports of raw cotton both show exceptional increases between 1855 and 1869, due mainly to the effects of the Mutiny and of the American War. Far more instructive are the three columns giving the imports of cotton manufactures and of total merchandise. Each of these three, without exception, exhibits a progressive increase in every one of the eight quinquennial periods. In the full period of forty years the value of cotton goods imported has multiplied sixhold ; the value of total merchandise imported has multiplied fivefold ; and the value of total merchanside exported has multiplied more than fourfold.
Before examining in detail the history of some of the chief staples of trade, it may be convenient to give in this place the statistics of a single year,—1877-1878, which was a year of inflation, despite the incidence of famine in southern India. In 1877-78 the aggregate volume of foreign sea-borne trade exceeded 126 millions sterling in value. The transactions of Government show an import of £2,138,182 and an export of £36,615. The imports of merchandise were £39,336,003. And of treasure £17,355,460 ; total imports, £56,691,463. The exports of merchandise were £65,185,713, and of treasure £2,155,136 ; total exports, £67,340,849. These figures show an excess of exports over imports (including treasure) amount-show an excess of exports (including treasure) amounting to £8,494,250, and an excess of treasure imported to the amount of £15,200,324. The total number of vessels that entered anc cleared was 12,537, with an aggregate of 5,754,379 tons, or an average of 459 tons each. Of the total tonnage 76 per cent. was British, 7 per cent. British Indian, 4 per cent. native, and 13 per cent. foreign,—American, Italian, and French being best represented in the latter class. There was also a land-borne frontier trade estimated at 7 _ millions—imports into India 4 _ millions, exports 3 _ millions. The grand total of the land-borne and sea-borne foreign trade of India in 1878, was 134 millions.
The following tables give the principal items, together with the totals, of import and export for 1877-78, showing the quantities wherever possible, as well as the values:—
== TABLE ==
As regards the imports, the first thing to notice is the enormous predominance of two items—cotton, goods and treasure. On an average of the last forty years, cotton goods form 33 per cent., or exactly one-third of the total, and treasure an additional 30 per cent. Next in order come metals (copper, which is largely used by native smiths, slightly exceeding iron) ; Government stores, including munitions of war, boots, liquor, and clothing for soldiers, and railway plant ; liquors, entirely for European consumption ; coal, for the use of the railways and mills; railway plant for the guaranteed companies ; provisions, machinery and mill-work, and manufactured silk. It will thus be seen that, with the single exception of Manchester goods, no articles of European manufacture are in demand for native consumption, but only for the needs of the civilized administration, and no raw produce, except copper, iron, and salt.
Considering that England’s export trade with India thus mainly depends upon piece-goods, it is curious to recollect the history of cotton manufacture. In the beginning of the 17th century the industry had not been introduce into England, and whatever demand there was for cotton in that country was satisfied by circuitous importations from India itself, where cotton-weaving is an immemorial industry. In 1641 "Manchester cottons," in imitation of Indian calicoes and chintzes, were still made of wool. Cotton is said to have been first manufactured in England in 1676. To foster the nascent industry, a succession of statutes were passed prohibiting the wear of imported cottons ; and it was not until after the inventions of Ark-wright and others and the application of steam as a motive power had secured to Manchester the advantage of cheap production that these protective measures were entirely removed. In the present century Lancashire has rapidly distanced her instructors. During the five years 1840-45 the annual import of cotton manufactures into India averaged a little over £3,000,000 sterling. In each subsequent quinquennial period there has been a steady increase, until in the year 1877-78 the import reached the unprecedented total of £20,000,000 sterling, or an increase of more than sixfold in less than forty years.
The importation of treasure is perhaps still more extraordinary, when we bear in mind that it is not consumed in the using, but remains permanently in the country. During the same period of forty years the net import of treasure, deducting export, has reached the enormous aggregate of just 319 millions sterling, or more than £1, 6s. 6d. per head of the 240 millions inhabitants of the peninsula. Of course, by far the larger portion of this was silver, but the figures for gold are by no means inconsiderable. During the ten years ending with 1875, when the normal value of silver in terms of gold was but little disturbed, the total net imports of treasure into India amounted to just 99 millions ; of this total 62 _ millions were in silver and 36 _ millions in gold, the proportion of the latter metal being thus considerably more than one-third of the whole. On separating the re-exports from the imports, the attractions of gold to India appears yet more marked. Of the total imports of gold only 7 per cent. was re-exported, while for silver the corresponding proportion was 19 per cent. Roughly speaking, it may be concluded that India then absorbed about £3,000,000 sterling of gold a year. The supply is drawn chiefly from China, Ceylon, Great Britain, and Australia. The depreciation of silver, that has since taken place has caused an enormous increase in the import of silver and a corresponding increase in the export of gold. The figures since 1876 do not show the normal state of things. But even in 1877-78, when the value of silver was at its lowest, though India drew upon its hoards of gold for export to the amount of more than 1 millions sterling, it yet imported more than 1 _ millions, showing a net import of half a million of gold. It has been estimated that the gold circulation of India amounts to about 1,620,000 gold mohars, as compared with £158,000,000 of silver and £2,960,000 of copper. In addition, 10 millions sovereigns are said to be hoarded in India, mainly in the Bombay presidency, where the impression of St George and the Dragon is valued on religious grounds.
When we turn to the exports, the changes that have taken place in relative magnitude demand notice.
In 1877-78 raw cotton for the first time for many years falls into the second place, being surpassed by the aggregate total of food grains ; oil-seeds show as a formidable competitor to cotton ; jute surpasses indigo, and tea comes close behind ; while cotton manufactures are nearly as valuable as coffee. The imports of sugar, in value though not in quantity, exceed the exports ; the trade in raw silk is about equally balanced ; while spices, once the glory of Eastern trade, were exported to the value of only £226,515, as compared with imports more valuable and also twofold larger.
The export of raw cotton has been subject to excessive variations. At the close of the last century cotton was sent to England in small quantities, chiefly the produce of the Central Provinces, collected at Mízápur and shipped at Calcutta, or the produce, or the Guzerat, despatched from, Surat. In the year 1805 the total export of cotton from Surat was valued at £108,000 ; in the same year the English returns show only 2000 bales of East Indian cottion imported into Great Britain. But this figure was far below the average, for by 1810 t he corresponding number of bales had risen to 79,000, to sink again to 2000 in 1813, and to rise to 248,000 in 1818. Bombay did not begin to participate in this trade until 1825, but has now acquired the practical monopoly, since the railway has diverted to the west the produce of the Central Provinces. In 1834, when the commerce of India was first thrown open. 33,000,000 lb were exported. Analysing the exports of cotton during the forty years since 1840, we find that in the first quinquennial period they averaged 2 1/3 millions sterling in value, and did not rise perceptibly until 1858, when they first touched 4 millions. From that date the increase was steady, even before the American exports were cut off by war in 1861. India then made the most of her opportunity, though quantity and quality did not keep pace with the augmented price. The highest figures of value was attained with 37 _ millions sterling in 1865, and the highest figure of quantity with 803,000,000 lb in 1866. Thenceforth the decline has been constant, though somewhat irregular, the lowest figures both of quantity and value being those of 1878-79. The most recent feature of the trade is the comparatively small amount shipped to the United Kingdom, and the even distribution of the rest among Continental ports. The export of raw cotton in 1878-79 amounted to £7,914,091, and of twist and cotton goods to £2,581,823.
Second in importance to cotton as a raw material of British manufacture comes jute, the trade in which is a creation of less than thirty years. At the time of the London Exhibition of 1851 jute fibre was practically untried and unknown, while attention was even then actively drawn to rhea or China grass, which remains to the present day unmanageable by any cheap process. From time immemorial jute has been grown in the swamps of Eastern Bengal, and has been woven into course fabrics for bags and even clothing. As early as 1795 Dr Roxburgh called attention to the commercial value of the plant, which he grew in the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta and named "jute," after the language of his Orissa gardeners, the Bengali word being pát or koshta. In 1828-29 the total exports of jute were only 364 cwts. valued at £62. From that date the trade steadily grew, until in the quinquennial period ending 1847-48 the exports averaged 234,055 cwts. The Crimean war, which cut off the supplies of Russian flax and hemp from the Forfarshire weavers, made the reputation of jute. Taking quinquennial periods, the export of jute rose from an average of 969,724 cwts. in 1858-63 to 2,628, 100 cwts. in 1863-68 and 4,858,162 cwts. in 1868-73. The highest figures reached were in the year 1872-73, with 7,080,912 cwts. valued at £4,142,548. The export of raw jute in 1878-79 reached £3,800,426, and of manufactured jute £1,098,434.
The export of grain, as already noticed, is now in the aggregate larger than that of cotton. The two chief items are rice and wheat. Rice is exported from British Burmah, Bengal, and from Madras. From the point of view of the English produce market rice means only Burmese rice, which is annually exported to the large amount of about 12 million cwts, valued at 3 millions sterling. In the Indian tables this is all entered as consigned to the United Kingdom, though, as a matter of fact, the rice fleets from Burmah only call for orders of Falmouth, and are thence diverted to various English or Continental ports. India has a practical monopoly of the European market. An export duty is levied on rice in India at the rate of 3 ánnás per maund, or about 6d. per cwt. A similar duty on wheat was repealed in 1875, and that trade has sicne conspicuously advanced. In 1874-75 the export of wheat was about 1 million cwts. Forthwith it increased year by year, until in 1877-78 it exceeded 6 _ million cwts, valued at nearly 3 millions sterling. In the following year the quantity fell away to almost nothing, owing to the general failure of the harvest in the producing districts. The Punjab is the principal wheat-growing tract in India, but hitherto the chief supplies have come from the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, being collected at Cawnpur and thence despatched by rail to Calcutta. The Total export of grains in 1879 was valued at £9,802,363.
Oil-seeds, also, were freed in 1875, the duty previous to that date having been 3 per cent. ad valoren. Ten years before, the average export was only about 4 million cwts. a year ; but the fiscal change, coinciding with an augmented demand in Europe, has caused an increase of threefold. In 1877-78 the total amounted to 12,187,020 cwts, valued at more than 7 _ millions sterling. Of this Bengal contributed 7,799,220 cwts, and Bombay 3,179,475 cwts. Linseed and rape are consigned mainly to the United Kingdom, while France takes almost the entire quantity of til or gingelly. The export of oil-seeds in 1878-79 was valued at £4,682,512.
In actual amount, though not in relative importance, indigo holds its own in the face of competition from aniline dyes. The export of 1877-78 amounted to 120,605 cwts., valued at £3,494,334, being the highest figures on record. Of this total Bengal yielded 99,402 cwts., and Madras 16,899 cwts. In 1878-79 the export of indigo amounted to 105,051 cwts., valued at £2,960,463. The most noticeable feature in this trade is the diminishing proportion sent direct to England, and the wide distribution of the remainder. Of the other dyes, safflower has greatly fallen off, being now only in demand for a rouge in China and Japan ; the export in 1877-78 was 3698 cwts. valued at £14,881. The export of myrobalans, on the other hand, was greatly stimulated by the Russo-Turkish war, which interrupted the supply of valonia and galls from Minor. The quantity rose from 286,350 cwts. in 1875-76 to 537,005 cwts. in 1877-78, valued in the latter year at £230,526. Practically the whole is sent to the United kingdom. Turmeric, also, exhibits an increase to 146,865 cwts. in 1877-78, valued at £123,766, of which the United Kingdom took about one-half. Lac-dye, like other kinds of lac, shows a depressed trade, the exports in 1877-78 having been 9570 cwts., valued at £29,009.
No other export has made such steady progress as tea, which has multiplied more than fourfold, in the space of ten years. In 1867-68 the amount was only 7,811,429 lb ; by 1872-73 it had reached 17,920,439 lb; and in 1878-79, without a single step of retrogression, it had further risen to 34,800,027 lb, valued at £3,170,118. Indian tea has now a recognized position in the London market, generally averaging about 4d. per lb higher in value than Chinese tea, but it has failed to win acceptance in most other countries, excepting Australia. The exports of coffee from India are stationary, if not declining. The highest amount during the past ten years was 507,296 cwts. in 1871-72, the lowest amount 298,587 cwts in 1877-78, valued at £1,338,499. In 1878-79 the export was 342,268 cwts. valued at £1,548,481.
Of manufactured goods, cotton and jute deserve notice, though by far the greater part of the produce of the Indian mills in consumed locally. The total value of cotton goods exported in 1878-79 was being an increase of nearly threefold as compared with 1874-75. The exports of twist and yarn, spun in the Bombay mills, increased from 3 million lb in 1874-75 to 15 _ million lb in 1877-78, valued in the latter year at £682,058. The chief place of destination were—China, 13,762,133 lb ; Aden, 1,181,120 lb ; and Arabia, 393,371 lb. The export of twist and yarn in 1878-79 was valued at £937,698. Piece-goods belong to two classes. Coloured goods, woven in hand-looms, are exported from Madras to Ceylon and the Straits, to the annual value of about £230,000, the quantity being about 8 million yards ; while in 1877-78 grey goods from the Bombay mill were sent to Aden, Arabia, Zanzibar, and the Mekran coast, amounting to over 10 millions yards, and valued at £141,509. Jute manufactures consist of gunny bags, gunny cloths, and rope and twine, almost entirely the produce of the Calcutta mills. In all of these the value of the exports is increasing faster than the quantity, having multiplied nearly fourfold in the last five years. In 1877-78 the total export of jute manufactures was valued at £771,127, and in 1878-79 at £1,089,434. Gunny bags, for the packing of wheat, rice, and wool, were expected in 1877-78 to the number of more than 26 _ millions, valued at £729,669. Of this total £298,000 (including by far the most valuable bags) was sent to Australia, £162,000 to the Straits, £80,000 to the United States, £77,000 to Egypt, £32,000 to China, and £81,000 to other countries, this comprising a considerable destined for England. In 1878-79 the export of gunny bags had increased to 45 _ millions, valued at a million sterling. Of gunny cloth in pieces nearly 3 million yards were exported in 1877-78, almost entirely to the United States, valued at £35,610 ; in 1878-79 these exports had increased to upwards of 4 2/3 millions yards. Of rope and twine 4428 cwts. were exported, valued at £5443.
The following tables, being taken from India returns, do not in all cases show the real origin of the imports or the ultimate destination of the exports, but primarily the countries with which India had direct dealings. London still retains its historical pre-eminence as the first Oriental mart in the world, whither buyers flock from the other countries of Europe to satisfy their wants. Germans go there forwool, Frenchmen for jute, and all national alike for rare dyes, spices, and drugs. Though the opening of the Suez Canal has restored to the maritime cities of the Mediterranean some share of the business that they once monopolized, yet, on the other hand, the advantage of prior possession, the growing use of streamers, and the certainty of being able to obtain a return freight, all tend to favour trade with England carried in English bottoms. As the result these conflicting influences, the trade of India with the United Kingdom, while in actual amount it remains pretty constant, shows a relative decrease as compared with the total trade.
== TABLE ==
== TABLE ==
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, while it has stimulated every department of trade into greater activity, has not materially changed its character. As might be anticipated, the imports, being for the most part of small bulk and high value, first felt the advantages of this route. In 1875-76 as much as 85 percent. of the imports from Europe and Egypt (excluding treasure) passed through the canal, but only 29 per cent. of the exports. In 1878-79 the proportion of imports was substantially the same, while that of exports had risen to 64 per cent., showing that such bulky commodities as cotton, grain, oil-seeds, and jute were beginning to participate in the advantages of rapid traffic. The actual values of canal trade in 1877-78, the year of its greatest development, were 29 millions sterling for imports, and 23 millions for exports. It is estimated that the canal has reduced the length of the voyage from London to India by the equivalent of thirty-six days, the route round the Cape being more than 11,000 miles, that through the canal less than 3000 miles.
In 1873-74, which may be regarded as a normal year, though the figures are not altogether free from suspicion, the total number of vessels engaged in the coasting trade that cleared and entered was 294,374, with an aggregate of 10,379, 862 tons ; the total value of both exports and imports was returned at £34,890,445. Of the total number of vessels, 280, 913, with 4,843,668 tons, were native craft. Bombay and Madras divide between then nearly all the native craft ; while in Bengal and Burmah a large and increasing proportion of the coasting traffic is carried in British steamers. In 1877-78, the year of famine, the number of ships increased to 319,624, the tonnage to 15,732,246 tons, and the value to £67,814,446. By far largest item was grain, of which a total of 1,137,690 tons, valued at 13 millions sterling, was thrown into the famine-stricken districts from the seaboard. Next in importance come raw cotton and cotton goods. The trade in raw cotton amounted to 387,438 cwts., valued at £957,900, much of which was merely transshipped from one port to another in the Bombay presidency. Cotton, twist, and yarn amounted to 17,425,993 lb, valued at 965,038, of which the greater part was sent from Bombay to Bengal an Madras. The total value of the cotton piecegoods was £620,866, including about 24 million yards of grey goods sent from Bombay to Bengal and to Sind in nearly equal proportions, and about 2 million yards of coloured goods from Madras. Stimulated by the activity of the grain trade, the exports of gunny bags from Calcutta coastwise rose to a total value fo nearly £960,000. The trade in betel-nuts amounted to nearly 44 million lb, valued at over £500,000. Burmah consumes most of these, obtaining its supplies from Bengal ; while Bombay gets considerable quantities from Madras, from the Concan and Goa, and from Bengal Sugar (refined and unrefined) figures to the large amount of £900,000, of which the greater part came from Bengal. The movements of treasure coastwise show a total of just 5 millions sterling, being exceptionally augmented the conveyance of silver to Burmah in payment for rice supplied to Madras.
The following table exhibits the totals of the trade conducted along the landward frontier of the Indian empire, so far as figures are available:—
== TABLE ==
In any community raised above primitive barbarism that aggregate volume of its internal trade must be far greater than that of its foreign commerce ; but, from the nature of the case, it is impossible to estimate its amount or even to described adequately is general character. On the one hand, there is the wholesale business connected with foreign commerce in its earliest stage—the collection of agricultural produce from a thousand little villages, its accumulation at a few great central marts, and its despatch to the seaboard ; in return for which manufactured articles are distributed by the same channels, though in the reverse direction. On the other hand, there is the interchange of commodities of native growth and manufacture, sometimes between neighbours, but also between distant provinces. With a few unimportant exceptions, free trade is the rule throughout the vast peninsula of India, by land as well as by sea. The Hindus possess a natural genius for commerce, as is shown by the daring with which they have penetrated into the heart of Central Asia, and to the east coast of Africa. Among the benefits which British rule has conferred upon them is the removal of the innumerable shackles that a short-sighted despotism had imposed upon their talents.
Broadly speaking, the greater part of the internal trade remains in the hands of the natives. Europeans control the shipping business, and have share in the collection of some of the valuable staple of exports, such as cotton, jute, oil-seeds, and wheat. But the work of distribution and the adaptation of the supply to the demand of the consumer naturally fall to those who are best acquainted with native wants. Even in the presidency towns the retail shops are generally owned by natives. The Vaisya, or trading caste of Manu, has no longer any separate existence ; but its place is occupied by several well-marked classes. On the western coast the Pársis,by the boldness and extent of their operations, tread close upon the heels of the most prosperous English houses. In the interior of the Bombay presidency, business is mainly divided between two classes, the Baniyas of Guzerat and the Márwárís from Rájputána. Each of these profess a peculiar form of religion, the former being Vishnuvites of the Vallabháchár sect, the latter Jains. In the Deccan their place is taken by Lingáyats from the south, who again follow their own form of Hindusism, which is an heretical species of Siva worship. Throughout Mysore, and in the north of Madras, Lingáyats are still found, but along the eastern sea-board the predominating classes of traders are those named Chetties and Komatis. In Bengal many of the upper caste of Súdras have devoted themselves to general trade ; but there again the Jain Márwárís from Rájputána and the North-West occupy the front rank. Their head-quarters are in Murshidábád district, and their agents are to be found throughout the valley of the Brahmaputra, as far up as the unexplored frontier of China. They penetrate everywhere among the wild tribes; and it is said that the natives of the Khásí hills are the only hillmen who do their own business of buying and selling. In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh the traders are generically called Baniyas ; and in the Punjab are found the Khatrís, who have perhaps the best title of any to regard themselves as descendants of the original Vaisyas. According to the general census of 1872, the total number of persons in all India returned as connected with commerce and trade was 3,224,000, or 5·2 per cent. of the adult males.
Local trade is conducted either at the permanent bázárs of great towns, at weekly marketds held in certain villages, at annual gatherings primarily held for religious purposes, or by means of travelling brokers and agents. The cultivator himself, who is the chief producer and also the chief customer, knowns little of the great towns, and expects the dealer to come to his own door. Each villages has at least one resident trader, who usually combines in this own person the functions of money-lender, grain dealer, and cloth seller. The simple system of rural economy is entirely based upon the dealings of this man, whom it is the fashion sometimes to decry as a usurer, but who is really the one thrifty person among an improvident population. Abolish the money-lender, and the general body of cultivators would have nothing to depend upon but the harvest of a single year. The money-lender deals chiefly in grain and in specie. In those districts where the staples of export are largely grown, the cultivation commonly sell their crops to travelling brokers, who re-sell to larger dealers, and so on until the commodities reach the hands of the agents of the great shipping houses. The wholesale trade thus rests ultimately with a comparatively small number of persons, who have agencies, or rather corresponding firms, at the great central marts. Buying and selling in their aspects most characteristic of India are to be seen, not at these great towns, nor even at the weekly markets, but at the fairs which are held periodically at certain spots in most districts. Religion is always the original pretext of these gatherings or melás, at some of which nothing is done beyond bathing in the river, or performing various superstitious ceremonies. But in the majority of cases religion has become a mere excuse for secular business. Crowds of petty traders attend, bringing all those miscellaneous articles that can be packed into a pedlar’s wallet ; and the neighbouring villages look forward to the occasion to satisfy alike their curiosity and their household wants.
It is, of course, impossible to express accurately in figures the extent of internal trade, but the following statistics will serve in some measure to show both its recent development and its actual amount. They are based upon the registration returns that have been collected for some years past in certain provinces. In 1863-64 the total external trade of the Central Provinces, both export and import, was estimated to amount to 102,000 tons, valued at £6,795,000. In 1877-78, the year of famine in southern India, the corresponding figures were 635,000 tons and £9,373,000, showing an increase in fourteen years of more than sixfold in quantity, and considerably more than twofold in value. The comparatively small increase in value is to be attributed to the exclusion from the later returns of opium, which merely passes through in transit from Málwá. In 1874-75 the total external trade of the Punjab amounted to about 600,000 tons, valued (but probably overvalued at about £16,000,000. In 1877-78 it had incrased to nearly 900,000 tons, valued at £17,500,000. The total trade of Behar in 1877-78 was valued at £16,000,000. But perhaps the significance of such enormous totals will become plainer if we take the case of a single mart, Patná, which may claim to be considered one of the most important centres of inland traffic in the world. Favourably situated on the Ganges, near the confluence of the Son and the Gogra, where the principal trade routes branch off to Nepál, it has become a great changing station for the transfer of goods from river to rail. In the year 1876-77 the total registered trade of Patná (excluding the Government monopoly of opium, and probably omitting a good deal besides) was valued in the aggregate at 7 _ millions sterling. Many articles are included twice over, both as expected and imported, but the imports alone amounted to more than 4 millions. Among the principal items on one side or the other may be mentioned—European piece-goods, £1,217,000 ; indigo £789,000 ; oil-seeds, £557,000 ; salt, £389,000 ; sugar, £274,000 ; food grains, £258,000 ; hides, £185,000 ; saltpetre, £156,000.
Footnotes
FOOTNOTE (p. 757)
1 The plus sign (+) stands for excess of exports, or so-called favourable balance of trade; the minus (-) stands for excess of imports.
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