'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎545v] (1092/1386)

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The value of the wheat trade in the year was thus but little more than half
the value of the rice trade.
The principal countries to which India has exported wheat in the same
period are (in cwt., ooo’s omitted) :
1883-84.
1884.85.
1885-86.
1886-87.
1887-88.
1888-89.
1889-90.
United Kingdom
10,508
7-445
12,071
9.667
6,040
9,038
7,686
Belgium .
2,593
1,738
2,661
2,404
596
2,478
2,329
France
3,398
3,312
2,145
2,803
2,559
3.131
1,250
Italy
445
701
1,218
5,212
3.074
1,125
403
Egypt
3,306
2J49
2,296
1,317
660
1,658
1,654
Other countries .
706
486
669
860
609
180
477
The table appended shews the exports from the provinces in each of the
last seven years (in cwt., ooo’s omitted) :
It is doubtful whether Calcutta will in future export as much wheat as in 1883.
1883-84. 1884-85.
1885-86.
1886-87.
1887-88.
1888-89.
1889-90.
Bombay
. 8,971 8,993
10,609
12,606
8,54i
10,654
5J47
Sindh .
. 4.373 4,272
6,241
2,614
661
4,004
7,100
Bengal .
• 7>6u 2,563
4,190
7,038
4,335
2,95i
i,55i
The 'exports
from Karachi
were larger and those
from
Bombay and
Calcutta smaller than they have ever been since the development
of the trade.
The great wheat producing tracts have now by the completion of the Indian
Midland Railway come within the zone of Bombay, and the exportable wheat
of the North-Western Provinces (west of Cawnpore), of Oudh, the Punjab and
Central India will doubtless be shipped from Bombay and Karachi whence
homeward freight is much lower than from Calcutta.
The decline in the trade of the year was due entirely to insufficient crops in
the tracts whence Calcutta and Bombay draw their supplies. In the Punjab
and Sindh the harvests were abundant and consequently from Karachi was
shipped more than from all the rest of India put together.
The total value of the exports of grain and pulse in the year was
R165,282,000—say about 1654 millions of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . The bulk of this sum
(about 1581 millions) was the value of rice and wheat, other kinds of grain and
pulse standing for only about 64 millions of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , thus :
Rs. (ooo’s omitted).
Paddy (unhusked rice)
631
Gram
1,165
Oats ....
427
Pulse....
1,202
Jawri and bjra
3,138
Barley
99
Other sorts
232
Jawari and bajra are the only grains amongst these that have at all mater
ially increased during the last five years. These two grains are shipped to
Arabia, Aden, Abyssinia (Suakim), Egypt, and the Mekran Coast, from Bombay
and Karachi. Pulse (dal) goes to England in some small quantity, but mainly
to Mauritius, South America, Ceylon, and the Straits, for the consumption of
Indian coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. with their rice.