reduced to 322,000 tons, it is difficult to find demand for the small quantity that is raised. At the same time it may be expected that the high price of English coal now ruling will shortly increase the demand for Indian coal, and already indications are not wanting to show that such is the case. During the last month three ships have taken Bengal coal round from Calcutta to Bombay, charged at 10 rupees per ton at the river-bank, while the freight is ranging from 11 to 13 rupees a ton. Next year's report will probably show that a favorable re-action has to some extent taken place in the prospects of the coal trade

Coal in the Khasi and Jynteah Hills.

In the chapter on the physical features of the country a brief account is given of the localities in Bengal where coal is found. The coal companies have confined their operations almost entirely to working in the Western districts. There are, however, great mineral virgin resources, and notably a wide area of coal strata in Assam. The coal in upper Assam is of a very superior quality, and used to supply the Government steamers till leases were given to parties, who stopped the supply. These leases are, however, falling in. The LieutenantGovernor has given special attention to the mineral resources which are known to exist in the Khasi Hills. Dr. Oldham says that the Lakadong Hill contains more coal in The Lakadong coal mines. one place than any of the other sites; that it is of good quality, gives out great heat, is a first-rate gas coal, and is only 5 to 7 per cent. below good English coal. Dr. Oldham (whose estimates on matters of this kind are rarely too sanguine) estimates that there must be 1,500,000 tons of coal in the Lakadong field. About 5,000 tons appear to have been raised from this mine from 1848 to 1856. The seams or out-crops range from one-half to twelve feet thick, and can be worked mostly from the surface.

Lakadong is within six miles of Borghat, a village on an affluent of the Soorma, and boats of 500 maunds burden can go up to Borghat all the year round. The Lakadong out-crops, however, is said to be 2,294 feet above the level of the sea, and it must therefore be nearly 2,000 feet above the level of the river at Borghat. Under all these circumstances the Lieutenant-Governor considered that, looking to the quantity and quality of the Lakadong coal, to the fact that no private individual has yet come forward who can be relied upon to work the mines thoroughly, and to the demand which may arise for good clearburning coal at the Khasi lime kilns and on the Cachar tea gardens, as well as for steamers, Government ought to incur some expenditure in improving the road from the mines to Borghat, and in putting out and carrying to Chuttuck a certain quantity of coal as an experiment.

Arrangements have accordingly been sanctioned for making a large scale survey of the out-crops of coal in the neighbourhood of Lakadong, showing the altitude above the sea and the thickness of each seam; for preparing a scheme for getting the coal down the hill and making a road which might be turned into a tramway from the foot of the hills to Borghat; and for excavating and delivering to the Marine Department coal shed at Chuttuck 3,000 maunds of Lakadong coal, to be used either on Government or private steamers.

Coal in the Garo Hills.

Important out-crops of coal have also been observed farther west in the newly-acquired portions of the Garo Hills, and they seem, by their position and accessibility from the plains, to give much promise of future usefulness. The importance of undertaking a geological survey of the Garo Hills has been represented. A survey to determine the line in which an Eastern Bengal Railway might be carried through or into these hills is more wanted even than a regular survey, and His Honor has urged that some geological examination of the hills should be made without delay.

Geological and mineral survey in the Darjeeling Terai and Bhootan Dooars.

The Lieutenant-Governor during the year strongly urged upon the Government of India the necessity of a geological and mineral survey of the foot of the hills in the Darjeeling Terai and in the Bhootan Dooars, and the Supreme Government has now directed the geological survey to make the necessary arrangements. There have been many indications of minerals in these tracts, and the survey for the Northern Bengal Railway gives an enormously increased importance to this subject, and renders a mineral survey most desirable. Coal, no doubt, exists in large quantities; copper is, and has been, worked for long, and its analysis shows it to be of excellent quality; cobalt and manganese have been found in the Darjeeling Hills, and limestone in the Bhootan Dooars; the last a thing very greatly wanted in Bengal.

An application has been made to obtain the necessary mining tools from England, and it is believed that the arrangements for the survey will all be completed by the cold season of the present year.

CHAPTER XVI.

TRADE.

THE value of the total (foreign and

Decrease in foreign and interportal interportal) trade of Calcutta in

trade from Calcutta.

1872-73 was very much lower than in the previous year; thus

The decrease of imports is mainly under the head of bullion and specie; the imports of gold, silver, and money, were £3,251,806 less than they were in the previous year, while there was a net decrease of £126,877 on the value of other merchandize imports. There was a net decrease of £2,862,215 in the value of all exports; the decrease being very large in the exports of

Bullion.

Opium,
Oil-seeds,
Cotton.

The falling off in the bullion imports is said to have been due to the condition of the exchange market, under which bankers found it more convenient to buy India Office bills than to import bullion or specie. The total drawings of the Secretary of State paid in Calcutta during the year under review were Rs. 10,81,62,000, which falls short by one million of the whole difference between the estimated values of exports and imports.

Taking first the exports of the year from Calcutta to places beyond British India, we find the largest fluctuations in the following articles :

FOREIGN EXPORTS.

The increases and decreases in each article are partially explainable thus-The opium decrease is due to the shortness of the crop and of the

Cotton.

Oil-seeds.

Opium. number of chests offered for sale by Government. The very large decrease in the value of cotton exports is due mainly to the comparative cheapness of American cotton in Europe, and the consequently reduced demand for Bengal cotton: the year 1871-72 was a year of very exceptional briskness in the Bengal cotton trade. The fall in the seed trade was due in part to the shortness of the seed crops in the Ganges valley and elsewhere. In the preceding year (1871-72) the value of the seeds export fell off by £835,000, and now it has fallen. by £898,483 more. The exports to Great Britain and America, our principal customers for seeds, have fallen off in about equal proportions. The Collector of Customs notes that the rape-seed crop was a failure, and that mineral oils are largely taking the place of rape-seed oil in Europe. This very large and continuous decrease of the trade in an important staple merits some further inquiry, and the Lieutenant-Governor has desired to be furnished with a detailed account of the fluctuations of the particular markets which take less of our seeds, of the sources from whence those markets now draw their supplies, and of any reasons why Indian seeds should have lost ground in the estimation of European and American consumers. The decrease in the exports of hides and of lac is not explained. If any of the decrease in the hides trade is due to the cessation of the cattle disease, which threw so many hides on the market, the decrease will not be matter for regret. The decrease in the safflower trade is said by the authorities of Dacca, in which district safflower is almost exclusively grown, to be due to over-trading and excess European stocks of the preceding year. The Commissioner of Dacca reports that one of the causes for the decline in the trade is the discovery of a cheaper substitute for safflower.

Hides.

Safflower.

The increase in the estimated value of the jute exports is very small, but the increase in the quantity of jute exports was very large. The growth of the jute trade during the last few years has been as follows:

Jute.

In the year

Exports of jute and jute cuttings from Calcutta in cwts. 2,291,565

3,350,626

3,350,200

3,745,402

6,128,545

7,061,951

Tea.

...

The jute produce of the year under review was so large that the price went down nearly one-half, and as a consequence there has been a reduction in the area sown with jute during the current year. The trade. in gunny bags has also increased. Australia and the Straits Settlements have taken more gunny bags, but America took less than in the preceding year. The export of jute and jute cuttings to America was somewhat in excess of the previous years, being 1,242,000 cwt. against 1,000,000 cwt. in the preceding year. It is not known if the manufacture of gunny bags is increasing in America. The indigo export was 119,385 cwt., against 66,929 cwt. Indigo. in the preceding year; but the outturn having been so very large, prices went down considerably, and the increase in the estimated value of the indigo exports was, as shown above, barely ten per cent. The exports of tea, which increased by 4,000,000lb in the preceding year, show a further increase of 516,000lb. The tea crop of the year under review was short in some districts, or the increase would have been still higher. Great Britain continues to take almost the whole of our teas. The increase in the rice export was 1,341,413 cwt.; the bulk of the increase went to the Mauritius and Great Britain, and the West Indian Islands took more rice than in previous years. The large export of rice to Java was a new trade, and was due apparently to the partial failure of the crops in that island. With the cessation of the Persian famine a smaller quantity of rice has gone from Calcutta to the Gulf. The increased exports in sugar must have been due mainly to the goodness of the date and other sugar crops in Lower Bengal, for the up-country sugar yield of the year was low. Almost the whole of the increased exports (23,949 cwt.) went to Great Britain and Persia. Recent inquiries in Jessore have shown that the increase in the export of date sugar to Calcutta has been very great during the last eight or ten years. The tobacco export to Europe is almost a new trade. The Collector of Customs writes: "This "increase has been owing to a trial shipment having been favorably reported on for the German market, "which is supplied through London

66

Rice.

Sugar.

Tobacco.

From

"the cheap rate at which Indian tobacco can be laid down in Europe, "there are prospects of much further development." If a steady and growing trade in Indian tobacco should be established, it will be a