from exports from India to China were valued at £12,074,347, to Balance which opium alone contributed 10,529,673. The total Chinese imports from China were valued at only £1,355,171, showing trade. an excess of £10,719,176 in exports, for which India receives no direct return from China. In this case, China pays her debt to India by the excess of her exports to England, which are there placed to the credit of India. During the twenty years between 1852 and 1871, the aggregate balance of trade in favour of China in her dealings with England amounted to £112,000,000. This amount was available to settle the equally unfavourable balance with India, and was in fact paid by Indian opium, as certainly as if the opium had been sent to China viâ England. It is evident, therefore, that if the Chinese were to greatly increase their imports of English goods, the exchanges of India might be seriously affected. trade and Coasting Trade.-The foreign trade of India is monopolized Coasting by four great ports,1 but the entire seaboard along both sides trade. of the peninsula is thronged by native craft, which do a large coasting business. In the Gulfs of Kachchh and Cambay, on the Malabar coast, and in the southern Districts facing Ceylon, a large portion of the inhabitants are born sailors, conspicuous alike for their daring and for their skill in navigation. In 1873-74, which may be regarded as a normal year, the total number of vessels engaged in the coasting trade which cleared and entered was 294,374, with an aggregate of 10,379,862 tons; the total value of both coasting exports and imports was £34,890,445. Of the total number of vessels, 280,913, with Statistics 4,843,668 tons, were native craft. Bombay and Madras divided of coast between them nearly all the native craft; while in Bengal and shipping, Burma, a large and increasing proportion of the coasting traffic 1874 ; is carried in British steamers. In 1877-78, the year of famine, in 1878. the number of ships increased to 319,624; the tonnage to 15,732,246 tons; and the value to £67,814,446. By far the largest item was grain, of which a total of 1,137,690 tons, valued at 13 millions sterling, was thrown into the faminestricken Districts from the seaboard. Next in importance Staples of come raw cotton and cotton goods. The trade in raw cotton amounted to 387,438 cwts., valued at £957,900, much of which 1878. was merely transhipped from one port to another in the Bombay Presidency. Cotton twist and yarn amounted to 17,425,993 lbs., valued at £965,038, of which the greater part was sent from Bombay to Bengal and Madras. The total 1 See ante, p. 442. the coast trade, Frontier trade. Three main trade routes to Afghánistán. value of the cotton piece-goods 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 of nearly £960,000. The trade in betel-nuts amounted to nearly 44 million lbs., valued at over £500,000. Burma consumes most of these, obtaining its supplies from Bengal; while Bombay gets considerable quantities from Madras, from the Konkan 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 by the conveyance of silver to Burma in payment for rice supplied to Madras. Frontier Trade.-Attempts have been made to register the trade which crosses the long land frontier of India on the north, stretching from Baluchistán to Independent Burma. The returns obtained show a total of about 7 millions sterling, of which nearly half belongs to Burma; the imports being about 4 millions, and the exports 3 millions. The figures are, I regret, not based upon trustworthy evidence, but it is interesting to examine some of the details. Three main trade routes pierce the Suláimán Mountains, which form the western frontier of the Punjab and Sind. These are―(1) the Bolán Pass, which collects the trade both of Kandahár and Khelát, and debouches upon Sind at the important mart of Shikarpur, whose merchants have direct dealings with the remote cities of Central Asia; (2) the Gomal Pass, leading from Ghazní to Dera Ismail Khán, which is followed by the half-military, halftrading clan of Povindahs, who bring their own caravans of camels into the heart of India; (3) the Khaibar Pass, from Kabul to Peshawar. The aggregate value of the annual trade with Afghánistán cannot be less than 1 million sterling each way, or a total of 2 millions. But for Sind no statistics are available, and those for the Punjab are evidently incomplete. So far as they go, they show that in 1875-76 the total imports from Kábul were valued at £914,000, consisting chiefly of raw silk, dried fruits and nuts, manjít or madder and other dyes, charas (an intoxicating preparation of hemp) and other drugs, wood, and furs; the total exports were valued at £816,000, chiefly cotton goods both of native and European manufacture, Indian tea, indigo, and salt. The Punjab also conducts a considerable business via Kash- Trade with Central mír with Yarkand, Kashgar, and Chinese Tibet, estimated Asia. at about 1 million sterling altogether. The chief marts on the side of India are Amritsar and Jalandhar, from which latter place the route runs northwards past Kángra and Pálampur to Leh, where a British official has been stationed since 1867, in which year also a fair was established at Palampur to attract the Yarkandi merchants. Merchandise is usually conveyed Himálayan traffic; across the Himalayan passes on the backs of sheep and yaks; but British enterprise has successfully taken mules as far as Leh. In 1875-76, the total imports from Kashmir were valued at £484,000, chiefly pashmina or shawl-wool, charas, raw silk, gold-dust and silver ingots, and borax; the exports were valued at £342,000, chiefly cotton goods, food grains, metals, salt, tea, and indigo. Farther east, the Independent State of Nepál cuts off direct with intercourse with Tibet for a total length of nearly 700 miles, Nepál. bordering the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, and Behar. Though but little trade is allowed to filter through to Tibet, a very large traffic is everywhere carried on along the frontier between the Nepális and British subjects. The Nepál Government levies transit duties impartially on all commodities; but it is asserted that their fiscal tariff is not intended to be protective, and does not in fact operate as such. Markets are held at countless villages along the boundary, Frontier for the exchange of rural produce and articles of daily marts. consumption; and many cart tracks cross the line from our side, to lose themselves in the Nepál tarái. The principal trade route is that which starts from Patná, and proceeds nearly due north through Champáran District to the capital of Khatmandu; but even this is not passable throughout for wheeled traffic. From Khatmandu, two routes branch off over Nepál the central range of the Himalayas, which both ultimately come trade down into the valley of the Tsanpu, or great river of Tibet. In 1877-78, the registered trade with Nepál (which is doubtless under-estimated) amounted to a total of £1,687,000, of which more than two-thirds was conducted by Bengal. The exports from Nepál were valued at £1,054,000, the principal items being food grains and oil-seeds, cattle, timber, and horns. Other articles of export which do not figure prominently in. the return are musk, borax, chireta, madder, cardamoms, chauris or yak-tails, ginger, balchar or scented grass, furs, and hawks. The Indian imports into Nepál were valued at £633,000, chiefly European and native piece-goods (of cotton, routes. Bhután. North-east frontier trade. Trade with in 1878. wool, and silk), salt, metals, raw cotton, sugar and spices. To these may be added the miscellaneous articles which may be usually found in a pedlar's pack. The trade with Sikkim and Bhután is too insignificant to require notice, although it is possible that our future entry into Tibet may lie through these States. A certain amount of traffic is conducted with the hill tribes on the north-east frontier, who almost surround the Province of Assam from Bhután to Manipur. According to the returns for 1877-78, the total frontier trade of Assam amounts to under £100,000 a year. It consists chiefly of the bartering of rice, cotton cloth, salt, and metals, for the raw cotton grown by the hill tribes, and for the caoutchouc, lac, beeswax, and other jungle produce which they collect. The trade with Independent Burma has a special character, and it has for some years past been subject to a fairly accurate system of registration. The main route is by the Irawadi river, which is navigable by large steamers. The trade on the Tsit-toung (Sittang or Sitoung) is chiefly confined to the export of timber. Registration is also attempted at six land stations. The total trade in 1877-78 was valued at £3,426,000, almost equally divided between exports and imports, being considerably Exports. the largest figure yet recorded. The principal exports from Independent Burma were timber (£213,000), raw cotton (£163,000), sesamum oil (£130,000), manufactured silk (£107,000), jaggery sugar (£98,000), cattle (£88,000), and ponies (£20,000), cotton goods woven from European yarn (£46,000), earth-oil (£65,000), and cutch (£41,000). Many of these articles are liable to be declared royal monopolies, and consequently the figures fluctuate greatly year by year. Other exports of interest, though of smaller value, are pickled Imports. tea (£19,000) and jade (£18,000). The principal imports are rice (£435,000), cotton piece-goods (£207,000), and cotton twist and yarn (£188,000), manufactured silk (£173,000), ngá-pi or salted fish (£159,000), raw silk (£84,000), woollen goods (£43,000), salt (£33,000). Many of these goods, also, are the subjects of royal monopoly, or they compete with the products of manufactories started by the king at Mandalay. Such articles as salt and piece-goods are exempted from the ordinary customs duties at Rangoon, and pay only a transit duty of 1 per cent. if declared for Independent Burma. The trade between British Burma and Siam was estimated in 1877-78, at the total value of £126,000, being £69,000 for exports from Siam, and £57,000 for imports. The Internal Trade of India greatly exceeds her foreign com- Internal merce; but it is impossible to estimate its amount. On the one trade of India. hand, there is the wholesale business, connected with the foreign commerce, in all its stages-the collection of agricultural produce from a hundred thousand 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, but in the reverse direction. On the other hand, there is the interchange of commodities of native growth and manufacture, sometimes between neighbouring Districts, but also between distant Provinces. With 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 internal duties and other restraints which native despotism had imposed upon trading energies. trade in Broadly speaking, the greater part of the internal trade Internal remains in the hands of the natives. Europeans control the native shipping business, and have a share in the collection of some hands. of the more valuable staples of export, 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, most of the retail shops are owned by natives. The Vaisya, or trading caste of Trading Manu, has now scarcely a separate existence; but its place is castes : occupied by offshoots and well-marked classes. On the western coast the Pársís, by the boldness and extent of their operations, tread close upon the heels of the great English houses. |