1 REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NORTHERN INDIA
2 REVIEW BY SECTIONS, supervises the manufacture ofall of the substances named in
3 *
4 Variation in number of
5 licenses,
6 INTERNAL BRANCH. the table:—
7 Saltpetre
8 Crude salt- : sas 5
9 cehyonien: petre, Khari. Sajji. | Rossi. | Total,
10 3 a Ed a 3 E13 3 3
11 alelal(e@ielte;aleialelayé
12 Rs Ra Rs. Rs. Rs. Ra.
13 1894-95 569) 28,337| 47,180] 26,165} 5,594, 4,650, 1,24 ae 219 ca 54,806) 62,073
14 1895-96... | 620) 80,888! 53,952] 33,802) 6,086! 5,272 869 ae 26. a 61,789) 71,724
15 1896-97... | 627} 31,316; 46,445] 27,560] 2,688) 3,710; 645) ae 219) me 50,624) 64,314
16 1897-98... | 572] 28,533] 39,368| 22,985] 4,416| 3,930 590, 1,178 222 444 45,168 57,079
17 |
18 Salipetre refineries.—Compared with 1896-97, there
19 was a decrease of 55 in the number of licenses issued for this
20 important class of works during the past year. The follow-
21 ing isa classification by provinces of the issues of the past two
22 years:—
23 1896-97. 1897-98.
24 No. No.
25 Panjab ... see sea oes 42 40
26 North-Western Provinces and Ondh oe =: 164 156
27 Province of Behar ... in ww «=: 408 362
28 City of Calcutta 2, 5 oe we «= so8 14
29 Total oe = 627 572
30 —_
31 There was an increase of one license in the number issued
32 for the city of Calcutta, buta decrease everywhere else. There
33 was a falling offin the issues, of 2in the Panjib, of 8in the
34 North-Western Provinces and of 46 in Behar. The decrease
35 in the number of these works was owing to low prices
36 and slack demand for saltpetre at Calcutta, and the
37 matter will be fully dealt with in the next three paragraphs.
38 The circumstances under which the refineries at Calcutta work,
39 differ from those which obtain up country. The owners have
40 not to lay out capital in arranging for supplies of crude
41 saltpetre produced at widely scattered localities, but merely
42 purify imperfectly refined goods brought to Caleutta from
43 Upper India. They could, therefore, afford to keep up their
44 factories during an unfavourable year like the past, and wait
45 for better times.
46 Crude-saltpetre.—The number of licenses for the manu-
47 facture of this substance which issued during the past year
48 was 39,368, compared with 46,445 during 1896-97, or a decrease
49 a ee licenses. Classified by provinces the issues were as
50 ollows :—
51 1896-97, 1897-98.
52 No. No.
53 Panjab ies see 1,368 1,145
54 North-Western Provinces and Oudh 7,077 6,394
55 Province of Behar ,.. “ane soe 87,305 81,829
56 Total ov 46,445 89,368
57 ——e
58 The manufacture of crude saltpetre was in a depressed con-
59 dition throughout the past year. There was a decrease of 213
60 licenses in the Panjab, of 1,383 licenses in the North-Western
61 Provinces and Oudh, and of 5,476 licenses in Behar.
62 { 60 )