Report on the Administration of the Punjab and its Dependencies, for 1879-80

· 1880 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Sowmary. J TRADE. 25.

2a system of management which will perpetuate the fuel and

3timber supply obtainable from their forests. In some cases,

4where the Chiefs are wards of the British Government, no

5difficulty has been experienced. In other cases, where the

6Chiefs have been accustomed to exercise full authority

7within their territory, and where they are less cognizant of

8the advantages of forest preservation, measures are still

9under consideration. The Government does not desire to

10make a profitable business out of forest conservancy, so

11much as to secure the benefit of a permanent supply of for-

12est produce to the people of the country; but the financial

13result of the Department, whereby an income of 7} lakhs

14has been secured during the past decade, is one that

15may be contemplated with satisfaction. Unfortunately the

16staff of Forest officers has been recently far below its proper

17scale, but reinforcements, which were much needed, are now

18coming in.

1945. The statistics regarding the manufactures of the

20Province show some remarkable results.

21In the last five years the value of these

22manufactures is shown to have doubled, from 5} to 11 mil-

23lions stcrling; while, at the same time, the number of work-

24men employed in such manufactures is shown to have

25decreased from 14 millions to 800,000 persons ; and, to a less

26extent, the number of manufactories seems to have decreased.

27The Lieutenant-Governor is not prepared entirely to discredit

28these figures, although, no doubt, much room remains for

29improvement. If they denote, as is probably the case, the

30concentration of energy and more systematized commercial

31industry, the change is one which may be productive of good

32results,

33MANUFACTURES.

3446. The trade of. the year, as above noticed, was much

35- affected by the Kashmir famine and

36Kabul war. A. noticeable feature in

37the returns is the large import of European piece-goods, in

38TRADE.