Gazetteer Of The Karnal District 1883-84

· 1884 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

11] Putijab Rtazetteer.

2198 CHAP, IV.—PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION,

3Chapter IV, D. “Special circumstances have combined to render the rise in prices,

4eS ee ra which has been so general all over India, somewhat less marked in this

5lions Sele district than elsewhere. The large frontier cantonment which was kept

6and Communi- up for suv many years at Karndl created a local demand whith its transfer

7cations, to Ambdlé did not much diminish; and the populous city of Delhi

8Changes in the’value 18 80 near that the metalling of the Grand Trunk Road, always a good

9of agricultural pro. one, which was done about 1863, did not affect prices sq much as new

10duce. communications would do in an isolated tract. The same thing may be

11suid of the great mart of Shamli, to which the present road existed before

12last Settlement, though doubtless it is better now than then. Another

13cause which tended to keep prices up was the immediate proximity

14of the arid tracts of Haridndé and the Bagar, the normal state of which

15appears to be scanty rain relieved by frequent droughts. The influence of

16this causo is often noted in the carly correspondence ; but the extended

17use of canal water in these tracts has lately tended to equalise the local

18supply with the demand.

19‘‘ The prices tel] their own tale. The first five-yoarly period is marked

20by the famine of 1833, the second by the drought of 1837-38. In

21the third, during which the Settlement was made, the rain-fall was some-

22what scanty throughout ; but the prices may probably be taken as the

23normal rates of the time, as they tally with those of the preceding period,

24nnd for the next five years remain almost unaltered, altheugh the seasons

25wore favourable. ‘The supplies needed by the army operating in the

26Panjitb between 1845 and 1847 were largely drawn from this neighbour-

27hood. The fifth poriod, from 1850 to 1855, is marked by a sudden and

28extensive fall in all prices, which continued to-1858; and this must, I

29fancy, have been owing to the opening out of ‘the Panjdb, and to its

30surplus stuffs pouring into a market from which no railway existed to

31carry them away. ‘Tho famine of 1859-60 only introduced the cotton

32famine, which began in 1861 and continued for five years, during which

33time it is estimated that £63,000,000 sterling of silver was poured into

34Bombay. This enormous addition to the circulation of the country drove

35up prices with a rush, and before equlibrium had been restored, the

36introduction of steam carriage from Dehli threw open the markets of the

37world to India, and perpetuated the high level which had been reached.

38“The famine of 1869 created a temporary disturbance, but for the last

39five years the soasons have been fair, the opening of the Panjab railway in

401870 has completed the connection between Lahore and Bombay, and

41prices. have stood with an extraordinary steadiness at what may be con-

42sidered their normal rates. Since then the drought of 1877-80 *has again

43raised prices considerably ; but the rise is probably only temporary. Tak-

44ing the periods from 1840 to 1845 and from 1870 to 1875 as giving normal

45ratos for last Settlement and for the present time, which I think we may

46frirly do, we find the rise in prices to be as follows:---

47— ee ve Ene Ee eee Be ere ne ~ ——_— . owemwwen we « ws

48Cotton.

49Maize

50aaa | TTS CS | SESS | a> GE | treepciieey | GG

51100; 100; 100

52163 | e135 | 131

53Settlement rates

54Present rates