The Bombay Presidency stretches along the west coast of India, from Sind in the North to Kanara in the South. It embraces, with its feudatories and Aden, an area of 187,074 square miles and a population of 26,757,648. Of this total 63,453 square miles are in Native States, with a population of 7,412,341. Geographically included in the Presidency but under the Government of India is the first class Native State of Baroda, with an area of 8,182 square miles and a population of 2,032,798.

With effect from the 10th October 1924 the States in the Cutch, Kathiawar and the Palanpur Agencies have been placed under direct political relations with the Government of India. The three agencies have been combined into one, the Western India States Agency, and placed under a first class Resident and Agent to the Governor General with headquarters at Rajkot. The territories under the rule of Indian Princes and Chiefs who are in direct political relations with the Government of Bombay extend now only to an area of about 28,562 sq. miles. The population of these States is about 4 millions and the revenue nearly 5 crores.

The Presidency embraces a wide diversity of soil, climate and people. In the Presidency Proper are the rich plains of Gujarat, watered by the Nerbudda and the Tapti, whose fertility is so marked that it has long been known as the Garden of India. South of Bombay City the province is divided into two sections by the Western Ghats, a range of hills running parallel to the coast. Above Ghats are the Deccan Districts, south of these come the Karnatic districts. On the sea side of the Ghats is the Konkan, a rice-growing tract, intercepted by creeks which make communication difficult. Then in the far north is Sind, totally different from the Presidency Froper, a land of wide and monotonous desert except where irrigation from the Indus has brought abounding fertility.

The People.

The population varies as markedly as soil and climate. In Sind Mahomedans predominate. Gujarat has remained true to Hinduism although

long under the dominion of powerful Mahomedan kings. Here there is an amplitude of caste

divisions, and a people, who although softened by prosperity, are amongst the keenest trading races in the world. The Deccan peasant has been seasoned by adversity; the saying goes that the Deccan expects a famine one year in every three, and gets it; the population is much more homogeneous than in Gujarat, and thirty

per cent. are Mahrattas. The Karnatic is the land of the Lingayets, a Hindu reforming sect of the twelfth century, and in the Konkan there is a large proportion of Christians. Four main languages are spoken, Sindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Kanarese, with Urdu a rough lingua franca where English has not penetrated. The main | castes and tribes number five hundred.

which under careful cultivation in Ahmedabad and Kaira makes splendid garden land. The dominant soil characteristic of the Deccan is black soil, which produces cotton, wheat, gram and millet, and in certain tracts rich crops of sugarcane. The Konkan is a rice land, grown under the abundant rains of the submontane regions, and in the south the Dharwar cotton vies with Broach as the best in India. There are no great perennial rivers suitable for irigation, and the harvest is largely dependent upon the seasonal rainfall, supplemented by well irrigation. A chain of irrigation works, consisting of canals fed from great reservoirs in the region of unfailing rainfall in the Ghats, is gradually being completed, and this will ultimately make the Deccan immune to serious drought. More than any other part of India the Presidency has been scourged by famine and plague during the past twenty years. The evils have not been unmixed, for tribulation has made the people more self-reliant, and the rise in the values of all produce, synchronising with a certain development of industry, has induced a considerable rise in the standard of living. The land is held on what is known as the ryotwari tenure, that is to say, each cultivator holds his land direct from Government under a moderate assessinent, and as long as he pays this assessment he cannot be dispos. sessed.

Manufactures.

Whilst agriculture is the principal industry, others have no inconsiderable place. The mineral wealth of the Presidency is small. and is confined to building stone, salt extracted from the sea, and a little manganese. But the handicrafts are widely distributed. The handloom weavers produce brightcoloured saris, and to a diminishing extent the exquisite kincobs of Ahmedabad and Surat. Bombay silver ware has a place of its own, as well as the brass work of Poona and Nasik. But the tendency is to submerge the indigenous handicrafts beneath industry organised on modern lines. Bombay is the great centre in India of the textile trade. This is chiefly found in the headquarter city, Bombay. Number of Looms in Bombay Island. Number of Spindles in Bombay Island. 3,472,642

Number of hands employed in the

73,701

Textile Industry in Bombay Island. 149,069

..

Consumption of Cotton by the Mills in
Bombay Island (bales)
Candies of 784 lbs each
Number of Spindles in Ahmedabad. 1,381,897
Number of Looms in Ahmedabad

..

29,401

Number of Spindles in Sholapore.. 289,432

..

Number of Looms in Sholapore Number of Spindles in the Bombay Presidency (excluding Bombay Island)

Number of Looms in the Bombay Presidency (excluding Bombay Island)..

5,321

2,418,407

48,408

Great impetus has been given to Bombay industries by the provision of electric power generated fif y miles away on the Ghats, and the year 1919 witnessed a phenomenal flotation of new industrial companies of almost every description.

The situation of Bombay on the western sea-board in touch at once with the principal markets of India and the markets of the West

has given Bombay an immense sea-borne trade. The older ports, Surat, Broach, Cambay *and Mandvie, were famous in the ancient days, and their bold and hardy mariners carried Indian commerce to the Persian Gulf and the coasts of Africa. But the opening of the Suez Canal and the increasing size

of ocean steamers have tended to concer

trate it in modern ports with deep water anchor Rages, and the sea-borne trade of the Presidency is now concentrated at Bombay and Karachi, although attempts are being made to develop Mormugao in Portuguese territory into an outlet for the trade of the Southern Mahratta Country.

Administration.

The Presidency is administered by a Gover with the assistance of three Ministers. The nor and an Executive Council of four members, - Provincial Governments is indicated in the exact change made in the functions of the

- where a description is given of the division section on the Provincial Governments (9. v.) of the administration into two branches, the

Reserved Subjects, administered by the Gover

nor and bis Council and the Transferred Subjects, administered by the Governor and his Ministers, the whole Government commonly meeting and acting as one. In another part of that section the division between Reserved and Transferred subjects is shown. This new form of administration under the Reform Act

of 1919 came into operation in January 1921. All papers relating to publicservice business reach Government through the Secretariat, divided Into seven main departments, each under a Secretary (a) Finance; (b) Revenue; (c) Home

and Ecclesiastical; (d) Political; (e) General, Educational and Marine; () Legal; (9)

Public Works. The senior of the Civilian Secretaries is entitled the Chief Secretary. The Government frequently moves. It Is in Bombay from November to the end of March; at Mahableshwar from April to June; in Poona from June to November; but the Secretariat is always in Bombay. Under the Governor-in-Council the Presidency is administered by four Commissioners. The Commissioner in Sind has considerable independent powers. In the Presidency Proper there are Commissioners for the Northern Division, with headquarters at Ahmedabad; the Central Division at Poona; and the Sou thern Division at Belgaum. Each district is under a Collector, usually a Covenanted Civilian, who has under him one or more Civilians as Assistant Collectors, and one or more Deputy Collectors. A collectorate contains on an

average from eight to ten talukas, each consisting of from one to two hundred villages whose whole revenues belong to the State. The village officers are the patel, who is the head of the village both for revenue and police purpose; the talati or kulkarni, clerk and accountant; the messenger and the watchman. Over each Taluka or group of village is the mamlatdar, who is also a subordinate magistrate. The charge of the Assistant or Deputy Collector contains three or four talukas. The Collector and Magistrate is over the whole District. The Commissioners exercise general control over the Districts in their Divisions. The control of the Government over the Native States of the Presidency is exercised through Political Agents.

Justice.

The administration of justice is entrusted to the High Court sitting in Bombay; and comprising a Chief Justice, who is a barrister, and seven puisne judges, either Civilians, Barristers, or Indian lawyers. In Sind the Court of the Judicial Commissioner (The Judicial Commissioner and four Additional Judges) is the highest court of civil and criminal appeal. The growing importance of Karachi and Sinds has, however, necessitated the raising of the sta tus of the Judicial Commissioner's Court and the passing of the Sind Courts Act in August 1926, which contemplates the creation of a Chief Court for Sind with a Chief Judge and three or more Puisne Judges. The Act however has not yet of tuinto to dificultiest been put into effect owing to financial difficulties. instance is that of the Subordinate Judge recruited from the ranks of the local lawyers. The Court of first appeal is that of the District or Assistant Judge, or of a first class subordinate judge with special powers. District and Assistant Judges are Indian Civilians, or mem. bers of the Provincial Service. In cases ex

ceeding Rs. 5,000 in value an appeai from the decision of the Subordinate or Assistant Judge and from the decision of the District Judge in all original suits lies to the High Court. District and Assistant Judges exercise criminal

jurisdiction throughout the Presidency, but original criminal work is chiefly disposed of by Executive District Officers. Capital sentences are subject to confirmation by the High Court. In some of the principal cities Special

Magistrates exercise summary Jurisdiction (Bombay has five Presidency Magistrates, as well as Honorary Magistrates exercising the functions of English Justices of the Peace) and a Court of Small Causes, corresponding to the English County Courts.

Local Government.

Local control over certain branches of the

administration is secured by the constitution of local boards and municipalities, the former exercising authority over a District or a Taluka, and the latter over a city or town. These bodies are composed of members either nominated by Government or elected by the people, who are empowered to expend the funds at their disposal on education, sanitation, the construction of roads and tanks, and general improvements. Their funds are derived from cesses on the land revenue, the toll and ferry funds. The tendency of recent years has been to increase the elective and reduce the nominated element. to allow these bodies to elect their own chairmen, whilst larger grants have been made from the general revenues for water supply and drainage.

The City Municipalities Act of 1926 works further advance in the matter of local SelfGovernment in the Presidency. The Act provides more adequate basis for Municipal Administration in the larger cities of the Bombay Presidency. The larger municipalities are now styled as Municipal Boroughs which are now 29 in number. The executives of these Borough Municipalities are invested with larger powers than hitherto exercised. Another important change introduced by the Act was the extension of municipal franchise to occupiers of dwellings