§ SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether the result of the inquiries addressed to the Government of India in March last will enable him now to state in round numbers how many sovereigns, British or Australian, have been paid into the Indian Treasuries for land revenue, Customs, or other fiscal payments, since those coins were made legal tender at the rate of fifteen rupees; also, for the same period, what number of sovereigns have been paid out at the same rate by the Departments for Public Works, and other local purchases of materials, for stores, salaries, interest, and other State obligations; what is now the total amount of currency reserves in gold held respectively in India and England; and what proportions of that amount
| (Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) | ||||||||||||
| Provinces. | Total Cropped Area. | Percentage of Area under Chief Crops in 1901–2. | ||||||||||
| 1891.2. Acres. | 1900.1901. Acres. | 1901.2. Acres. | Wheat. | Rice. | Other Food Grains.† | Oilseeds. | Cotton, Jute, etc. | Other Crops.‡ | ||||
| Burmah | - | - | 7,832,000 | 11,835,000 | 11,694,000 | 0.2 | 7.07 | 14.0 | 7.2 | 1.3 | 6.6 | |
| Bengal | - | - | 61,227,000 | 60,898,000 | 59,973,000 | 2.3 | 60.1 | 18.3 | 5.9 | 4.2 | 9.2 | |
| United Provinces | 41,904,000 | 42,036,000 | 42,621,000 | 15.2 | 16.7 | 54.7 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 8.6 | |||
| Punjab (including North-West Frontier Provinces) | - | - | 21,409,000 | 28,570,000* | 18,326,000* | 33.7 | 3.9 | 39.7 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 14.1 | |
| Bombay and Sind | 27,993,000 | 25,468,000 | 27,062,000 | 5.9 | 8.7 | 65.6 | 6.3 | 11.3 | 2.2 | |||
| Central Provinces | 17,201,000 | 16,210,000 | 17,244,000 | 15.2 | 26.3 | 39.9 | 9.8 | 6.1 | 2.7 | |||
| Madras | - | - | 24,308,000 | 27,850,000 | 29,740,000 | .1 | 24.3 | 56.4 | 6.7 | 4.8 | 7.7 | |
| Berar | - | - | - | 6,676,000 | 6,820,000 | 7,033,000 | 4.0 | .5 | 49.7 | 5.9 | 38.4 | 1.5 |
| Minor Provinces | - | 2,415,000 | 5,275,000 | 5,390,000 | — | 68.3 | 6.6 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 18.3 | ||
| 219,965,000 | 224,962,000 | 219,083,000 | 8.5 | 32.0 | 40.3 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.7 | ||||
| * Actually reaped areas, and excluding crop failures. † Principally millets and pulses. | ||||||||||||
| ‡ Includes sugar, tobacco, tea, fodder, opium, etc. |
§ consist of coins, bars, or other forms of that precious metal.
§ (Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The Government of India have informed me that the information asked for in the first two clauses of the Question cannot be supplied, as no detailed record is kept of the nature of the transactions in the course of which the Government Treasuries receive or issue gold. I am, however, still in communication with the Government of India on the subject. The amount of gold held by the Government in India is £9,740,000, and it is practically all in the form of sovereigns. In England £4,110,000 2½ per cent. Consolidated Stock is held on account of the Gold Reserve Fund.