Western India
Reports addressed to the Chambers of Commerce of Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn and Glasgow

A report of 1853 commissioned by British industrialists about the factors impeding the growth of the cotton industry in India.

Alexander Mackay (Author), James Robertson (Edited by), Thomas Bazley (Preface by)

9781108060721, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

490 pages, 4 maps 1 table
21.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm, 0.62 kg

Scottish-born Alexander Mackay (1808–1852) spent most of his career as a journalist in Canada and the United States, though he had been called to the bar in 1847. In 1851 he was commissioned by the chambers of commerce of Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, and Glasgow to go to India and report on the cultivation of cotton there, especially around Gujarat. He stayed for a year and was on his way back to Britain – his return forced by ill health – when he died at sea in 1852. His Western India, however, was published the following year after it was revised by James Robertson. The book highlights the many impediments to further growth of the Indian cotton trade: the poverty of the cultivators, heavy taxation, outdated planting methods and poor infrastructure, as well as the problem of competition from the booming cotton exports of the United States.

Preface
Editor's preface
Introduction
Book I. Guzerat: 1. The province and the cotton trade
2. Tenures in Guzerat
3. The assessment and its incidents in Guzerat
4. Cost of cultivation – competition with America
5. Irrigation in Guzerat
6. Roads in Guzerat
7. Harbours of Guzerat
Book II. Southern Mahratta Country: 1. Revenue system – new survey
2. Roads
3. Irrigation.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]