“His Excellency the Governor in Council has from time to time expressed his entire approval of the Volumes of the Gazetteer already published, and now learns with much satisfaction that the remaining Statistical Accounts have been completed in the same elaborate manner. The task now brought to a close by Mr. Campbell has been very arduous. It has been the subject of his untiring industry for more than ten years, in the earlier part of which period, however, he was occasionally employed on additional duties, including the preparation of a large number of articles for the Imperial Gazetteer. When the work was begun, it was not anticipated that so much time would be required for its completion, because it was not contemplated that it would be carried out on so extensive a scale. Its magnitude may be estimated by the fact that the Statistical Accounts, exclusive of the general chapters yet to be reprinted, embrace twenty-seven Volumes containing on an average 500 pages each. Mr. Campbell could not have sustained the unflagging zeal displayed by him for so long a period without an intense interest in the subjects dealt with. The result is well worthy of the labour expended, and is a proof of the rare fitness of Mr. Campbell on the ground both of literary ability and of power of steady application for the important duty assigned to him. The work is a record of historical and statistical facts and of information regarding the country and the people as complete perhaps as ever was produced on behalf of any Government, and cannot fail to be of the utmost utility in the future administration of the Presidency.

“2. The thanks of Government have already been conveyed to the various contributors, and it is only necessary now to add that they share, according to the importance of their contributions, in the credit which attaches to the general excellence of the work.”

The whole series of Volumes is now complete, and His Excellency in Council congratulates Sir James Campbell and all associated with him in this successful and memorable achievement.

H. O. QUIN,
Secretary to Government,
General Department.

The earliest record of an attempt to arrange for the preparation of Statistical Accounts of the different districts of the Bombay Presidency is in 1843. In 1843 Government called on the Revenue Commissioner to obtain from all the Collectors as part of their next Annual Report the fullest available information regarding their districts.[1] The information was specially to include their own and their Assistants’ observations on the state of the cross and other roads not under the superintendence of a separate department, on the passes and ferries throughout the country, on the streets in the principal towns, and on the extension and improvement of internal communications. As from Collectors alone could any knowledge of the state of the district be obtained, the Collectors were desired to include in their Annual Reports observations on every point from which a knowledge of the actual condition of the country could be gathered with the exception of matters purely judicial which were to be supplied by the Judicial Branch of the Administration. Government remarked that, as Collectors and their Assistants during a large portion of the year moved about the district in constant and intimate communication with all classes they possessed advantages which no other public officers enjoyed of acquiring a full knowledge of the condition of the country, the causes of progress or retrogradation, the good measures which require to be fostered and extended, the evil measures which call for abandonment, the defects in existing institutions which require to be remedied, and the nature of the remedies to be applied. Collectors also, it was observed, have an opportunity of judging of the effect of British rule on the condition and character of the people, on their caste prejudices, and on their superstitious observances. They can trace any alteration for the better or worse in dwellings, clothing and diet, and can observe the use of improved implements of husbandry or other crafts, the habits of locomotion, the state of education particularly among the higher classes whose decaying means and energy under our most levelling system compared with that of preceding governments will attract their attention. Finally they can learn how far existing village institutions are effectual to their end, and may be made available for self-government and in the management of local taxation for local purposes.

In obedience to these orders reports were received from the Collectors of Ahmedábád Broach Kaira Thána and Khándesh. Some of the reports, especially that of Mr. J. D. Inverarity, contained much interesting information. These five northern reports were practically the only result of the Circular Letter of 1843.

The question of preparing District Statistical Manuals was not again raised till 1870. In October 1867 the Secretary of State desired the Bombay Government to take steps for the compilation of a Gazetteer of the Presidency on the model of the Gazetteer prepared during that year for the Central Provinces. The Bombay Government requested the two Revenue Commissioners and the Director of Public Instruction to submit a scheme for carrying into effect the orders of the Secretary of State. In reply the officers consulted remarked that the work to be done for the Bombay Presidency would be of a multifarious character; that the article on the commerce of Bombay would require special qualifications in the writer; that again special qualifications would be required for writing accounts of the sacred cities of Násik and Pálitána, of the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, of the histories of Sindh Gujarát and Ahmednagar, and of the Portuguese connection with Western India. The Committee observed that a third form of special knowledge would be required to write accounts of Pársis Khojás and other castes and tribes; that in short the undertaking would be one of much wider scope and greater difficulty than the preparation of the Gazetteer of the Central Provinces. Much thought would be required before the general plan could be laid down, and after the plan was fixed all sorts of questions as to arrangement and treatment of particular parts would be sure to arise. In the Committee’s opinion local revenue officers could not as a rule find time to devote to work of this description without neglecting their ordinary duties; but they could correct and amplify such information as a special officer could compile from the published and unpublished records of Government.

In January 1868 the Bombay Government decided that the general supervision and direction of the work should be placed in the hands of a Committee consisting of the Revenue Commissioners, the Director of Public Instruction, and the Commissioner of Customs, and that an Editor should be appointed with a small copying establishment to act under the directions of the Committee. The Editor was to give his entire time to the work and was expected to finish it in about a year. He was to collect and arrange in alphabetical order all recorded information regarding the towns and other places of interest in each Collectorate, and to send printed on half margin each draft when completed to the local officers for verification, additions, and alterations. When the drafts were returned and corrected by the Editor, they were to be laid before the Committee. To enable the Editor to meet such expenses as a fair remuneration for articles contributed by qualified persons, and also to pay for the printing of the work with small accompanying maps, an amount not exceeding Rs. 12,000 was sanctioned for the total expense of the Gazetteer including the payment of the Editor. At the outset it was decided to place a portion of the sum sanctioned not exceeding Rs. 2000, at the disposal of the Commissioner in Sindh to secure the preparation of articles referring to Sindh. The Committee were requested to meet at Poona in June 1868 and to report to Government on the best mode of preparing and editing the Gazetteer and supervising its publication. The Collectors and Political Officers were in the meanwhile requested to ascertain what records in their possession were likely to be useful for the preparation of a Gazetteer and what papers in the possession of others and likely to be useful for the purpose were obtainable within their charge. Collectors and Political Officers were requested to send their replies direct to the Director of Public Instruction who would collect them on behalf of the Committee.

In August 1868 the Bombay Gazetteer Committee, composed of Messrs. A. F. Bellasis Revenue Commissioner N. D. Chairman, Mr. W. H. Havelock Revenue Commissioner S. D. and Sir Alexander Grant, Director of Public Instruction, submitted a report recommending the following arrangements: