In the mofussil Khandesh appears to be the most litigious district with 32,883 original suits, 1,030 appeals and 26,102 Execution proceedings. Ahmedabad comes next with 27,705 original suits, 1,276 appeals and 14,907 Execution proceedings. Bombay City had 46,654 suits, with 14,653 Execution proceedings.

The total receipts of the courts were over Rs. 851⁄2 lakhs and total expenditure over Rs. 44 lakhs.

In no district of the Northern and Southern Divisions, the Bombay Suburban District, and the Province of Sind, the arrears of decrees referred to Collectors for execution exceed 400. In all the districts of the Central Division, except in West Khandesh and Sholapur the arrears exceed 400. In the Ahmednagar and Nasik districts the arrears are as high as 1,967 and 1,189 respectively.

The number of decrees referred to Collectors for execution was 9,676 which, with 9,307 from the previous year gave a total of 18,983 cases for disposal. Of these 10,752 were dealt with.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Over 169,000 offences came before the courts during the year 1922, showing an increase of 11,800. More than 42,000 offences were under the Indian Penal Code and the remainder under Special and Local Laws. 20'6 per cent. of the Indian Penal Code offences were against the person and 20 ̊4 per cent. against property.

Over 17,000 offences were reported under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and 30,000 under the Bombay City and District Municipal Acts.

The Districts of Surat and Panch Mahals and the City of Bombay show a noticeable increase in crime while a marked decrease is seen in Khandesh and Nasik.

The Criminal Courts consisted of the High Court and Sessions Judges mentioned above, 900 Magistrates and 21,400 Police Patels.

The bulk of the crime is dealt with by stipendiary magistrates, but Honorary and Bench Magistrates disposed of over 13,000 cases and village officers of 1,200.

Out of 222,500 persons under trial during the year 138,980 were convicted. Of these 1,781 were released on probation and 602 were discharged after admonition. Of the persons sentenced 15,869 were given imprisonment and 113,587 were fined. 2,534 were ordered to give security for good behaviour. 5,619 persons of those sentenced to imprisonment received below 15 days and 7,710, six months and under, 2,499 two years and under, 566 seven years and under, and only 61 above seven years. 981 criminals were sentenced to whipping and 99 boys had their sentence commuted to detention in the Reformatory.

462 complainants were ordered to pay compensation to accused persons, the accusations having been found to be frivolous or

vexatious.

The number of witnesses examined in all these trials was over 301,000.

223 murders were tried, showing an increase of 13 over the previous year. These may be classified as follows:

From motives connected with women

Of children for the sake of ornaments
Other murders for gain

Other causes

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REGISTRATION

For purposes of registration the Presidency is divided into districts and sub-districts which correspond in the main to the Revenue Collectorates and Talukas. In some cases Joint SubRegistrars are appointed in charge of heavily worked sub-districts and in others the talukas are sub-divided into two or more registration sub-districts. The Collector is Registrar of the District and for every sub-district there is a Sub-Registrar who is subordinate to him. The working of the department is under the supervision of the Inspector General of Registration.

CONDITIONS OF TRADE

Interesting side lights on the trade, commerce and agricultural conditions of the Presidency are to be found in the Report on the administration of the Registration Department for the years

1920-22. From figures given there it will be seen that the exceptional inflation of values after the war has been returning gradually to normal. Whereas in 1919 there were more than 373,000 registrations, this figure dropped to 303,000 in 1922. The latter, however, is still higher than the pre-war figures 282,000 in 1914. The downward movement was nearly general throughout the Presidency and Sind. An excellent cotton crop in the East Khandesh and West Khandesh districts led to a small rise in registration in those districts. Entirely opposite reasons are given to account for the rise in registrations in Thar Parkar, namely, bad crops and scarcity of rainfall. In the opinion of the Inspector General of Registration the number of registrations is proportional to the volume of money available for land and investments, irrespective of good or bad crops. He quotes the reasons given by the District Registrars for the decrease, including tightness of money market, reduced speculation, the Sinhast year, etc., but says the real cause is, of course, in one word ' deflation'. Reduced volume of currency not only directly reduces the amount of cash seeking landed investment but indirectly, by reducing the turnover and profits in all other trade. The absolutely infallible test of this deflation is the ratio of the gross number of deeds to gross values. This shows a marked decline from Rs. 1,775 per document to Rs. 1,568 ".

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The Report points out that documents relating to immovable property constitute 97 8 per cent. of the total number of registrations. Those relating to movable property fell by about 14 ̊1 per cent., the decrease being mainly in money-bonds which fell from 823 to 469, that is, about 43 per cent. This is held to indicate that people hesitate to advance money on personal security.

There was an insignificant fall in mortgages throughout the Presidency generally but a rise in Bombay, attributed to the fall in land values. That the registration records are considered by the public as a reliable source for the investigation of title is shown by the rise in the number of applications for searches and copies.

The Inspector General is satisfied with the results of the system of copying documents by photography and points out

that when the new arrangements are completed, the cost for three photographic copies will be substantially less than for one manuscript copy. The copies are practically indelible and indestructible.

JOINT STOCK COMPANIES

Seventy-one new companies were registered in Bombay during 1922-23 compared with 92 in the preceding year, 21 being public, 49 private and one limited by guarantee. Of these 71 companies five were concerned with clay, stone and cement, 4 with motor traction, 2 with loan or investment trusts and one with banking. Only one insurance company was registered during the year, but there were four new printing, publishing and stationery companies. Engineering was responsible for 3 registrations, cotton mills for 2 and cotton ginning and pressing for one. Only one estate, land and building company was registered during the year compared with 5 the year before.

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General trade depression, the fall of exchange and prices and the reaction caused by the failures which followed the boom of 1919-20 are some of the factors mentioned in the Annual Report on the working of the Indian Companies Act as accounting for the decrease. The extensive market manipulations of certain large operators in Bombay and the crash that resulted from their efforts to effect corners still further frightened the investing public and great reluctance was displayed to invest in industrial securities, investors apparently preferring the good and certain yield obtainable from Government loans. Moreover, over 16 crores capital was paid up during the year to companies already in existence and this naturally restricted the amount of capital available for new concerns. The Registrar, referring to the slight increase in private companies, suggests that while some are undoubtedly due to the incidence of taxation, the attraction of limited liability when so many businesses have failed is also responsible. The nominal capital of the new companies registered was nearly 8 crores.

A reflex of the conditions referred to above is shown by the fact that 68 companies were dissolved during the year, as compared with 28 in the previous year and no fewer than 45 companies were struck off by the Registrar as defunct. Sixty-nine

companies went into liquidation during the year of which 54 went into voluntary liquidation.

The total number of companies working at the close of the year was 888. The capital of companies that went into liquidation was 37 crores authorised, 4 crores subscribed and 12 crores paid up. The result of the year's working shows a net increase of over 28 crores in the authorised capital of the companies and a net increase of 142 crores in the paid up capital. The aggregate capital authorised, subscribed and paid up of all the companies at the close of the year was 254 crores, 147 crores and 972 crores respectively.

During the year 20 companies incorporated outside British India established their places of business in the Presidency, as against 16 in the previous year.