Sholapur, the improvement of water-supply at Hyderabad (Sind) and at Sukkur and the construction of a pipe line from Karachi to Mauripur Salt Works.

On the Sukkur Barrage (Lloyd Barrage) scheme the close contouring of the whole tract commanded by the projected Barrage canals was the chief work carried out during the year. Levels were taken at close intervals over an area of about 5,500 square miles. Progress was also made in collecting and working up details necessary for preliminary work in connection with the construction of the scheme. Satisfactory progress was made on irrigation works under construction in the Deccan. The masonry dam of Lake Arthur Hill, the storage reservoir of the Pravara Canals, reached a height of 260 feet leaving a balance of 10 feet only to be completed. The canals have been excavated and it is expected that the whole scheme will be finished by the end of the year 1924. The Nira Right Bank Canal will be the largest in the Deccan. The project comprises the construction of a new masonry dam-The Lloyd Dam-which will replace the existing dam and provide a supply to the old Left Bank and the new Right Bank canals. It is hoped that the dam and the first 90 miles of the canal will be completed by the end of the 1926. The expenditure incurred during the year on works alone on the two projects in the Deccan amounted to nearly 37 lakhs.

year

Development Department.-During the year 1922-23 the work of the Directorate proceeded smoothly and, for all practical purposes, according to programme.

A detailed project estimate of the Back Bay Reclamation Scheme amounting to just over Rs. 702 lakhs was sanctioned by Government in October, and the actual expenditure up to 31st March amounted to nearly 280 lakhs. The concrete and rubble wall both at Marine Lines and at Colaba made considerable progress and at the close of the period under review had reached 3,450 feet from the Marine Lines' end and more than 3,800 feet at Colaba. Equally good progress was made at the quarries at Khandivli, where the output during the year amounted to 235,839 tons of stone and where, in addition, plant for the manufacture of moulded concrete pre-cast blocks

(to be used in the construction of storm-water drains in the reclamation area) had been nearly completed at the end of the

year.

Work on the industrial housing scheme proceeded satisfactorily and 56 chawls were completed. During the year the Department definitely decided to cease building on its own account and to allot contracts to private firms. The result of the tenders was satisfactory and showed a considerable reduction on previous costs. The total number of tenements let, or ready to be let, on 31st March 1923, was 2,720.

Less progress was made with the schemes for the provision of suitable sites for the expansion of industries outside Bombay. Demands for such sites were few and the work of development of the Kurla-Kirol area consequently continued in abeyance. Several fresh enquiries for Factory sites at Ambernath were received during the year and the first three Factories were completed.

The prospects at Trombay North, East, where an area for the accommodation of offensive trades is being laid out, are satisfactory. A compact block of 170 acres has been reclaimed with the object of providing a convenient site for the tanneries to be displaced from Dharavi, and separate areas have been allotted to the Bombay Municipality for the purpose of a new slaughter-house and stables for milch-cattle. Arrangements have also been completed for industrial housing in this area, and for the construction of a Railway linking up with the G. I. P. main line at Kurla.

The most advanced of the Suburban Schemes intended to provide sites for residential purposes were those at Khar, Chapel Road (Bandra) and Trombay North-West and developed plots are now available for sale in each of them. Some ninety-five plots had been taken up for building purposes in the first-named scheme. In the Chapel Road Scheme over three-fourths of the area had been sold and in Trombay North-West some 31⁄2 lakhs of square yards have been retained by the original owners under settlements effected with them. In this scheme a few model cottages have been built which demonstrate the possibilities of cheap and attractive housing for the middle and lower middle classes in this area.

Good progress was made on the construction of the SalsetteTrombay Railway. The earthwork and masonry of the KurlaAndheri Section was practically finished, together with the permanent way for a single track for the whole length except three-quarters of a mile at the Kurla end and 600 feet across the Mahim Creek. On the Kurla-Vadauli Section of 2 miles, 92 per cent. of the earthwork in the first mile and the whole of the earthwork in the second mile was completed by the end of the year, together with the masonry in all bridges except one ten feet opening.

The area surveyed during the year amounted to 21,495 acres or 33.5 square miles and arrangements were being made at the close of the year for printing the survey sheets.

In January 1923, Government appointed a Sanitary Committee, consisting of a Chairman and nine members, to act until the completion of the Reclamation Works, to advise as to the sanitary precautions to be taken from time to time in connection with these works.

T

PART II

CHAPTER I

INDIAN STATES

HE territories under the rule of Indian Princes and Chiefs

extend over an area of 65,836 square miles, or more

than one-third of the entire area of the Presidency. The variety of the relations which, under the terms of the several treaties, subsist between the British Government and the rulers of the different States and the general superintendence exercised by Government as the Paramount Power, necessitate the presence of an Agent or representative at the principal Courts. The smaller and less important States are either grouped together under the general supervision of a Political Agent, or are looked after by the Collectors of the districts within the local limits of which they may happen to be situated. The position of the Agent varies, roughly speaking, with the importance of the State. In some cases he does little more than give advice and exercise a general surveillance. In other cases Agents are invested with a direct share in the administration; while States in which the ruler is a minor are directly managed by Government Officers or under arrangements approved by Government. In connection with the administration of the two last-named classes of States, a large amount of judicial work devolves on the Governor in Council, in criminal cases as a Court of Reference and Appeal, and in civil matters as a Court of Appeal. The supervision of all the Indian States in this Presidency rests with the Government of Bombay, with the exception of that of Baroda, where the Resident Political Officer is an Agent to the Governor General.

In the following review of the administration of the Indian States in political relation with the Government of Bombay the States are arranged in groups according to their geographical position.

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