CAPITALISTS.

OF 800,189 the total population of the State according to the 1881 census, 12,252 were in a position which implied the possession of capital. Of these 11,858 had a capital of £20 to £1000 (Rs.200-10,000), 296 of £1000 to £2500 (Rs. 10,000- 25,000), seventy-seven of £2500 to £5000 (Rs. 25,000-50,000) and twenty-one of £5000 to £10,000 (Rs. 50,000-1 lakh). The bulk of the capitalists are moneylenders and traders.

CURRENCY.

Of old rupees four were current in Kolhapur, old Hukeri, Nilkanthi, Panhali, and Shambhu Pirkhani. Of these for every hundred coins the old Huheri was cashed for eighty-six Imperial rupees, the Nilkanthi for 56¼, the Panhali for 96⅛, and the Shambhu Pirkhani for 87½. The old, Hukeri weighed 171.075 grains of which 142.174 were pure metal, the Nilkanthi 169.627 grains of which 91.598 were pure metal, the Panhali 169.092 grains of which 114.492 were pure metal, and the Shambhu Pirkhani 175.039 grains of which 141.767 were pure metal. Of these the Panhali, the chief rupee, was coined at Panhala which lies about twelve miles northwest of Kolhapur and was the former capital of the Kolhapur State. After 1788 when the capital was removed from Panhala to Kolhapur, the Panhali rupee was occasionally coined at the Kolhapur mint. In 1839 the Kolhapur mint was abolished, and at present (1883) the Imperial rupee is the only current coin.

INSURANCE.

There is no insurance in the State.

BILLS.

The most usual forms of bills of exchange or hundis are two darshani that is payable at sight, and mudati that is payable at some particular time after presentation. Bills are of three classes, dhanijog that is where payment is to be made to the payee or his order; shahajog, that is where payment is to be made to a nominee; of the payee known to the payer; and nishajog, that is descriptive or where some marks on the body of the payee are inserted in the bill for identification. The nishajog bill becomes necessary in a place where the payee is unknown to the payer, and, being a stranger, is not able to find out a man known to the payer who can speak to his identity. Bills are not drawn in sets; but the drawer sends a letter of advice or jabab to the drawee stating the number; of the bill, the name of the payee, and the amount to be paid. No drawee will cash the bill unless he receives the peth or letter of advice. Payment is generally made in cash but sometimes another bill called badli hundi is given. When payment is received in either of these ways the payee passes a receipt on the bill and it is returned to the drawer. The receipted bill returned is called a khoka and is retained by the drawer as a voucher. Sometimes a bill is not for any determined sum but the drawee is asked to pay the payee sums of money as he may require them. This is called a bhalavan patra or binajabti. It does not require a letter of advice, and the drawee sends to the drawer a letter as each payment is made. The bill must be cashed on the day specified if demanded, no days of grace being allowed. If the payment is delayed the payer is obliged to pay interest at a certain rate varying according to the position of the drawer. If he is a banker one-half per cent a month is paid, in other cases three quarters per cent. If payment is sought before the bill falls due, a discount at the above rates is deducted. If the bill is dishonoured and sent back uncashed, the drawee has to pay interest at double the rate of current interest from the date when the bill was drawn. He must also pay a non-acceptance penalty called nakrai, varying in different places. Formerly he was also liable to pay all the expenses of the payee. The practice is not now in vogue. If the bill is lost or stolen a duplicate or peth letter stating the amount of the bill and requiring payment is granted; if the duplicate is lost a triplicate or parpeth mentioning" both the hundi and the peth is issued, and if the parpeth is also not forthcoming, an advice or jab mentioning the hundi peth and parpeth is sent. The drawee is responsible for the payment he makes, for if he makes a payment to a wrong person he is obliged to make the payment over again to the holder of the peth. It is therefore customary for the drawee to take security from the payee when the drawee is hot quite certain of the payee. The payee in the case of an advice letter or jab passes a separate receipt, while the hundi, peth, and parpeth are simply endorsed. After payment the drawee debits the drawer with the amount paid. If a drawer overdraws his account and the bill is lost or dishonoured he alone is responsible. It is usual after endorsing the bills to sell them to bill brokers or dalals who are paid a certain percentage. When a bill thus travels to several places it is necessary in case of its loss that the peth, parpeth, and jab should travel through the same places before it reaches its final destination. As treasure is seldom sent bills are adjusted by debits and credits and badli hundis whose rates vary according to the conditions of the transaction. The interchange of bills has been greatly simplified by the introduction of a uniform coinage. Formerly the different rupees and the different rates of exchange made the system much more complicated and was a source of no small profit to local bankers. The drawer of the bill generally charges a certain percentage on the transaction and the person who wants the bill pays it. The rate however is variable according to the condition of the market. There are only three firms in the town of Kolhapur which can cash at once a bill up to £4000 (Rs. 40,000). It is generally the practice of the hankers, however, not to draw bills payable at sight for larger amounts. The introduction of postal money orders has not affected the bankers to any perceptible extent.

BANKING.

There are nine banking houses, of which eight are at Kolhapur and one at Malkapur. Where there is an agent or munim, the clerk or gumasta acts under him. Generally there are no munims and the clerk is subordinate to his master alone. He is usually a Brahman and is paid £20 (Rs. 200) a year.

SAVING CLASSES.

Of townspeople, moneylenders, traders, shopkeepers, brokers, pleaders, and a few highly paid State servants, and of country people, landlords, village headmen or patils, moneylenders, and a few rich cultivators save money. Savings are mostly invested in ornaments, lands, houses, and moneylending. The Government Savings Bank at Kolhapur is used almost solely by State servants, pleaders, and well-to-do men. In 1881-82 about 150 persons had £7500 (Rs.75,000) invested in the Savings Bank.

MONEYLENDING.

Moneylending is the chief form of investment. Everybody who saves something, except perhaps State officials, takes to money-lending. Of 947 professional moneylenders the chief are Brahmans, Jains, Lingayats, and Gujarat and Marwar Vanis. Besides regular moneylenders there are low usurers who for short periods lend small sums at heavy rates to the poorest borrowers. Among the professional moneylenders the Gujar and Marwari foreign money lenders are hardhearted and show no sympathy to their debtors. Among other moneylenders those who have lately taken the profession are harsher than those who are hereditary lenders. Under the present administration after 1845 moneylending has greatly suffered. The old practice of forcing payment by personal torture and dharna or fasting has been discontinued. This has made the lenders cautious in lending, and they generally ask for security before they lend. Under the old farming system of collecting the revenue the farmers had often to borrow money on hard terms to meet sudden demands of the darbar or court. The husbandmen had dearly to pay for such demands. Under the new administration the farming sytem has been stopped. The settlement of many of the sardars' or estate-holders' debts and the introduction of paying debts by instalments have much crippled the profits of money-lenders.

INTEREST.

Interest is charged monthly. In large transactions the usual rate varies from six to nine per cent a year, and in small transactions from nine to twelve per cent; but according to the credit of the individual borrowers this rate rises to as much as twenty-four to thirty per cent a year. When articles are pawned, the yearly rate is twelve per cent for pearls, 7½ for gold, and 7½ to nine for silver. In land and house mortgages the yearly rate varies from six to nine per cent. In grain advances during the rains which are generally paid after harvest, a quarter of the quantity lent is generally charged as interest.

BORROWERS.

Among borrowers except labourers, husbandmen are perhaps the worst off. Of the husbandmen those of the Konkan or hilly parts are worse off than those of the Desh or plain. In the Konkan the laud generally yields no more than what is enough to maintain a farmer's family during half the year; during the other half of the year most husbandmen live on wild herbs and fruits and labour where possible. The bulk of the husbandmen are Kunbis. The Kunbi is sober, hardworking, and peaceful. He is also shrewd and thrifty in his daily life, but spends much on marriage and other caste feasts. The Jain husbandmen are superior to Kunbis in intelligence and self-dependence. In the Konkan about ten per cent and in the plain about thirty per cent of the husbandmen live without borrowing. During the American war (1862 -1865) when cotton and grain prices were unusually high, husbandmen made large savings; but these savings were lavishly spent on marriage and other great ceremonies. In Kolhapur debtors are protected by the State law by which a limit of twelve years is fixed for the recovery of pawns and cash debts, and of husbandmen the land and the dwelling except when it is specially mortgaged, are exempted from sale in the execution of court decrees.

LAND MORTGAGE.

During the American war (1862 - 1865), when prices were unusually high, land was in much demand and fetched high prices. At the close of the American war the fall in prices lessened the value of land. Of late the opening of new made-roads and markets has again increased the demand for land. In the execution of court decrees land is not sold except when it is specially mortgaged. Land is mortgaged either with or without possession. In mortgages with possession the mortgagee receives the produce either as interest, the land being redeemable on payment of the principal; or sometimes the mortgagee receives the produce partly as interest and the surplus as part-payment of the principal. In mortgages without possession the land stands as security for the satisfaction of the mortgaged debt. The debtor pays the interest yearly, and if the debt is not paid back in time, the land is handed to the creditor usually through the intervention of the civil courts. When the land is handed to the mortgagee, the mortgagor is generally kept as tenant by the mortgagee to till the land.

SERVICE MORTGAGE.

To raise loans for marriage and other great occasions labourers often pledge their service to moneylenders and husbandmen for a period of three to ten years. During this period they receive free food and clothing from the mortgagees.

WAGES.

About thirty years ago (1853) unskilled labourers were paid about 3d. (2 as.) a day and skilled labourers 6d. to 1s. (4-8 as.) a day. At present (1883) unskilled labourers earn 3¾d. (2½ as.) a day in villages and 4½d. (3 as.) in towns; and of skilled labourers carpenters, blacksmiths, masons, and stonecutters each earn 6d. to 1s. 6d. (4- 12 as.) a day, and tailors and clothweavers 6d. to Is. (4-8 as.). When employed in the field day-labourers are paid either in cash or grain. Women and children are largely employed as labourers, a woman earning about three-quarters and a child about one-half of a man's wages.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Till 1847 no uniform weights and measures were used. Every village and every shopkeeper had their own weights and measures made of any material at hand. Since 1847 new standard weights and measures have been introduced. According to these new weights the tola is equal to the Imperial rupee. Gold and silver are sold by the following table, eight gunjas one masa, twelve masas one tola, twenty-four tolas one sher, forty shers one man, and twenty mans one khandi. Inferior metals and other articles are sold by the following table: five tolas one chhatak, two chhataks one navtak, two navtaks one pavsher, two pavshers one achher, two achhers one sher, 1½ pakka or five kachcha shers one pasri, two pasris one dhada, four dhadas or twelve pakka shers one man, and twenty mans one khandi. A pakka sher is equal to eighty rupees in weight and a kachcha sher varies in weight from fifteen to twenty-six rupees. In selling metals a man is equal to sixteen shers or thirty-two pounds. Grain is sold by measures. A sher measure when filled with any of the nine grains, barley, sava Panicum miliaceum, nagli Eleusine corocana, gram, wheat, spiked millet, Indian millet, rice, and tur Cajanus indieus, is in weight equal to 100 Imperial rupees. The table of grain measures is 6¼ tolas one nilva, two nilvas one kolva, two kolvas one chipta, two chiptas one mapta, two maptas one sher, two shers one adishri, two adishris one payli, sixteen paylis one man, and twenty mans one khandi. Of liquids oil is sold by the measure, four kachcha shers one tambiya or pakka sher, thirteen pakka shers one man, and twenty mans one khandi. A kachcha sher of this measure is equal to twenty tolas. Clarified butter is sold by the measure, twenty tolas one pavsher, four pavshers one sher, and twelve shers one man. For milk forty instead of twelve shers make one man and twenty mans one khandi. Till 1868, when the survey was introduced, the current land table was eight javs one angul, four anguls one mushti, three mushtis one vit or span, two vits one hat, 5 ⁵/₆ hats one kathi, twenty kathis one pand, twenty pands one bigha, and 120 bighas one chahur. Since 1869 the land measure is sixteen anas one guntha and forty gunthas one acre. Of cloth waistcloths, women's robes, and khadi or coarse cloth are measured by cubits or hats; silk cloth is generally sold by the table two angulis one tasu, twelve tasus one hat, and two hats one gaj ; and other cloth by twelve inches one foot and three feet one yard. Timber is sold by a table of eighty tolas one sher, forty shers one man, and twenty mans one khandi. Grass is sold by so many hundred bundles the rupee. Bamboo matting is measured by the surface and sold by the cubit. Cut stones are sold singly or by the hundred and uncut stones by the cartload.

PRICES.

Yearly price details, which are little more than estimates, are available for the forty-one years ending 1883. During these forty-one years the rupee price of Indian millet, which is the staple grain of the State varied from eighty-eight pounds in 1851 to twelve pounds in the famine year of 1877 and averaged fifty pounds. The forty-one years may be divided into eight periods. Except in 1844 when it was seventy-four pounds, in the first period of five years ending 1847 the price varied from fifty-seven pounds in 1846 to forty-six pounds in 1843 and averaged fifty-seven pounds. In the second period, the six years ending 1853, the price varied from eighty-eight pounds in 1851 to seventy-five pounds in 1853 and averaged eighty-one pounds. In the third period, the seven years ending 1860, the price varied from sixty-five pounds in 1857 and 1858 to sixty pounds in 1854 and" averaged sixty-three pounds. In the fourth period, the five years ending 1865, the price varied from fifty-two pounds in 1861 to thirty-two pounds in 1864 and averaged forty pounds. Except in 1869 when it was forty-three pounds, in the fifth period, the seven years ending 1872, the price varied from twenty-nine pounds in 1867 1868 and 1870 to twenty-one pounds in 1866 and averaged twenty-nine pounds. In the sixth period, the four years ending 1876, the price varied from forty-five pounds in 1874 and 1875 to thirty-six pounds in 1876 and averaged forty-two pounds. In the seventh period, the four years ending 1880, the price varied from thirty-one pounds in 1880 to twelve pounds in 1877 and averaged twenty-one pounds. And in the eighth period, the three years ending 1883, the price varied from sixty pounds in 1881 to fifty-five pounds in 1882 and averaged fifty-seven pounds. The details are:

Kolhapur Grain Prices in Pound, 1843-1881.