152 



results obtainable when the new factory be available have been 

 valued by a first-class Singapore firm at from 24 to 25 dollars per 

 picul. As the latter weighs 133^ lb., and taking the Straits dollar as 

 worth Rs. I -1 2-0, the product as submitted is worth Rs. 32 net per 

 cwt., a rate that should admit of fair profit to the curer and a good 

 wage to the fisherman who collects the raw material. A difficulty 

 exists in the fact that the market for beche-de-mer is subject to 

 considerable fluctuation, but with a product of reliable and even 

 quality this difficulty is likely to be lessened once the brand becomes 

 known. 



27. Chank-cuttmg fnachinery. — The search for a suitable power- 

 saw suited to the shell-bangle trade has been referred to in previous 

 reports. Through the assistance of the Imperial Institute, a machine 

 saw has now been obtained and will shortly be fitted up and tested. 

 The supplying firm have large experience in the pearl button industry 

 and express their confidence in the suitability of the machine for the 

 purpose indicated. As it is of handy size and can be driven by a 

 small electric motor, it should have, if successful, a great future as 

 these facts, combined with its low prime cost, make it suitable to the 

 small manufacturer who cannot afford large premises and an expensive 

 engine requiring skilled attention. Incidently its introduction should 

 reduce greatly the cost of the production of shell-bangles and thus 

 enable manufacturers to pay a higher price for the raw material without 

 entailing a rise in price of the finished product. 



28. Pearl button manufacture and inlay work. — Although this 

 department is not directly concerned with these trades, I am 

 frequently asked to give expert advice to Indian manufacturers. 

 During the past year assistance of this sort has been given to button 

 manufacturers in Bengal as well as to the Superintendent of the 

 Chamarajendra Technical Institute in Mysore. In the latter instance 

 it was the question of the matching of the material employed in some 

 old pearl inlay work. I was able to identify the pearl flakes as 

 fragments of a Pacific Ocean Earshell (Haliotis) and to indicate 

 where the material could probably be obtained. 



29. Except our local pearl-oyster { Margarltlfera vulgaris) there 

 appears to be no suitable source of mother-of-pearl supply in this 

 Presidency, and extensive pearl fisheries are so few and far between 

 and the quality of the shell so poor, that no local industry can be 

 based upon this supply. Neither have we the great perennial rivers 

 needful for the growth in commercial quantities of any of the fresh 

 water mussels that contribute vast supplies to the American button^ 

 factories. Without rivers of this description, the introduction of 

 species of mussels of superior shell value to that of the indigenous 

 species will, I fear, be unprofitable. 



30. T/ie s/iell-lime industry. — During the past year I gave attention 

 to the various shells used in the manufacture of fine lime in the 

 Presidency. The results have been published in a report included in 

 Bulletin No. 8 of this department. The outstanding conclusions of 

 practical importance are that there is no uniformity in the regulation 

 of the industry in different districts and that some of the more 

 important sources are either unexploited or are worked without 



