39 



mum of water.* If only a fraction of the expenditure 

 necessary to relieve the distress of famine-stricken 

 districts were devoted to the industry I am advocat- 

 ing, not only would India's revenue be increased, but 

 the condition of her population would be transformed 

 from one of poverty to independence, and India 

 would no longer be compelled to appeal to England 

 in time of famine. As Mr. Bright remarked in his 

 speech at the opening of the Manchester Town Hall : 

 " Almsgiving on behalf of Indian sufferers is most 

 commendable, still it will do little for the future." A 

 source of wealth is at our doors if we will only learn 

 how to utilize it. 



4. A study of the physical geography of India 

 India can produce its soil and climate shows that it can 



better fibres than nr> -, PT i n r*i t 



any other country, anord an unfailing supply of fibre much 

 superior (cceteris paribus) to any that can be pro- 

 duced by any other country. In proof of this fact, 

 Mr. Dickson, writing to the Journal of the Society of 

 Artsrf refers the public, by way of challenge, to his 

 own collection, and that exhibited at the East India 

 House. It is, indeed, undeniable that, in addition to 

 the materials at present in use for the manufacture 

 of paper and textile fabrics, there are many fibres 

 available for the same purpose, and I hope to prove 



* Speaking at Bradford, in October last, the Marquis of Salisbury 

 remarked in connection with the fallacy of supposing that a vast system 

 of irrigation would prove an effectual remedy against famine : "If famine 

 only came in regions where irrigation is physically possible, the remedy 

 might be applicable. But, unfortunately, 'the native population, in re- 

 liance on the annual rains, spreads over districts where irrigation is 

 not possible, because there are no great rivers from which to take the 

 water, and no plains over which to conduct it. " 



t " The Fibrous Plants of India," page 132. By J. Forbes Royle, 

 M.D., F.R.S. Smith, Elder & Co., 1855. 



