CORCHORUS 



Trade 



THE JUTE PLANT 



Capital 

 Invested. 



Dundee versus 

 Calcutta. 



Jute 

 Presses. 



Home 

 Consump- 

 tion. 



Total Crop. 



Industrial 

 Prosperity. 



of a later date than 1904-5, but the following statement from the Moral 

 and Material Progress and Condition of India (1905-6, 177) may be given : 

 " The number of jute mills in 1905-6 was 39, containing about 22,000 

 looms and 453,000 spindles, and employing a daily average of nearly 

 145,000 persons." " The paid-up capital employed by these mills, ex- 

 cluding one which had not reported its capital, was 7,142,000, including 

 debentures issued ; of which nearly 2f millions are sterling capital. About 

 600,000 was added to the paid-up capital and debentures during the 

 year under report." 



In the Dictionary a calculation will be found as to the comparative 

 value of the Indian and the European operative. Briefly this may be 

 expressed as 3 to 7. That is to say it requires 7 Indian operatives to 

 work one loom as against 3 in a Scotch factory. It is believed that 

 estimate will be found fairly correct. The late Sir John Leng, M.P. 

 for Dundee, paid a visit to India in 1896 and contributed to the Dundee 

 Advertiser a series of articles, one of the chief purports of which was to 

 exhibit the relative advantages of Dundee and Calcutta. The reader 

 will find these highly instructive, and as the articles in question appeared 

 subsequently in pamphlet form, they should not be difficult to procure. 

 It has been claimed that the Indian Factory Act is more favourable to 

 our manufactures than is the English Act to Dundee. This contention 

 has, however, been replied to by the Indian Jute Manufacturers' As- 

 sociation, which among many disadvantages claimed that in India from 

 25 to 35 per cent, more hands had to be employed than in Europe with 

 mills turning out the same goods. The difficulty in all such calculations 

 is to express the two sets of mills on the exact same standard, but it 

 seems probable the claim just mentioned errs on the side of under rather 

 than overstating its case. 



Jute Presses. In addition to jute mills the presses are important, and 

 are concerned with the foreign trade in raw jute. In 1896-7 there were 

 88 presses that gave employment to 9,890 persons ; in 1900-1 these had 

 expanded to 133 presses and 20,387 persons ; in 1903-4 there were 156 presses 

 and 23,736 employees ; and in 1904-5, 163 presses and 23,991 employees. 



TRADE IN JUTE.Consumption of Jute and Value of the Industry. 

 It will be recalled that in 1828 the recorded exports were 364 cwt. It 

 has already been stated that the Indian area in 1905-6 under this fibre 

 was 3J million acres and the produce 8 million bales of 400 Ib. each, or 

 say 29 million cwt. The estimates of the crop of 1906 are 3,336,400 

 acres and 8,736,220 bales. The exports of raw jute from India in 1905-6 

 were 14,480,407 cwt., valued at Rs. 17,12,56,641. This would represent 

 about 48 per cent, of the total crop of that year, so that there would have 

 remained in round figures 52 per cent, of the production as available for 

 the Indian mills. In previous years, however, the quantity remaining 

 in the country was ordinarily a little less than the production. Thus, as 

 with cotton, so with jute, the Indian mills and handlooms, etc., have 

 hitherto used up a little less than half the quantity produced ; but as a 

 mark of industrial prosperity, let it be added that India's share is steadily 

 increasing. Speaking of jute, therefore, if we accept a ratio based on 

 the declared value shown at the Custom House for the jute exported, 

 as applicable to the share that remains in the country, a conception of 

 the total value of the crop may be obtained that would not be seriously 

 inaccurate. In round figures, and to err on the side of under rather than 



424 



