POSITION OF MADRAS 



HIDES 

 AND SKINS 



* 



-ed skins. And this position of importance held by the Madras >u4ru 



I'n-MoVnry in the traffic in dressed and tanned skins and hides is still 



Curt hi-r lioriM- out by a study of the foreign trade. During 1904-5 



w furnished 91 per cent, of the dressed lii<losim<l 73 per cent, of the 



1 skins, Bombay following with a fair proportion of the balance. 



Tin- United States of America have hitherto been the most important 



>t for Madras dressed skins. But within the past few years an un- 

 !i;i|l>y new manifestation has appeared, namely a decline in the demand 

 for Indian dressed skins. The export traffic in dressed goods has A CUM** in 



ntly, in fact, fallen back, and the demand for Bengal raw skins 

 advened considerably. This is presumed to be a direct consequence 

 of the cheaper and more efficient methods of tanning (especially that known 

 as the chrome process) now largely practised in the United States. It 

 points to the urgent necessity for Indian manufacturers to advance with 

 the times or face the total loss of their trade. The tanner who pur- 

 rude methods and continues to employ defective appliances can no 

 more hold his own against the cheapening process of scientific progression 

 than the hand-loom cotton weaver can stem the tide of steam-power 

 prosperity. 



Exports. Thedecline in the traffic in tanned hides and skins, established Decline in 

 within recent years, calls pointedly for serious consideration. The so-called Traffic. 

 tanning of India, given to the hides and skins exported, was, and is at its 

 best, so imperfect and unsatisfactory that retanning in the countries to 

 which consigned was essential. But however crude it may be, the 

 business is by no means an unimportant one, nor one for which an 

 effort should not be made to save it from complete annihilation. In 

 1900-1 the exports of tanned hides were valued at Rs. 1,46,80,048, and 

 of skins at Rs. 3,02,61,805, or collectively Rs. 4,49,41,853 (close on three 

 million pounds sterling). The next year, 1901-2, the collective exports 

 of tanned hides and skins were valued at Rs. 2,65,40,461 ; in 1902-3 

 they were Rs. 2,89,81,866 ; in 1903-4, Rs. 3,09,88,759 ; in 1904-5, 

 Rs. 2,85,17,173, or approximately one-half the value of the traffic five years 

 previously. Commenting on this somewhat significant state of affairs, 

 Mr. J. E. O'Conor wrote, "This transference of the trade from tanned 

 to untanned skins is likely to proceed in an accelerated degree, to 

 the great loss and detriment of the trade in the Madras Presidency. 

 But it must not hastily be concluded that in itself the contraction 

 of this industry is a subject for regret. If the industry had been 

 established on a sound economic basis, it would not and could not 

 have suffered, for all the natural conditions are in its favour, including 

 cheap and abundant supplies on the spot of skins and tanning substances 

 and cheap labour. These advantages, however, were not effectively w*ntof 

 utilised, in consequence of the absence of capital, for tanning is essentially 

 an industry in which the possession of large resources counts for much." 

 " The position, however, may be rectified without difficulty if capital is 

 forthcoming ; and if it is desired to prove that tanning is a profitable 

 industry, it may be observed that where it has been undertaken in accord- 

 ance with sound principle, as in the leading tanning establishments in 

 Cawnpore and Bombay, it has been an extremely profitable and expanding 

 business" (Anglo-Ind. Review, April 1903). The returns for 1905-6 

 show, however, that in the severe fluctuations to which the traffic is ever 

 subject, the pendulum has once more begun to swing forward. The ex- 



635 



Pat Records 



o 



