HIDES 



AND SKINS 



THE LEATHER INDUSTRIES 



Tanneries. 



Dressed 

 Skins. 



Cawnpore. 



Local 

 Tanning. 



Eflete Methods. 



Tanning 

 Materials. 



Indian Tanneries. Turning now to the statistics of tanneries in 

 India, it may be said that in 1893 there were 44 tanneries that gave em- 

 ployment to 3,804 persons. Steadily these would appear to have increased 

 until in 1902-3 it was ascertained that there were 202 tanneries and 6,200 

 employees. Of these tanneries, however, 183 were small concerns located 

 in the Madras Presidency and concerned chiefly in the dressing of skins. 

 In 1903-4 and subsequent years all the smaller works (those that gave em- 

 ployment to less than 25 persons) were excluded from consideration, and 

 43 tanneries were returned giving employment to 7,907 persons. In 1904-5 

 35 were returned, employing 5,981 persons. Of these 32 were in Madras 

 (excluding the small skin-curing works). The tanneries of North India 

 are six in number located in Cawnpore ; four in Calcutta ; three in Bombay ; 

 and one in Rajputana. The Cawnpore tanneries are by far the most 

 important in all India. They produce superior leather, which is conveyed 

 across the country and worked up by the local boot and shoe makers, 

 saddlers, etc. The Cawnpore factories also turn out very superior boots 

 and shoes, leather trunks, saddlery, etc., for which a large and growing 

 market exists. 



indigenous Methods. But here and there, in every town and village of 

 India, skins may be seen tanned by certain classes of people. It is no 

 uncommon sight to find the skins of animals filled with tanning materials 

 and left suspended from the boughs of trees or from the beams of the 

 verandahs of the dwelling houses, until the desired change has been accom- 

 plished in the skin. In other instances crude vats, each containing one 

 or two skins, may be discovered near the leather workers' houses. The 

 provincial monographs will be found to contain highly instructive 

 photographs, not only of such vats, but also descriptive details of many of 

 the methods and contrivances of leather-curing practised in India. The 

 tanned skins and hides produced in India by the indigenous tanneries 

 are traded in all over the country and used up by the village workers. 

 But the distinctly inferior nature of the leather so used may be illustrated 

 by the fact that the articles produced rarely fetch much more than one- 

 fourth the values of the corresponding articles made of imported or 

 Cawnpore (European factory) leather. So again, Indian leather, owing 

 to its low textile strength, is unstated for belting purposes or any necessity 

 where strength is essential. 



Tanning Materials. India possesses an extensive series of very ex- 

 cellent tanning materials such as ACACIA pods and bark (see pp. 6-7) ; 

 CUTCH (see pp. 9-13) ; INDIAN SUMACH (see p. 913) ; the TANNER'S 

 CASSIA (see pp. 289-90) ; the MANGROVES (see pp. 98, 293); MYROBALANS 

 (see pp. 1073-6) ; and many others. By these and such-like materials and by 

 various methods and contrivances, hides and skins are extensively cured, 

 tanned and curried and the leather worked up, in response to an immense 

 though purely local demand. [Cf. Agri. Ledg., 1896, No. 9 ; Hooper, Rept. 

 on Tanning Extracts, pub. by Inspector-General of Forests, Feb. 1898 ; 

 Tanning -Producing Substances, Assist. Agri. Chemist to Govt. of India, 

 1901 ; Hooper, Ind. Tanning Materials, in Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 1, also 

 numerous analyses in the Annual Reports of the Indian Museum 

 (Economic) Laboratory.] 



Concluding Observations. In technical works it is said there are 

 three chief methods of tanning: (1) with infusion of bark or other 

 vegetable materials ; (2) with mineral salts ; (3) with tanning oils. After 



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