PAPER 



Manufacture 



PAPER AND PAPER MATERIALS 



Hand-made 

 Paper. 



Use of Cotton. 



Linen Paper. 



Jute Paper. 

 1840. 



" Serampore 

 Paper." 



Act of Parliament had to be passed before the desired improvement 

 became possible. The first white paper made in England was produced 

 by a Mr. James Whatman of Maidstone. Soon, however, England made 

 rapid progress, but so late even as 1801 English paper was entirely hand- 

 made. 



The first occasion on which cotton was used in England was in the 

 manufacture of paper. Cotton paper superseded the more expensive 

 parchment of previous dates. Mention is made of cotton paper in 1102 

 (Macpherson, Ann. Comm., 1805, i., 315 (many passages)). It is often 

 affirmed that linen paper appeared before that from cotton, but there is 

 no very satisfactory proof of that opinion, though it is quite likely that 

 the discovery of pulping fibrous materials may have led to the use of linen 

 and cotton almost simultaneously. [Cf. Yates, Text. Antiq., app. A., 

 383-8.] One of the earliest detailed accounts of the Native methods of 

 paper-making in India is perhaps that given by Buchanan-Hamilton 

 (Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 272-3), the material used being jute. Prior to 1840 

 India obtained a large share of its paper supplies from China. About that 

 date interest was aroused in the subject, and both Hindu and Muham- 

 madan factories for hand-made papers were established all over the 

 country. During Sir Charles Wood's tenure of the office of Secretary of 

 State for India, an order was issued for the purchase of all the supplies 

 required by the Government of India in Great Britain, and this threw 

 back very seriously the growing Indian production. 



It is not very certain when paper mills were established in India. 

 The expression " Serampore Paper " is used all over India for a par- 

 ticular class of Native-made white paper. Mr. D. M. Traill wrote, some 

 years ago, an interesting account of paper-making in which he reviews 

 briefly some of the historic facts, especially the chief grades of paper and 

 firms concerned in their production (Ind. For., 1891, xvii., 322-30). He 

 Capital Engaged, there tells us that the capital engaged in the paper trade is nearly fifty 

 million pounds, of which three-fourths represent plant and one-fourth 

 working capital. He then concludes with a brief notice of the Indian 

 mills, in which he refers to the fact that a paper mill in Serampore was 

 the pioneer, and adds, " we well recollect seeing the silent and rusty 

 machinery as far back as 1864." 



" There are eight paper mills in operation three in the Bombay 

 Presidency, four in Bengal, and one at Lucknow. Of the eight, two are 

 private concerns in the Bombay Presidency, one of which has stated 

 the capital invested. So far as information is obtainable, the total capital 

 invested amounts to Rs. 67,33,000 (of which Rs. 57,63,000 are paid up), 

 besides Rs. 11,07,650 debentures, and shows a decrease of 6 lakhs, com- 

 pared with 1902, owing to the reconstitution of the Imperial Paper Mill 

 at Kankinara as a branch of the Titagarh Paper Mills Company, Ltd. 

 Most of the white and blue foolscap and much of the blotting paper, note- 

 paper, and envelopes used in the Government offices are now obtained 

 from the Indian mills. The total quantity of paper made in 1904 was 

 45 million pounds, and its reported value Rs. 61,49,446. The mills employ 

 4,266 persons. The capital employed has been doubled in twenty years 

 since 1885, and the production and number of persons employed have 

 increased about fourfold. Two of the larger mills in Bengal have paid 

 no dividends for five years, as they have been unable to compete success- 

 fully with the cheap wood-pulp paper of attractive appearance which is 



866 



Indian Mills at 

 Work. 



Capital. 



