'Mil 



ISM BTR1 





(m,.l,T tho advice of Maj,.r si,..****. Jbjfcioal Ant) turn ei*x*jrf 

 Us mi., the Huheiue of a IM<M mdu(: 



Btawen wrote a l.,n- ,,n, .,-ive* the bls*or> 



:n<'iil I. ut th.- r.-nullH hit) 

 also of Sir I IIOIUOM Wardl.., ,,i, i h.< iH. 



tho liiuli c\p.-( tation* entertained regarding -.he lt * l '" J> Hin awl 



Khelat nilk indi 



BOMBAY. Th- hilk maiuifu-tiinw of AhmiwUbad wore faiuou* alike i 

 tinu of itn own kinjjH and .f itit M 

 toy la the bright colour* of the plan strength of the brocade*. (For 



Ovinfjton'i a<x'ou.,t. H,-,. PP . -..-.i.-,. 10 ^I7i. How. 



ever, Dunlop ur..i.< m iMTthat a was taxed when raw, as it peesed through every 

 pr. .c.'Ks of manufacture, mid again when ready for sale, and wo hu > wetghtsd 

 foreign Hilkn, (hi- loral 



that in competition with 



.M. i all I. m .li.-.l out. Geogliegan (I.e.. 35-55) *>* that the finrt attotitpt at 

 talk-rearing in Bombay WOM mul.- in I , 

 expert, lived with Scott, but in IUH Tnurs fur Sci- 

 written in 1787-8, no m.-ntiuii i mu-if of ulk. In H17U th- (. 

 St. George recorded in IUB Diary. f .'.t h Dfxwniber of that year, hie having cwioe 

 across (Jujnrati nilk nu-n-hantrt l.uyini: nilk for Ahmu.lul'iiil. It u Uiua higtily 

 liki-ly that the raw Bilk exported from \Vuntern India won to eoine extent at least 

 Bengal Bilk, Boeing that thort* , . -rearing having been tnrnMB 



fully established in Weutern liulia until well into the 19th cent 

 frequent mention hae been mado of a silk .supply dntun to Western India (root 

 Central Asia, the route being down the Indim. The earliest recor. 

 in Bombay Presidency is in 1823, when tlie worm wa* conveyed from Myaore 

 to Dlmrwar. Shortly after (in 1827) Mr. Giborne planted hia garden at Dbulia in 

 Khandesh and Signor Mutti opened out his silk farm at Poona in 1829. During 

 the first year of British occupation of Ahinadabad (1818) the import of raw eiUc 

 amounted to 11 tons (300 Indian maunds), during the eeoond year it came to 37 

 tons, and in 1847 stood at 109 ton. Sim . then the trade ha* witnessed extreme 

 fluctuations. Numerous explanations have been offered, such as the riae of the 

 cotton traffic both local production and foreign import* ; changes of fax 

 more especially the decline of the demand for brocades by the Kathiawar cl 

 and lastly the growth of the trade in Chinese and Central Asiatic woven silk*. 



There are three chief classes of silk goods produced in Ahmadabad, viz. plain 

 silks, brocades, and silk prints. The plain goods are also largely produced in 

 Surut, and the markets for these are Kathiawar, Rajputana, Central India, 

 Bombay, the Deccan, t ho Central I'roviiuvs and th NI/JIIII'H Dominion*. The 

 brocades, as also cloths of silver and gold, are much loan used for robes nowadays 

 < han formerly, but ore in demand for upholstery and elephant and other trapping*. 



Surat has for long years past been largely concerned in the supply of silk* 

 to Burma, and a Native of Surat, seeing the advantage of proximity t.. the Bengal 

 silk supply and the facility of export to Rangoon, some yean ago organiead a nilk 

 factory in Calcutta to be run exclusively for the Burmese market. iny 



years past the demand by Burma for Indian silks ha* shown a decided tendency 

 to decline, and an inquiry was instituted as to the cause. It wo* point* t 

 that in the first instance the silk-weavers of Surat were primarily responsible, in 

 that yielding to the recommendations of Native merchant* in Rangoon, they had 

 gradually lowered their price by reducing the quality until it wa* recognised in 

 Burma that the locally manufactured silks, though more expensive, were in- 

 finitely more lasting and the colours and pattern* more in accord with the pre- 

 vailing fashion. It was also pointed out that the advances of European com- 

 merce and the necessities of the people hod led to a substitution of cotton for silk 

 goods. 



MADRAS. Brandt (Reaumi of the Rec. of Out Mad, Oovt. rtlatu* to Ae Cull. 

 of Silk in the Prea., Oct. 1871) says that no mention occurs of *ilk m con- 

 nection with Madron prior to the year 1791 a statement that M hardly 

 correct (see p. 1019). Tippu Sultan appears cloealy associate! with the rie* 

 of the modern industry. A Native of Trichinopoly was by bin MI- 

 Bengal to learn th, silk trade. But there must have existed an wlu*try 

 prior to that date, since we read of a present made to an Enghahman. to H, 

 having consisted of " kinoobs " mode at Triohinopojjr. Dr. J** Aadwm. 

 Physician General at Madras, establish,*! in 1771 a plantation of 5,00 *Hls 

 mulberry bushes from Hyderabad stock at Nimgumbaukum a suburb 



1017 



UJff. 



-- .. . 



Madras. 



