THE DECENTRALISATION OF INDUSTRIES. 25 



to 22,000,000, out of an aggregate of about 

 75,000,000 in the last decade, and from 16,100,000 

 to 18,242,000 during the years 1893 and 1894). But 

 things have begun to change. The Indian cotton 

 manufactures, which for some causes not fully ex- 

 plained were so unsuccessful at their beginnings, sud- 

 denly took firm root 



In 1860 they consumed only 23,000,000 Ib. of raw 

 cotton, but the quantity was nearly four times as much 

 in 1 887, and it trebled again within the next ten years : 

 283,000,000 Ib. of raw cotton were used in 1887-88. 

 The number of cotton mills grew up from 40 in 1877 

 to 147 in 1895; the number of spindles rose from 

 886,100 to 3,844,300 in the same years; and where 

 57,188 workers were employed in 1887, we find, seven 

 years later, 146,240 operatives ; while the capital en- 

 gaged in cotton mills and presses by joint-stock com- 

 panies rose from 7,000,000 tens of rupees in 1882 to 

 14,600,000 in 1895.* As for the quality of the mills, the 

 blue-books praise them ; the German chambers of com- 

 merce state that the best spinning mills in Bombay " do 

 not now stand far behind the best German ones " ; and 

 two great authorities in the cotton industry, Mr. James 

 Platt and Mr. Henry Lee, agree in saying "that in no 

 other country of the earth except in Lancashire do the 

 operatives possess such a natural leaning to the textile 

 industry as in India ".f 



The exports of cotton twist from India more than 

 doubled in five years (1882-1887), and already in 1887 

 we could read in the Statement (p. 62) that " what 

 cotton twist was imported was less and less of the 

 coarser and even medium kind, which indicates that the 

 Indian (spinning) mills are gradually gaining hold of 

 the home markets ". Consequently, while India con- 



* Ten rupees are, as is known, nearly equal to i sterling, 

 i Schulze Gawernitz, The Cotton Trade, etc., p. 123. 



