JUTE INDUSTRY 141 



Tons. Tons. 



Russia . . 9,086 



Belgium . . 4,617 



Japan . . 3,703 



Brazil . . 3,594 



Holland . 1,425 



Argentina . 900 



Greece . . 564 



Australia . . 376 



Uruguay . , 179 



Hong Kong . in 



Formosa . . 7 



Ceylon . . 5 



Straits Settlements 5 



Total . . 768,451 



JUTE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY 



Jute was used by the natives of Bengal for making 

 cordage and gunny cloth long before its introduction 

 into European industry ; the cloth was woven by 

 means of hand-looms. 



In Great Britain, attention was first directed to 

 the fibre at the end of the eighteenth century, and 

 early in the nineteenth century it was spun and 

 woven in Abingdon. Small quantities of jute con- 

 tinued to be imported into the United Kingdom for 

 several years, but it was not until 1832 that the 

 utilisation of the fibre acquired any great importance. 

 About this time, experiments were carried out in 

 Dundee, which led the way to the development of an 

 enormous industry. The success achieved is said 

 to have been largely due to the use of whale oil to 

 soften the fibre and thus facilitate its spinning. The 

 growth of the industry was stimulated by the Crimean 

 war of 1854-55 and the consequent diminution in 

 the supply of Russian flax and hemp. 



The progress made in Dundee in spinning and 

 weaving jute by means of machinery led to the 

 introduction of mills into the neighbourhood of 

 Calcutta. The first jute mill^ was erected in 1854, 

 and from this time forward the Indian jute manu- 

 facturing industry has steadily increased at a remark- 

 able rate. During the period 19012 to 191314, 

 the number of jute spindles increased from 331,382 

 to 744,289, the number of looms at work from 16,119 

 to 36,050, the number of mills from 36 to 64 and the 

 number of persons employed from 114,795 to 216,288. 



