TLAX, HEMP AND JUTE GOODS. 33 



1885 4,487,000 paper roubles. 



1S86 3,280,000 » » 



1887 5,049,000 » » 



1888 4,983,000 » v 



188! » 5,090,000 » » 



Average 4,098,000 » » 



Upon adding- the production of tlie Polish and Siberian mills, which during this 

 period averaged 188,000 ponds, the total production of the rope trade attains 4,886,000 

 roubles. The table shows that the decrease in 1886 was of a transitory character, 

 and in 1889 the returns again amount to almost 6,000,000 roubles, so that at present 

 they may be taken as 5,000,000 to 5,500,000 roubles. 



The technical resources of the trade. 



According to the statistics of 1889 there are 245,588 flax spindles in Eussia, and 

 most factories work night and day. Supposing that half the mills work during the 

 whole twenty-four hours and the other half, twelve hours per diem, and that there are 

 280 working days during the year, and again that the above-mentioned spindles were 

 working according to the foreign practice, that is, 300 days of ten hours per year, it 

 would be found that under the latter conditions 412,588 spindles would be required to 

 do the same amount of work produced by the Eussian plant under its own conditions. 

 In 1889 there were 7,312 power looms in the Eussian factories. Working 300 

 days of ten hours, 12,284 looms would be required to do the same work, this number 

 exceeding that of Germany, which occupies the third place in this industry in Europe. 

 In the same year there were thirty-one flax spinning mills in Eussia in Europe, some 

 of them with sections for weaving; these mills employed 20,278 hands. There were 

 also 74 linen factories with 23,757 hands, making a total of 105 .mills employing 

 44,035 hands. There are numerous ropewalks, sailcloth, sack and hemp-si)inning factories, 

 but unfortunately the want of official data renders it impossible to give a detailed 

 account of their number and production. In general there were in 1888 in Eussia and 

 Siberia 263 ropewalks and sack factories, producing 1,281,000 pouds of rope and cord 

 and employing 6,460 hands. This, however, does not convey an accurate conception 

 of the Eussian hemp industry, as besides the factories, it is to a great extent carried 

 on in the villages where it is almost impossible to collect reliable information. 



A comparison between the Eussian and foreign trades, with reference to the 

 amount of raw material consumed in manufacture and the technical aspect of each, 

 will be of interest. The following table shows the quantity of hemp fibre produced 

 and required in the first class European countries from 1884 to 1888 : 



Crop of fibre. Consumption. 



Eussia 17,500,000 pouds 6,248,000 pouds 



Germany .... 4,041,000 » 5,646,000 » 



Austro-Hungary . 2,773,000 » 4,175,000 » 



France 2,225,000 » 5,790,000 » 



Great Britain . . 1,312,000 » 5,961,000 » 



Belgium .... 1,202,000 > 2,057,000 » 



Italy 1,095,000 » 1,091,000 » 



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