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very marked in the last ten or twelve years, and although, like 



every other trade, there are times when there is a lull, the 



demand has always been for more jute and more gunnybags, 



until at the present moment I am quite certain that the stock 



of raw jute and of gunnies held throughout the world is 



smaller than any of us in this room have ever known it to be. 



Usually spinners hold a three months' stock of the raw 



material in order to have the jute to spin tor orders for cloth, 



etc., but during the last three years, although the jute crop 



has been comparatively large, the spinners all over the world 



have been left short of jute, and at the present moment there 



is not enough of last year's crop to go round. It was most 



unfortunate for India that the crop of jute last year was spoilt 



by weather, which is one of the conditions that we always have 



to contend with. 1 think I am right in saying that last year at 



this time we had promise of the largest jute crop on record. 



The figures pointed to it, and everything went on favourably 



for a time, but in India the rain and the climate play a large 



part in our industries, and last year they played havoc with 



our jute, so that instead of getting ten to eleven million bales, 



we got only nine million. That was most unfortunate, because 



when jute has climbed to the price it has it stands at 30 to 



32 per ton all sorts of ideas are apt to arise about using 



some other cheaper fibre, and spinners look around to see what 



they can get instead of jute, which, of course, would be a bad 



thing for our jute monopoly in India. But we are not without 



hope that, although the climate at present is playing us false 



again by rather weak monsoon, we have a large crop on the 



ground; and if that crop is allowed to go through the normal 



course, I think it very likely that we shall have a better surplus 



than we have had for several years. It is most desirable that 



we should have this, because jute at 30 is not what we want; 



what we want is jute at 12 to 15. 



There is another point that Mr. Finlow referred to which I 

 should like to confirm, as it plays a great part in this industry, 

 and that is, the increase in the cost of labour. Some of you 

 in this room perhaps know, though perhaps others may not 

 know, that jute is cultivated in small patches; there is the 

 father, the mother, and the children; and they are all engaged 

 on it. The father cultivates the ground, and the mother 

 helps, while the children kill the crickets. But when they have 

 to go outside their own patches, and import labour to help 

 them, the price of jute goes up. So I think I am right in 

 stating that the cost of the production of jute has risen to such 

 an extent that cheap jute is scarcely possible. It used to cost, 

 as Mr. Finlow has told you, 8 annas to i or 2 rupees to 

 cultivate it, but now it is nearer 5 rupees. This is more than it 



