November io, 192 i] 



NATURE 



343 



The Mineral Industry of India.^ 

 By Prof. Henry Louis. 



SINCE the year 1903 the Geological Survey of 

 India has published quinquennial records of 

 mineral production upon the lines laid down by 

 the then director, Sir Thomas Holland, and these 

 have supplied an invaluable summary of the de- 

 velopment of the mineral resources of India, and, 

 above all, of the industrial progress of the Penin- 

 sula. The volume before us, on exactly the same 

 lines as its predecessors, is of especial interest, 

 because it covers a period which may fairly be 

 looked upon as that of the modern industrial 

 awakening of India. Before the war the develop- 

 ment of the Indian coalfields had commenced ; there 

 was a small but scarcely flourishing iron industry, 

 and a few industries other than native industries 

 were coming into existence. The war, with its at- 

 tendant disturbance upon the world's shipping, 

 profoundly affected the economic situation in India, 

 and compelled India to produce for herself 

 materials which it had hitherto been found more 

 convenient to import. The majority of the indus- 

 tries thus founded have become stabilised, and 

 among others the foundations for a great iron and 

 steel industry have been laid. It would not be 

 wholly surprising if, within a relatively short 

 period, India were in a position to export steel 

 billets to this country instead of receiving iron 

 and steel from us. 



So far as natural resources are concerned, an 

 iron industry depends essentially upon the produc- 

 tion of coal and iron ore. During the period under 

 review the production of coal rose from about 

 16^ million tons in 1914 to 2of million tons in 

 1918, thus increasing by nearly 25 per cent. The 

 values at the pit's mouth given in these records 

 depend to a great extent upon the position of the 

 collieries and the demand for coal in their imme- 

 diate vicinity ; furthermore, during 1917 and 1918 

 the prices were fixed by the Coal Controller on 

 behalf of the Government, and, therefore, have no 

 statistical value. The prices for 1916 are, there- 

 fore, the most recent prices that can be considered 

 here. The two provinces of Bengal and of Bihar 

 and Orissa are the most important coal producers, 

 having during the period under discussion pro- 

 duced more than 90 per cent, of the total output, 

 and the average value per ton of coal in these 

 two provinces in 1916 was 45. 2d. at the pit's 

 mouth (taking the rupee at 15. 4^.). There appear 

 to be enormous quantities of high-class iron ores 

 in the two provinces above-named, averaging above 

 60 per cent, of iron, and containing for the most 

 part moderate proportions of phosphorus with rela- 

 tively little silica ; the value of the ore, even of 

 this high quality, was in 1918 \s. 8d. per ton. 

 When these prices are compared with prices at 

 home it will be seen that they are only about one- 

 eighth of corresponding prices in this country, 



1 Records of the Geological Survey of India. Vol. 52., April, 1931 

 " Quinquennial Review of the Mineral Production of India for the Vears 

 igr4-i8." By the Director and Senior Officers of the Geological Survey of 

 India. 



NO. 2715, VOL. 108] 



and when it is further borne in mind that Indian 

 labour is plentiful, is still cheap in spite of its in- 

 creases in recent years, and is intelligent, docile 

 and reasonably ethcient, it must be fairly obvious 

 that we in the old country can scarcely hope to 

 compete with India as an iron-producer. 



An examination of the figures respecting coal 

 production brings out the importance of the Indian 

 coal output; it is greater than that of any other 

 British Dependency, and its rate of development 

 appears to be exceeded only by that of Japan; it 

 is interesting to note that in 1885 India and Japan 

 each produced 1,294,000 tons, whilst in 1918 India 

 produced 20,722,000 and Japan 27,579,000 tons. 

 The efficiency of the Indian coal-miner appears to 

 be relatively low, mainly because, on account of 

 the cheapness of the labour, much work is done 

 by hand in India which is done by mechanical 

 means elsewhere; in the Indian coalfields the 

 system of transporting coal in baskets carried on 

 the head is not yet wnolly extinct. Nevertheless, 

 the output per person employed during the period 

 under review was about 108 tons per person, or 

 just about half of what it is in this country. The 

 most important feature, however, is that the out- 

 put per worker employed below ground has in- 

 creased, and is steadily increasing, this being the 

 opposite to what we unfortunately find to be the 

 case in this country. Concurrently with this im- 

 provement we find that the accident death-rate 

 is decreasing ; during the quinquennial period 

 here discussed the death-rate per thousand 

 persons employed was 1-14, whilst during the 

 corresponding period in the United Kingdom it 

 was 1-3. 



The report also directs attention to the fact that 

 coal-cutting machinery is on the increase in India ; 

 that the Indian collieries are admirably adapted for 

 the employment of electricity underground ; that 

 several important schemes for electric supply to 

 the coalfields are in contemplation ; and that the 

 Indian workman is naturally highly adaptable to 

 the handling of electrical machinery ; and it is pre- 

 dicted that the result of the more extended use 

 of electricity will be to cheapen costs still further. 

 Competition with Indian coal will thus be ren- 

 dered still more difficult so far as we are con- 

 cerned, and the prediction that Indian coal will 

 before long supply Egypt, and may even compete 

 w^ith us in the Mediterranean, appears by no means 

 impossible of accomplishment. 



In other respects the mineral industry of India 

 appears to be in a thoroughly successful condition, 

 and shows signs of a steady advance, the value of 

 the output having more than doubled itself in the 

 last ten years. Attention may be directed to the 

 fact that India is now manufacturing its own ferro- 

 manganese, and that it is hoped before long to 

 produce sulphuric acid from indigenous materials 

 — namely, 'from the zinc concentrates produced by 

 the Burma Corporation at Bawdwin. 



