i86 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 



trivance may be added to an Indian loom, and it will 

 add very largely to its efficiency. As the Indian 

 weaver acquires the skill necessary to use this device 

 he could be put in possession of more complicated 

 looms, which would still further increase his output. 

 Quite recently a Muhammadan gentleman of the Punjab, 

 Mr. Mohamad Shafi, introduced from Japan an im- 

 proved hand-loom, of which he taught the use to some 

 weavers in Lahore. Mr. Shafi told me that with the 

 ordinary Indian loom a weaver could weave 4 to 5 

 yards of cloth in a day, but that after he had been 

 learning the use of the new loom for three weeks, he 

 could weave on it 20 yards in a day of the same 

 number of hours. This is an increase of efficiency of 

 400 per cent., and even if we suppose that such an 

 increase of efficiency could not be general, there is 

 ample reason for thinking that the efficiency of the 

 hand-weaver might be increased 100 per cent., and 

 that with this increase he would be able to compete 

 with the factories of Europe. 



It is a remarkable illustration of the unsuitability 

 of the Indian industrial organization for the rapid 

 development of wealth that the knowledge of this 

 improved hand-loom does not spread among the hand- 

 weavers of India. Mr. Havell tells us that *in the 

 Madras Presidency he inspected thousands of native 

 hand-looms, and he never discovered a fly-shuttle 

 except in the Basel Mission weaving establishments 

 and a few other mission-schools ; the use of it never 

 seems to have spread among the weavers outside.'* 

 The illiteracy of the people is, of course, one of the 



1788-89 was introduced the fly-shuttle, and in the year 1790-91 it 

 was almost universal. That increased a man's wages beyond all 

 proportion to any other trade. ' I had weavers myself,' the witness 

 continued, 'at that time who could have earned ^100 a year easily* 

 before the introduction of that very simple machine perhaps they 

 could not have earned ^30 or ;^35 a year.' 

 * Vide the Pioneer, August 10, 1901. 



