414 



NATURE 



[December 25, 1919 



material so as to avoid waste and overlapping 

 on the part of different departments of the public 

 service. 



After a short account of the history and organ- 

 isation of the Board and of its relations to indi- 

 genous industries, we have a series of reviews of 

 industrial development in Bengal, Madras, Bom- 

 bay, the United Provinces, the Punjab, Burma, 

 and the Central Provinces. The book then deals 

 with specific industries, viz. the chemical and 

 metallurgical industries ; the future of hydro- 

 electric power in India ; electrical and engineering 

 manufactures ; hides, tanning, and leather ; tan- 

 stuffs and tannin extracts; the supply of timber 

 and bamboos ; textiles ; shipbuilding ; railway 

 material ; petroleum ; calcium carbide ; paper- 

 making; paints; glass; the coconut industries 

 of the west coast of the Madras Presidency ; 

 soap ; bitterns ; Portland cement ; lac ; glue 

 and gelatine ; industrial alcohol ; medical and 

 surgical appliances ; jute, hemp, and flax ; 

 pine resin ; magnesite and mica ; hardware ; 

 sandalwood oil ; and it concludes with an 

 account of miscellaneous articles purchased 

 b}" the Indian Munitions Board, and a 

 description of the Tata iron and steel works at 

 Jamshedpur (Sakchi). 



With regard to the reports of development in 

 the several presidencies and provinces, each has 

 been entrusted to a member of the Indian Civil 

 Service, usually the Director of Industries or the 

 Controller of Munitions. With one exception, all 

 tell the same story of the strong stimulus which 

 has been given to native industry by the war. 

 " It has taught India its dependence on other 

 countries and the danger of such dependence," 

 writes Mr. Peterson ; " it has tended to make the 

 Presidency (Madras) more self-supporting and less 

 dependent on the United Kingdom"; while it 

 has arrested temporarily the development of some 

 industries, it has opened up new possibilities, 

 and diverted energy into new channels (Mr. 

 Innes) ; Mr. Mead reports that the cotton mills 

 in Bombay, Ahmedabad, and other places in the 

 Presidency have prospered exceedingly during the 

 war; glass-works have been established, and there 

 have been considerable increases in the export of 

 castor, ground-nut, and sesamum oils, and of 

 castor and ground-nut cake ; large quantities of 

 casein are being exported, mainly to the United 

 Kingdom and America, and the industry is 

 rapidly extending; chemical manufactures have 

 been established, with the result that many pro- 

 ducts formerly imported are now made success- 

 fully in India. There has been a great develoj>- 

 ment in the utilisation of indigenous timber, and 

 the ample deposits of suitable clays have been 

 turned to increasing account in the production of 

 tiles, bricks, and pottery. Mr. Silver states that 

 " the war has given a strong stimulus to various 

 industries in the United Provinces. The mills and 

 factories of Cawnpore have been engaged almost 

 entirely on war vv-ork," working continually, 

 night and day, providing the many woollen and 

 cotton items required for .Army purposes. In spite 

 NO. 2617, VOL. 104] 



of the very large call for men for the Army, " the 

 Punjab has undoubtedly developed some of its 

 industries very considerably " during the war, 

 writes Mr. Townsend. This is esfwcially 

 seen in the manufacture of textiles, wood and 

 metal work, cutlery, glass, leather, and certain 

 minor industries. The Controller is sanguine that 

 "the experience gained by many thousands of un- 

 skilled labourers in the manufacture of useful 

 articles will prove to be not without its value to 

 them after the war." "The effect of the war 

 in developing industries in Burma was less marked 

 than in some other Indian Provinces," reports 

 Mr. Hardiman. This was due partly to its 

 distance from war theatres, but mainly to the 

 small extent to which its raw material is worked 

 up owing to the shortage and high cost of labour,^ 

 the lack of cheap fuel, and the paucity of roads 

 and railways. The chief assets of Burma are its 

 exportable surplus of rice ; the large area of its 

 reserved forests ; its minerals and oil-bearing 

 regions. Burma is largely undeveloped, but it 

 has evidently great possibilities ; at present it _ 

 suffers from lack of capital and the reluctance of! 

 the Burman to submit to the discipline of an 

 organised industry. 



The effect of the war on the industrial develop- 

 ment of the Central Provinces has, in the opinion 

 of Mr. Corbett, been adverse, owing, he thinks, 

 to the depletion of staffs both in the Government 

 service and in private employment, the impossi- 

 bility of recruiting experts, the difficulty of pro- 

 curing machinery and stores, and the shortage of 

 fuel and of transport. It has retarded the growth 

 of agriculture, and has not permanently benefited 

 forestry. On the other hand, the collectic'n of 

 tanstuffs has undoubtedly derived great impetus 

 from war demands, and has been put on a more 

 scientific and {>ermanent basis. Cement and 

 jxDttery works are now established as very profit- 

 able industries, but a number of smaller industries 

 have suffered from the lack of expert supervision; 

 and the impossibility of obtaining adequate plant. 



The general impression one derives from the 

 reports of the provincial controllers is confirmed 

 and amplified by the reports of the experts "n 

 the present condition and future prospects of the 

 main industries of India. These latter reports 

 constitute a very valuable feature of the book, and 

 are of great interest. We would specially indi- 

 cate the detailed account of the chemical indus- 

 tries of India by Profs. Sudborough and Simon- 

 sen ; the report on the metallurgical industries by 

 Dr. Leigh Fermor ; that on the leather industry 

 and on tanstuffs by Mr. Mc Walters and Mr. Fray- 

 mouth ; on petroleum by Mr. Watt ; on Portland 

 cement by Messrs. Musgrave and Davy ; and the 

 several reports on lac products, glue and gelatine, 

 and industrial alcohol by Dr. Gilbert Fowler, of 

 the Bangalore Institute of Science. Lastly, we 

 would refer to the account of the Tata iron and 

 steel works at Sakchi (Jamshedpur) by Mr. 

 Tutwiler, the general manager. These were 

 started in 1912. They are on a very large scale, 

 properly organised and laid out, and fitted with 



