96 



itself .^^ The import trade in English piece goods has for the 

 last 5 or 6 years shown no progress. In the review of the 

 Indian trade for 1890-91 Mr. O'Conor remarks : " It may be 

 said that, if it had not been for the competition of the Indian 

 mills, the trade in piece goods in 1890-91 should have been* at 

 least 10 per cent, larger than it was, and that to this extent at 

 any rate the cloth woven in the Indian mills, or from yarn 

 spun there, has within 5 years taken the place of imported 

 cloths in our markets. The extent of the diversion, is, how- 

 ever, probably greater. In other kinds of cotton goods, there 

 has been a moderate increase, these being mainly of descrip- 

 tions which are not woven in India either from locally spun or 

 imported yarns, but these kinds are relatively of trifling dimen- 

 sions. It would seem in fact that the time is not very far dis- 

 tant when the imports of the coarser and medium cottons which 

 form the bulk of the trade will gradually disappear, and that 

 the trade will be limited to the finer qualities and therefore of 



51 See Well's Recent Economic Changes. Mr. Wells remarks: "Other circumstances, 

 such as cheaper labour and longer factory hours, may have also favored the Indian manu- 

 factui-es ; but these differences as respects the conditions of labour in England and India 

 have existed from time immemorial ; and the real novelty of the present situation is, that 

 India, with rail-roads and factories, and the advantage of cheap ocean freights, is now 

 emancipating herself from chronic sluggishness and beginning to participate in the 

 world's progress; and imder English auspices, and largely with English capital, is, for 

 the tirst time, extensively utilizing her geographical position and her cheap and abundant 

 labour in connection with labour-saving machinery." Mr. T. Comber who was examined 

 by the Royal Commission on the value of the Precious metals presented the following 

 statement showing the comparative cost of manufacturing 1 lb. of 20's yam in Bombay 

 and England, and of its transport to China, the rate of exchange being taken at Is. bd. 



per iiipee : — 



English Indian 

 spinner, spinner. 



d. d. 



Cotton U lb 



Depreciation and interest on mill and machinery 



Coals 



Wages 



Stores 



Sundries 



Packing and carriage to Bombay 



Delivered at Bombay 



Packing and carriage to China . . . . ('70 — '50) 



Delivered in China . . 



Advantage in favour of the Indian produce 



The English spinner has an advantage in interest and depreciation and coals, but the 

 Indian spinner has a still greater advantage in wages and cost of transport both of the 

 raw material and the manufactured product. The factory hands in India are not indi- 

 vidually as efiicicnt as the English operatives, but as the rate of wages is much lower, 

 the net advantage to the Indian spinner is 10 per cent. Moreover, it is stated, that, by 

 longer training, the Indian hand has l)ccom(! more effective than formerly, and recent 

 improvements in machinery have rendered it so automatic that much which formerly 

 had to be done by hand, is now done by machine and this greatly diminishes the superior 

 skill of the Lancashire hand. 



