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tion in their price on account of the cheapness of imported 

 thread. As a set-off against the decadence of spinning in- 

 dustry, we have the outturn of the spinning mills, which is 

 daily increasing, and which bids fai]* to enable the country 

 to recover the ground lost under the stress of Manchester 

 competition. So far, however, as the spinning and weav- 

 ing classes are concerned, the extension of the mills will, of 

 course, accelerate their decline. The iron smelting industry 

 has nearly ceased, but this is due to the scarcity of fuel. The 

 cheapness of imported iron and other metals, and the gradual 

 introduction of metal vessels among classes of the population 

 which were formerly using earthen vessels have given 

 extended employment to the workers in metals. The artisan 

 classes — masons, carpenters, &c., — are well off and j5nd 

 employment at remunerative wages both on Government 

 aud Railway works, and in the construction of substantial 

 buildings, which are springing up in all parts of the country. 

 The native shipping industry has declined, but this simply 

 means that the old expensive modes of carriage by native craft 

 have been superseded by cheaper carriage by ocean steamers, 

 the producers of the export articles profiting by the differ- 

 ence in the cost. It is the reduction in the cost of freight that 

 has enabled the mill-manufactured yarns and cloths of Bombay 

 to enter into competition with Manchester for the markets of 

 China and Japan. New fields of employment have been opened 

 in connection with coffee, tea, cinchona and indigo industries, 

 cotton mills and pi-esses. The railways, roads and canals 

 which have come into existence afibrd increased employment 

 to the surplus population during the non-cultivation season 

 to a greater extent than was the case in the past. The 

 expansion of the tanning industry has specially benefited the 

 lowest classes of the population in particular places, the wages 

 given for tanning being higher than for other kinds of work, 

 as owing to religious prejudices the ordinary labourers do 

 not compete for employment on tanning works. I have 

 not alluded to the decay of the Indian art industries and 

 of the classes engaged in them. The proportion of the 

 population affected is numerically small, and though on other 

 grounds the decay of Indian art may be a matter for regret, 

 it can only be assigned a subordinate place in an enquiry 

 referring to the economic condition of the general population. 



The increase of population, then, has not, so far, pressed on 

 the means of subsistence to such an extent as to cause a 

 deterioration in the standard of living of the population as a 

 whole, and this is conclusively shown by the fact that the 



