52 THE WORK OF THE FOREST DEPARTMENT IN INDIA. 



(3) THE MATCH INDUSTRY. 



India is largely dependent for its supplies of matches on 

 imports from other countries. The bulk of the matches come 

 from Japan, Sweden and Norway while in pre-war times smaller 

 quantities came from Austria-Hungary, Belgium and Germany. 

 About 20 years ago India made a definite attempt to manufac- 

 ture its own matches, one of the first factories to be erected on 

 modern lines being that of the Gujrat Islam Manufacturing Co., 

 Ld., at Ahmedabad. A detailed enquiry into this question led 

 in 1910 to the publication of a treatise, entitled " The Pros- 

 pects of the Match Industry in the Indian Empire, with Partic- 

 ulars of proposed Match Factory Sites and Woods suitable for 

 Match Manufacture " (Indian Forest Memoirs, Volume II,. 

 Part I). At that time there existed in India eight factories, 

 namely three in the Bombay Presidency, two in the Central 

 Provinces, one in Kashmir, and two in Calcutta. At the pre- 

 sent time the number of match factories in India has not 

 increased, for although new ones have been established, some 

 of the older and smaller ones have disappeared. Amongst 

 the newer ventures are the North India Timber Co., Ld., 

 Bareilly. the Irrawaddy Match Manufacturing Co., Ld., 

 Mandalay, the South India Match Factory, Ld., near 

 Tenmalair, South India and the Ahmedabad Match Manu- 

 facturing Co., Ld., while of the older establishments the 

 Gujrat Islam Match Manufacturing Co., Ld., also at Ahmeda- 

 bad, the Amrit Match Factory, Bilaspur, Central Provinces, 

 the Rangoon Match Factory and the Oriental Match Manufac- 

 turing Co., Ld., Calcutta, may be mentioned. There are also 

 some smaller factories working with a more limited outturn 

 than those mentioned above. 



The imports of matches in 1914-15 amounted to close on 15^ 

 million gross boxes, valued at Rs. 113 lakhs, as compared with 

 Rs. 49 lakhs in 1904-05. The imports have therefore more 

 than doubled in value in 10 years, in spite of the fact that 

 the local supply has materially increased during that period. 

 The passing of the Indian White Phosphorus Matches Prohibi- 

 tion Act V of 1913 temporarily checked imports, but the trade 

 soon recovered, especially that with Japan, owing to the careful 

 manipulation of the trade by the Japanese combine of manu- 



