COTTON TEXTILES IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 97 



COTTON-MILrLS. 



There were 97 cotton mills at work in India in 1887-'88,' containing 

 18,840 looms and 2,375,739 spindles. They consumed about 283,000,000 

 pounds of cotton during the year, and employed a daily average number 

 of 80,515 operatives, of whom, as far as details have been obtained, 

 there were 46,406 men, 15,057 women, 12,403 young persons, and 2,949 

 children. 



The aggregate capital of said mills is about 100.000,000 rupees, 

 equal, at the present rate of exchange, to $32,300,000. 



Of the 97 mills there are 72 in the Bombay Presidency, of which 50 

 are in the town and island of Bombay itself. There are 6 mills in the 

 province of Bengal, all in the vicinity of Calcutta. In the Madras 

 Presidency there are 6 mills, 4 of which are in the town of Madras ; 

 there are 5 in the northwest provinces, all at Cawnpoor; one at Indore, 

 3 in the central provinces ; 3 in Hyderabad, and 1 in Mysore. 



The oldest of the Bombay mills was established in 1851, and between 

 that date and 1870 there were but 7 mills established. By 1875 there 

 were 22 mills at work, and 18 more were added between that year and 

 1880; 10 more were started in 1881, 18. between {hat year and 1886, 4 

 in 1887, and 2 in January, 1888. The last fourteen years have seen the 

 creation of 57 of the 72 mills -now working in Bombay. 



In Calcutta the oldest mill dates from 1864, and in Madras from 1874. 



Thus it will be observed that cotton manufacturing in India is what 

 might be termed an "infant industry," although, as I view it, owing to 

 the cheapness of labor in this country and to the proximity of manu- 

 factured goods to the great markets of the East, British India will in 

 the near future become a very formidable competitor with Europe and 

 America in the cheap production of cotton fabrics. 



Bearing upon this point, I submit the following extract from the 

 Daily Englishman, of this city, of recent date: 



ENGLISH VS. INDIAN COTTONS. 

 [From the Calcutta Daily Englishman. 1 



How formidable a competitor with Lancashire Bombay has now become is shown 

 by the returns of the annual export of cotton twist and yarn from India. During 

 1888-'39 the shipments reached the large total of 129,000,000 pounds, representing a 

 value of 5,250,000 crores of rupees. Nearly the whole of these large exports went to 

 China and Japan, to whose ever-increasing demands the remarkable growth of this 

 branch of our foreign trade is entirely due. In the last seven years the total value 

 and quantity of the twist and yarn shipped from this country has quadrupled, while 

 in th? same period our imports of cotton twist and yarn, now valued at 3f crores, 

 have increased by only 30 per cent, in quantity and 16 per cent, in value. There 

 can no longer be a doubt that, as regards these articles, the Indian mills are destined 

 to ultimately oust Lancashire manufacturers from Eastern markets. As regards piece 

 goods, however, India, though slowly increasing her production and shipments, can 

 not yet be said to have seriously entered into competition with home manufacturers. 

 At the present time Bombay, not less than Lancashire, is feeling the effects of a de- 

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