PEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING ^»/ 



•together with the internal consumption to be not less than 60 million 

 :Ib. of shellac. To produce this quantity of shellac, 160 to 170 million 

 pounds of crude lac must be produced yearly to meet the increasing 

 demand, and as fresh uses are being found every year there is every 

 likelihood of the consumption being increased. But with increased 

 consumption the prices are bound to rise and if these go beyond a certain 

 limit, as was the case with cochineal, the attention of the consumers 

 is bound to be attracted to a cheap gubstitute. I may here inform you 

 that the greatest danger in this direction was the German exploitation 

 of this old Indian Industry and everyone interested in the Industry was 

 conscious! of this possibility, just as has happened in another old Industry, 

 Indigo. But now that the great war is over and schemes are being 

 considered for development within the Empire, I am sanguine, some 

 steps will be taken to resuscitate the industry on thorough scientific 

 and business principles, which will be both profitable to all the parties 

 concerned in the cultivation, production and consumption of the article. 

 Hitherto the lion's share of the profits hag gone to the manufacturer and 

 the middlemen, factors which contribute very little to the resuscitation 

 of the industry and amelioration of the condition of the poor, illiterate 

 cultivators who, in some localities, risk their lives for the sake of a few 

 lb. of the crude material, and you would be perhaps astonished to hear 

 that whilst during the war the prices of a maund (82 lb.) of shellac 

 touched their highest watermark of Rs. 135 per maund, the only visible 

 increase obtaiued by the cultivators m remote corners of regions producing 

 lac was only an iucrease of two to five annas only. Prior to the breaking 

 out of the great war, the prices had touched their lowest, i.e., Rs. 27 to 

 Rs. 32 per maund and by the end of the war they had gone up as high 

 as Rs. 135 a maund. With an improvement of about 500 per cent', 

 on the manufacturer's side the improvement on the cultivator's side 

 has been less than 50 per cent. even. This is a wide gap to be reconciled 

 and I don't think it is possible to effect any appreciable changes in the 

 near future. The machmery at present operating has been in existence 

 since time immemorial and it will be hard, if not impossible, for any 

 industrial reformer, private or official, to effect any appreciable change 

 within the span of his official life. All that he can do is to touch the 

 remotest fringe and to leave the future for further improvement to be 

 effected by more workers in the cause imbued with fresh energies and 

 ideas to estabhsh the industry on sound economic lines. 



As I have already pointed out in my article in the Agricultural Journal 

 of India (Vol. XIII, Part III, July 1918, pp. 405-415) the treatment 

 of seedlac with an alkali worth only a few annas practically doubled the 

 prices, and I cannot do better than once more quote here in verbatin 



