784 



TEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETIInG 



Thus on an average over 550 thousand maunds of shellac worth about 

 3 crores of rupees are sent out yearly from the port of Calcutta only. 

 The figures of exports from the ports of Bombay and Karachi are not 

 available. If these were available it would have been seen that over 

 700 thousands maunds of shellac, worth over 4 crores of rupees, are sent 

 out of the country. To produce so much shellac annually at least 140 

 millions lbs. of stick lac must be utilized. If to this be added the internal 

 consumption, which is by no means small, it would be found that the 

 total yearly produce of stick-lac must be not less than 170 to 200 millions 

 lb '., and if we take the yearly average individual production to be 200 

 lb-, at least 280,000 persons must be deriving their subsistence from 

 the industries, besides a horde of manufacturers, brokers, salesmen, 

 shippers, wharfmen, etc., the numbers of persons directly or indirectly 

 benefitted by the mdustry will be found to be very large indeed. But 

 in spite of all this, nothing has been done in the past to resuscitate the 

 industry and put it on a sound basis. There is still an element of un- 

 certainty in the whole business which at the present time is more or less 

 of a speculative nature and thus deters a large number of persons going 

 in for it. There is a very trite Hindi saying " Lalcli nahin to' hliah " 

 apply illustrating the speculative nature of the industry. And the 

 wonder is that with all the uncertainties of a precarious crop and ever- 

 shifting market, the industry has been able to hold its own against 

 various circumventing factors which at various times seemed to engulf 

 the industry and reduce it to the same status as a once-flourishing Indian 



