Fibres. 



108 



[February, 1910. 



owners and others who have got bamboo 

 to sell, and who desire to see ri6w 

 industries established in their terri- 

 tories, to take some steps to advertise 

 what they have got to offer. What is 

 wanted are accurate surveys by compe- 

 tent experts to determine, not whether 

 bamboos, etc., will make paper, but 

 the whole and complete pulp-making 

 possibilities and facilities of the terri- 

 tories and districts where bamboo is 

 already known to exist in abundance. 



The object-lessons of complete exhaus- 

 tion of the spruce and pine forests in 

 America and serious depletion elsewhere 

 are no longer being ignored by the 

 Governments who still possess large 

 reserves. Canada in particular has em- 

 barked on a policy of severe restric- 

 tion aimed at conserving her resources 

 for future timber, rather than present 

 paper supply. Thus, to exhaustion in 

 one direction is being added restriction 

 in others, and the net effect is, to quote 

 the World's Paper Trade Review, the 

 leading organ of the trade, that " wood- 

 pulp has reached its limits of expansion, 

 and to maintain the present growth 

 of paper consumption an additional 

 source of material must be found." 

 Fortunately the world is so rich in 

 paper-making material that absolute 

 famine is unthinkable, although there 

 may be considerable scarcity while the 

 slow process of transferring the industry 

 from its present locations to a new and 

 largely different set ot conditions is 

 being accomplished. In India alone 

 more material is said to be wasted 

 annually in forest fibres than would 

 supply the world several times over. 

 Mr. W. Raitt, who has devoted several 

 years to the study of the exceptional 

 facilities for pulp manufacture afforded 

 by India and Southern Asia generally, 

 and has been contributing a series of 

 interesting articles on this subject to 

 the Tropical Agriculturist, reports that 

 in Himalayan spruce, bamboo and 

 certain fibrous annual grasses there is 

 sufficient raw material available in 

 India to produce hundreds of millions 



of tons of paper annually, and since the 

 bamboo and grasses are self-reproduc- 

 tive, there is no danger of their exhaus- 

 tion, as in the case of spruce. But he, 

 too, repeats the warning, given expres- 

 sion to above, as to raw material being 

 by no means everything, and as to the 

 need of the capitalist having a careful 

 survey of the manufacturing factors 

 necessary to financial success made 

 before deciding to incur any larger out- 

 lay. 



Since it appears certain that a consi- 

 derable amount of the capital now 

 employed in pulp production must be 

 gradually diverted from Europe and 

 America by lack of supplies, it would 

 seem desirable that those countries 

 possessing natural facilities for such 

 manufacture should make a bid for the 

 trade which will thus be going a-beg- 

 ging, which trade will naturally drift 

 to the localities which can make the 

 best display of their resources. It is 

 pretty well-known at present that in 

 South America, Africa and Southern 

 Asia there are unlimited supplies of 

 raw material capable of making paper, 

 but scarcely anything is known as to 

 whether the conditions, under which it 

 exists, are such as will render feasible 

 the making of both paper and money. 

 It would seem, therefore, that if India 

 wishes to make a bid for this trade, the 

 authorities should lose no time in 

 embarking upou a thorough survey and 

 exploration of her resources in this 

 direction. This, as stated above, is 

 primarily a matter for Governments to 

 undertake, but much could be done 

 also by local authorities and land- 

 owners who possess reserves of material, 

 finding out and making known what 

 they are worth. In this connection 

 India should take a hint from the United 

 States, where the Government, as soon 

 as they realised that their domestic 

 resources were approaching an end, 

 instituted an enquiry and investigation 

 regarding those of the Philippine Is- 

 lands, and this is now being conducted. 



