418 
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF INDIA: ECONOMICS. [PaHT III : 
Considering only first-grade ore, it will be seen that at the beginning 
of 1890 the mean price was 19 pence per unit, and that from this time 
there was a gradual decrease to a minimam of 10| pence in July 1895. 
The price then rose to 12J pence in January 1897 ; sank to lOh in 1898 ; 
rose to another maximum, of 14| pence, in July 1900 ; sank to 10 pence 
in 1902 ; rose sHghtly to lOJ pence, in 1903 ; and then, at the end of 
1904, declined to a minimum of 8| pence, the lowest point reached 
during the w^hole of the period from 1890 to 1907. Then came a con- 
tinuous rise to a maximum of 15| pence at the end of 1906 and beginning 
of 1907. During 1907 the quotations have fluctuated between 15 J 
and 14 1 pence, up till the beginning of September, when the prices be- 
gan to fall, until by February the price for first-grade ore had sunk to 
10 pence, arid by August, 1908, to 9 pence. The details of the vari- 
ations since the last minimum, December 3, 1904, are shown in the 
following diagram :— 
