448 
MAXGAXESE DEPOSITS OF INDIA : ECONOMICS. [PaRT III : 
price was 14 to 1") pence, and from the Central Provinces after the price 
had descended below one shilling and had again risen to a maximum, 
namely 13 to 15 pence, in 1900. From this time there was an almost con- 
tinuous decline in prices till a minimum of 8| to 9^ was reached in 1905. 
This was accompanied by a decline in the output of the Vizagapatam 
mines, the figure for 1904 being only 53,602. There was also a small 
decline in the output of the Central Provinces mines, the total for this 
year being only 85,000 tons. Towards the end of 1905 the price began to 
rise rapidly and almost continuously, 15 to 16 pence being reached in 
1906. The result has been not only an unexampled increase in the output 
of the deposits already opened up, but also active prospecting all over 
India, with the resultant discovery of many new deposits. A start was 
made on the Sandur deposits during 1905 and on the Sivaraj pur deposit 
in the Panch Mahals and the Mysore deposits during 1906. Another 
attempt was also made to work the Singhbhum deposits, but no ore was 
despatched to the rail. As a result of this extraordinary expansion in 
the Indian manganese industry, India, in 1905, took the second place 
amongst the world's manganese-ore producers with an output of 246,827 
tons. In 1906 the total production of India was 571,495 tons. I do not 
know what the Russian production was during this year ; but the export 
figures as estimated from arrivals at destination ports were 468,342 ; 
allowing a little over 60,000 tons for internal consumption, we get 530,000 
tons as the exports plus consumption for 1906. 
On account of the internal troubles in Russia during this year it is 
not improbable that the production was less than the above figure, 
the exports being partly made up of accumulated stocks. Hence there 
seems to be little doubt that India holds first place as regards manganese- 
ore output for 1906. The same remark applies to 1907, for which year the 
Indian output may be placed provisionally at about 850,000 tons. Up 
till 1905 India was run very closely for second place by Brazil. 
But the latter country now seems to have dropped behind, for its exports 
figure, which was 224,377 tons in 1905, dropped to 12-1,331 tons in 
1906, in spite of the elevated prices. The cause for the increased 
prices for manganese-ore during 1906 and 1907 and the enormous 
increase in the demand for Indian ore was probably in part the dis- 
turbed state of Russia, which until 1905 and 1906 used to supply about 
one half the world's demand ; and in part a period of great prosperity 
in the steel industry. 
The figure of 15 to 16 pence for first grade ore reached at the end of 
1906 was maintained for the first four months of 1907. Prices have 
