Chap. XXT.] 
EXPOfiT VAilTES. 
531 
of the manganese-ore mined in India from the beginning of the industry 
in 1892 to the end of 1906. 1 have given the export values as being those 
that give the truest expression of the value of the manganese 
industry to India. 
The calculation of these figures has. of course, been largelv a matter 
of gue.ss-work c»r estimation. For I have little 
Tables of export value. ■ r j- ^ ^i. • • i 
mtormation as to the prices mine owners have 
received from their ores from time to time, nor as to the average com- 
position of the ores exported from year to year. I have consequentlv 
had to take the quotations given in the Mining Journal and assume that 
these are the prices that have been obtained by the Indian manganese 
workers, modifying them where it seemed necessary : I have also had to 
assign to the ores of each area an average value for the manganese — and 
in the case of the lower grade ores for the iron — contents, this value 
being based on what I know of the composition of the ores cf each area ; 
but this figure is not nece.ssarily the same as, though close to, the figures 
for each year on which the mine operators have been paid. StiU I 
think that the errors are not as a rule serious, and that probably they 
more or less balance one another. Thus it is possible that I have 
sometimes allowed slightly higher prices for the Vizagapatam ores than 
have been obtained ; whilst I know that in the case of the Central 
Provinces contracts have sometimes been made a long way ahead at 
times of low prices, so that it has not been possible for full advantage 
to be taken of the prices when they have risen. Other operators, on the 
other hand, have held back their stocks and never sold far ahead, so that 
they have been able to take a full advantage of the rises in price, as for 
example during 1906. Then, again, in some cases, ores that according 
to their manganese percentage should be graded as second or third grade 
ores, have been able at times of high prices and comparative famine in 
manganese-ore to fetch prices corresponding to thf grade of ore above. 
I have allowed as far as possible for all these points : I ha ve also allowed a 
price of 5 cents or '2\ pence per unit of iron, this being the American pay- 
meut. in cases where I think that the price according to the grade of 
the ore for manganese aloce, is lower than the ore probably fetched ; but 
I do not know that any payment for iron has actually been obtained in 
these cases. I do not think it wiU be possible to compile such figures 
with greater accuracy unless the companies concerned are willing to 
divulge the average prices and percentages of manganese obtained on 
their cargoes from vear to vear. It is also to be noted that I have 
