Chap. XXV.] 
LOSS TO INDIA. 
643 
ram, — needed in the modern processes for the manufacture of iron and 
steel, if, when the time came for iron and steel to be manufactured in 
the country, it were found that all the subsidiary minerals — manganesa- 
ore, chrome-ore, wolfram, etc., — had been exported from the country, 
so that the manufacturer had to import these materials from other 
countries. 
I do not want to take up an alarmist position ; for there can be no 
doubt that India has enormous supplies of manganess-ore. Still if the 
export of this commodity continues at the present rate, the next 20 to 30 
years will see the exhaustion of a very large number of deposits, at least as 
regards high-grade ores. Some deposits already show signs of exhaustion 
and every year will see more deposits put on to the list of defimct. For- 
tunately, however, there are signs that the Indian iron and steel industry 
will get into full swing in the next 10 years, so that it may be in time to 
take advantage of the existence of manganese-ores in this covmtry. But 
in the course of the next 20 or 30 years either metallurgical practice 
will have to be improved so that lower grade and more sihceous ores 
can be utilised ; or, second y, mechanical processes for concentrating 
and improving these lower grade siliceous ores will have to be adopted ; 
or, thirdly, the continuity in depth of the high grade ores of the Central 
Provinces will have to be proved by boring or actual mining ; otherwise 
the Indian manganese industry will probably come to an end. In the 
third case the supply of high grade ores would be ensured for a consider- 
ably longer period than the 20 to 30 years — which is only a guess — 
mentioned above. With regard to the possibility of manufacturing 
ferro-manganese in India see page 585. 
One reason for not advccating at present any restrictions on the 
export of manganese-ore is that the metallurgy of iron and steel pro- 
gresses at such a rate that one cannot be certain that the use of 
manganese may not one day be discontinued in favour of some more 
efficient substance ; or that steel may not be made by some new 
process in which there is no need for manganese or any substance per- 
forming similar functions. 
