September i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
26J 
heretofore, owing to the subject being taken up at 
the wrong md. It appears that the negociations 
earned on by the Netherlands Indian Government 
wi h the Br tish Indian one have never been deemed 
to be of any great significance in the official world 
in Madras. From time to time, a despatch bear- 
ing upon the matter, came via Calcutta, or another 
came from the Straits inquiring into the likelihood 
of concluding a coolie convention, but under the 
administration of v^ir Grant Duff, the affair got no 
further. That official was, from principle, against 
emigration of this kind on the ground that the 
Government instead of entering upon such agree- 
ments, would answer requirements better by doing 
everything in its power to keep natives in the 
country by developing the resouroes of the latter 
for their benefit. The Straits Settlements had to 
struggle against this fixed idea, and could only 
seoure the free emigration of coolies for the benefit 
of Penang and Province Wellesley under burden- 
some conditions. A sickly philanthropy was then 
dominant in India. Emigration was looked upon 
as a sign of impoverishment and retrogression 
alienating the native from the land of his birth. 
Last but not least, information gained from the 
Straits regarding Deli was far from favourable. It 
may be that trade jealousy coloured the information 
forwarded. At all events, the administration of 
justice in Deli was reported against. On the Dutch 
side little or nothing was done to remove these 
unfavourable impressions, and represent matters in 
their true light. 
♦ 
INDIAN, AS COMPAEED WITH ENGLISH 
COTTON FACTORIES. 
By Lord Bbasset. 
Bombay is the Manchester of India. Its fact- 
ories give employment to sixty thousand oper- 
atives. A large proportion of the capital invested 
has been provided from native sources. I had the 
privilege of accompanying Lady Reay on the occa- 
sion of her visit to a mill, established by a 
Parsi association organised by Mr. Petit, a leading 
member of the Parsi community. As an indic- 
ation of the scale of the factory, I may mention 
that the steam engino is of the laiest construc- 
tion, and indicates no less than 4,000 horse- 
power. Four thousand operatives are employed. 
In the other mills belonging to the same associa- 
tion the aggregate number of operatives is twelve 
thousand. It is satisfactory to know that an 
industry on this vast scale has been established by the 
enterprise of a native association, without any assist- 
ance from capital in England. 
In connection with this subject, some observ- 
ations may be appropriately introduced, bearing on 
the efficiency of tho native labour in India as 
compared with that of the workers in the factories 
in Lancashire. This object has recently been 
investigated by a Commission appointod by the 
Government of Bombay to consider the working 
of fnotories in that presidency. As a general 
result, it was shown that a mill in India employs 
about three times the number of hands that a similar 
mill in England would require, for the same out-put 
and quality of work. The cost of labour, whether 
at the comparatively liberal scale of wages 
obtained in England, or at the low rates of India, 
shows a romarkable identity of result. It is another 
illustration of tho practical working of that great 
law of compensation, under which, with widest 
difference of nominal amount, the cost of work it* 
approximately tho same over the world. 
Tho superiority in point of efficiency of English 
labour is most eonspiouous in tho caso of tho young 
haadu. It wu- stated by xa Iiaghwh manager ex- 
amined by the Commission, that, while in Bombay 
a boy attends from 120 to 140 spindles, in Eng- 
land a girl of eighteen, who had been employed by 
the witness, had attended 512 spindles. 
Turning to elements in the cost of production 
other than labour. Coal here is about the same 
as at home as regards efficiency, but the 
price averages 17 rupees— £1 5s fid — per ton, 
delivered at the mill, as against 7s 6d to lis in 
England. Cotton, owing to shipping charges, freight, 
commission, &c,, costs 3d per lb. less to the Bom- 
bay mills than to English spinners, but as a rule 
the Bombay manufacturer uses a slightly better 
ootton than the European to produce, the same 
result. 
Although the genera' conditions under which the 
cotton industry of India is conducted show no 
material advantage in favour of the Indian pro- 
ducer, the development in Bombay and elsewhere 
presents a steady, indeed, a considerable growth. 
On the whole, this oareful enquiry points to 
the conclusion that, while the introduction of the 
manufacture of cotton into India must to a 
certain extent affect importation, it is not prob- 
able that we shall lose ground. We are superior 
in quality. We are well informed as to the demands 
of our Indian customers. In the cost of labour we 
have nothing to fear. 
Turning to the comparative condition of the 
workers. In England the operatives work 260 days 
a year of ten hours each, and 52 days of six 
hours. In India they work 339 days of twelve 
and a half hours each. In the Indian Factory 
Act no maximum limits are prescribed within which 
regulated labour is to be taken. Women can be worked 
as long as men. The Indian factories are run 
from sunrise to sunset throughout the year. This 
gives Hi hours a day of work in the cold weather, 
and 14 hours a day in the hot weather, If the hours of 
labour are longer in India, attendance is irregular — 
operatives often absent themselves for several days — 
and the employment of women is much less con- 
siderable than with us. In Lancashire of 433,000 
workers employed in the cotton factories 253,000 
are females. In Bombay, of 49,928 operatives in 
textile factories 10,794 are females. The earnings 
of the women in the mills are higher than they 
could obtain elsewhere, and the work demands 
less physical strength. In going over the mills, 
under the guidance of Mr. Petit, we were struck 
by the lavish display of gold ornaments among the 
female operatives. 
While it is said that employment in the factories 
is eagerly sought for, witnesses, appearing for the 
workmen, informed the Commission that the mill 
hands in Bombay complain of the long hours of 
labour, of the want of periodical days of rest, and 
of the delay in the settlement of wages. One 
witness stated that he and his fellow workmen 
received their pay for September at the end of 
October. 
The Commission recommended that women and 
children should not be allowed to work before *> 
a.m. or after 0 p.m., and that in that period thoy 
should have an hour's interval for food and rest. 
The readiness with which the workers have accepted 
the longer hours hitherto in force, points the more 
clearly to the necessity for some intervention, on 
the part of the Government, to give protection to 
people who, without its fostering care, seem helpless 
to resist the pressure caused by competition for 
employment in an overcrowded labour market. — 
Planter*! Qatette, A bi-nietallist has published a 
9tatemeut to the effect that the Indian mills are 
able to compete with those of Manchester even 
in regard to coarse fabrics, only becau.-o i f Uiu 
condition of exchange duo to a si Ivor standard iu 
