132 WOOD PULP FOR PAPER. 
Western novelties, we see that paper-drapery> or linen shoddy, is an 
Eastern invention, and probably not a new one at all. There seems to 
be a prospect, too, of a return to the papyrus of ancient Egypt, as one 
of the very best materials for the anticipated great extension of the 
paper-manufacture. 
Waste newspaper is now very generally collected to be worked up 
again, as well as envelopes, old letters, &c. The Military Finance 
Department at Calcutta recently issued an order to the offices subordi- 
nate to it about the sale of waste paper. It seems that all the rubbish 
in the shape of torn envelopes of letters received, &c, &c, is to be 
collected carefully every evening, and stowed away in some secure place. 
This is to be done daily until the close of the month, when the month's 
accumulation has to be brought out and sold to the Bickree wallas, the 
proceeds of such sale being credited to the Government. 
The waste paper of the Government Offices, which is collected and 
sold by Her Majesty's Stationery, produces about 7,000£ a year. This 
is independent of the " blue books," printed but not read, which, after 
the lapse of a certain time, are disposed of as waste paper by Mr. 
Hansard. Many members of Parliament from time to time make a 
clearance of the files of Parliamentary papers which accumulate on 
their shelves, which are handed over at waste paper price to booksellers 
and dealers. A new application of waste paper has recently come into 
use — namely, the re-working up of newspaper-sheets, either remaining 
on hand, or bought up in quantity for the purpose. These serve to 
print broadsides and posters, the large prominent black letters oblite- 
rating or obscuring the smaller newspaper type. 
In the offices of bookbinders and paper-makers the clippings and 
shavings are sold either for re-working or filling fire-grates in summer, 
&c. They are sometimes used for filling pillows and cushions. In 
Austria this is often done, and at the Economic Exhibition of Brussels 
paper cushions were shown. The amount realized for the clippings in 
many paper warehouses reaches a large sum annually. There are many 
waste dealers in the metropolis who clear out wholesale the paper from 
news-rooms, merchants' counting-houses, public offices, &c, and retail it 
to cheesemongers, butchers, and others. 
