November 2, 1891.] 
THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
357 
ratCB, eppccially for strong liquoring kiuila. The 
Produce Markets' Review says: — Thc' <|aautitie8 of 
Indian tea brought forward aggrogalo I upwards ot 
37,000 packages, iiiclu liiig a good atsortment of all 
grades. The market generally hUowed greater ateii.U- 
uesB, and with fow exceptioua former rates were main- 
tained. The teas from tlio Assam district were 
actively competed for, the quality being up to the 
ftverago of previous seasoua, aud so loug as this is 
nmintniued, a good demand may bo expected, as 
prices favour an iucrcasiiig causuniptiou. Thera have 
been no changes of importance in Ceylon teas, but with 
a contiiiuanco of somewhat stnall sales, prices show 
coiiaidernlde firmness. Good flavoury Pekoes at from 
9d upwards are in request, aud sell freely, wborcos, 
some two months sinco, such a prioa asO i to UJd was 
almost uiiprjcurablu for leaf teas. Itrokeo teas have 
also boon in bettor demsud, aud those at from iJJ I to 
OJd show a rise of from J 1 to Jd from the lowest 
point. Pino to finest kinds cl‘'o show a distinct im- 
provement, aud tho finest lots of the season havelatoly 
passed the hammer.— /I. atid U. Mail, Got. 2. 
THE INDIAN COTTON INDUSTRY. 
The particnlars of last mouth’s exports of cotton 
from Bomb.iy, which our local correspondent to'ogtapbs 
today, show a decnaso on -Tnly as July did on Juue, but 
this is probably becan-o the eoosou is drawing to a close. 
Now that the end of Ih; loug lano of depression 
in the markets of China and Japan appears to have 
been toacbed, and a brisk revival of trade in those 
great markets for Indians goo la has co mmence I tbe 
p ospreta of the Indian cotton industry are more 
hopeful. The dovolopracut of the Indian textile in- 
duBtries has been retuarkably rapid aud yet steady, 
aud tlitro is no rensou why, svilh reasonable caution, 
this ndvunru rhould rmt continue. Six years iidotho 
to'sl textile trade represeuted a value of a' out 531 
lakhs, and it has no v inerta ui to 98£IJ lakhs, or 
over 8(! per cent, Th re are 13-1 m 11s at work or 
iu course of erection ia India, containing 33,Sl,(itM 
spindles, and 2i,S31 lo,ms. The o consume approxi- 
mately 1,200,01)0 cwt of cotto 1 and afford employ- 
ment to 111,018 hands daily. Thirty.t.lirce years ago 
there were only 12 mills in India, with a spindlo 
power of 338,000, and cousnming 227,500 cwt of cotton, 
Bombay is, of courre, far ahead of the other Presi- 
dencies aud contains on Bombay Islaiid alone 07 
mills, with a spindle and loom power of 1,009,123 
aud 14,374 rcspcotively, and employing 01,981 hands 
fora oonsumpitou of 702,602 bales (of S^c.vteach) 
of cotton. In the Presidency of Bombay there nro 
further 21 mills, containiu* 4.51,01)4 spin lies and 4,140 
looms, and empiojiug 10,140 bunds and using 130,158 
bales of cotton. Tho "Kingdom" thus accounts 
for 04 milU out of the 131 in Ihi Indian Empire. 
Madras comes next, loiu/o intervello, with 11 mills, 
containing 213,512 sphidlos and 535 looms. Bengal 
has 9 concerns, with a spindle power of 313,000 and 
2UJ looms. Tlio liongal mills, howovor, consume 
101,858 bales ot cottoi against 01,611 iu Madras. 
'The mill industry in this county has recently loou road 
a very revere lesfou on the evils of extorsive preduotion, 
which has cc.snlted iu a coiubiiiedsiiorttimo movoraout 
iu Bombay. Somo steps were ab.oluloly roeossary, 
as tho China markets, which are tie backbone of the 
Bombay mill iiidastry, and become glnttod with 
supplies to that sale) could scarcely bo forced even 
at cost price. There are only two ways of 
meeting u crisis like this, namely slo.-t time 
or a reduction of wages. Tlio latter coarse, however, 
is impracticable iu a country like India, wbero tho 
wages of the operativo ate a fixed quantity irres- 
pective of tho state of trade ; so (here was nothing 
else opeu to tho millownota than to agtto to short 
time. This they wisely determined to sdoy, and 
out of the (30 niilla at work iu Bombay 69 sigued an 
agreement to suspend work for 8 days and 4 days 
per month (acoording to whither they were spinning 
mills only or spinning aud weaving couoorus as well) 
from the Isth ISeptember to (ho 31st December, 
1891 ; and tho oth‘ rs were expected to sign in a few 
days. One great difficulty iu nnauimous stoppage in 
varied concerns is offered by the dilferont coaditions 
they work under. Somo only spin, others spin, weave 
aud dye; others again have a purely local trade, and 
somo mainly an export one. A refusal to co oporala 
for short time is thus easily understood, unlo.s8 all 
tl.o branches of trade ora equally depressed. Ifor 
example, take r mill tvliioh apius, weaves aud dyes ; 
and one that only spins. Tho yarn trade being ut- 
terly demoralised, it might pay tho spinning mdl to 
agree la short time, but not tho otlu r, which could 
gi t along with its cloth and dyed goods trade. This 
tronblo has boon guarded against in Bombay by per- 
mitting spinning snd sveaving concerns to work font 
days per mouth more than solely spinning factories, 
and tile Committee of the Millowners’ Association is 
to be congratulated on tho success of its scheme, which 
cannot fail to place tho textile trade of Bombay 
cn a much heattbicr baiis. Tho China market has 
alrialy recovered from its stagnation, aud large 
trausactituo aro reported to have taken place at 
advancing rates. With the safeguard of short time 
agaim-t a second surfeiting of the oousumiug centres, 
the prospects of the Bombay mills ate decidedly 
cheerful. All exporters have again entered tho markets, 
and not only his almost all the ready stock been 
taken up, tut extensivo forward ooutraots, in somo 
oiBCB into the year 1892, have been in ido. Prices 
have advanced from a l-161h to a ^ of an anna per 
pound from the lowest point tououed a month ago, 
and the sales daring the first half of tho past month 
have aggregated some 40,000 bales, mostly lO's. Id's, 
and 20’8. The export yarn trade may Ihoretoro bo 
said tn bo ia a flouti.shiag ooadition. A ooutemplatioa 
of the import trade in piece goods and yarns also 
oders some food for tiflootiou. Tho figures show that 
there has been an immense doorcase in piece goods, 
with a rlight inoresto in yams. The insigcifloauce of 
Madras trade in piece guodr, as compared with tho 
fistcr Presidonoios, is very remark ibl ,. Tho statistics 
of exports of piece goods oud yarm from India in 
1890 aud 1891 up to Juno 30lh are eminently satis- 
Uotoiy, pointing us they do to a large iucrease in 
both departments. 
Having now dealt with manufuotared goods, wo will 
turn to the raw material. No reliable statistical data 
of the imports and exports of oottou are published 
iu Madras aud Calcutta, aud wo can therefore quota 
no figures of auy value, lu Bombay the case is iiiffg- 
reat, acourato etatemiuts being regul irly promulgated. 
From theso we find that thu imp rts cl cotton into 
Bombay this year, (from 1st January to 16th Beptem- 
bvr) from tlio iuterior, show a dcoroaso of over 45,000 
holes oompared will) 1890, sprc.ad over all varieties 
except Madras, Wsstorns, Khundeish, and Boiigale. 
Thu exports also ara wry much less tbau last year. 
As the exports to China and Calcutta show an iucrease 
of 20 and 162 per cent, respeotivcly, the duoliue ia 
solely attributable to Europeau shipments, and ia no 
doubt duo in a great measuro to tbu extuusivo adul- 
teration and false packing so often alluded to. Tho 
seumn for oottou all over tho couutry was a poor one, 
aud the prospects of the oomiug cr p are iufluitcly 
worse. The area under cult m this year shows a oou- 
sidorahle docriino as compand with 1890-1, the main 
cause of which is no doubt the character of tho season, 
and tho deficient rainfall, though the diminished 
Kuropoau demand, combined with the poor prices 
obtainable for the Indian slaplo (due to large American 
stocks) may contribute to the result. Statisliciaus 
oalcniato that tho yield of the coming crop will be 20 
per ceut below that of last year, and that the quality 
will be 5 per cent, inferior ns to value. Hero iu 
Madras tho outlook is not choerful. In Ooimbntoro, 
Kuruool, Dharwar, and Bellary the rains have been 
so defie'ent aud backward that the crop of cotton is 
likely to fall far short of last season, and as Inst 
season’s outturn was about 30 per cent, bolow the 
previous year, more than au 8 anna yield can scarcely 
bo counted on. To exporters this is (bo gloomy proa- 
poet, though mill owners cau lake oamt'ort from the 
low prices ruling, whioh will enable them to fill 
