8i6 
THE TROPICAI- JISmtSOLTOniSr 
[Mav 2 , iSga- 
Opinious differed, rrofeesor Jeovns and otbera held, if 
we remember light, that in all probability our cheap 
coal would be exhausted within a hundred years, 
while owing to panic or combination among owners 
or workmen, there might be at any time an ap- 
preciation of coal and iron which would drive the 
Kngliah consumer to foreign sources of supply, and be 
ruinous to much of our industrial supremacy. It was 
believed in 186b by those who took a sanguine view, 
that the consumption of our coal would not exceed 
|be amount to which it had then risen, exactly one 
hundred millions of tons, because it was supposed 
that by hot blast, smoke consumption, close-topped 
iron furnaces and other appliances, wo would econo- 
mise to such a degree, that the increased con- 
sumption and export would be more than balanced. 
As we have seen this prophecy was not verified ; the 
onttnrn rose above fifty per cent in a few years, and 
England now stands faco to face with the a|)parent 
certainty that all the good eoal within two thousand 
feet of the aurfaoe of her soil will be exhausted during 
the lives of thousands who have been already born. 
As was propbosied, tlicro have been several notable 
appreciations of coal and iron ; in 1873 steel rails ruse 
to £15 10s per ton, having since been as low as £4 
lUs. This was due to temporary causes, but the last 
news, from homo acorns to point to a determination on 
the part of both masters and workmen, that the 
publio mnst in future pay much higher than present 
prices for ooal and iron. There is nothing in the 
general state of trade to warrant the rednotion of 
wages which the masters have funnd necessary ; there 
IS no strike for eight honrs’ play and eight shillings a 
day; there is no grasping at better standards of 
comfort and living; wo see nothing but the inevitable 
and long foreseen result of nnliniited production and 
cuBBumption of iron and coal, both having been ac- 
celeratod in a high degree by onr system of free trade. 
It is desirable then to consider what can be done in 
tho Eastern dominions of the Crown to reduce the 
balance which seems as if it were about to incline 
seriously against us. The inquiry is still more inter- 
esting, beesnse during the present year Government 
will commence the manufacture of steel aheils at Ooaai- 
poro, and it is hoped lhat more general and extensive 
operations will bo undertoken when satisfnotory results 
are shown in oneitvm. The advantages which India pos- 
sesses over England or Germany in iron metallurgy are 
nutablo. First, tlisre ia au abundance of the finest ores, 
such as are absolutely required for the Bessemer miiTiu- 
faoture, which for years past baa sent into tho world 
annually above three million of tons of steel. If again 
we wish to apply the basic process and consume the 
pbosphoin ores wbioh are also plentiful, dolomite is 
abundant in India — witness the marble rucks of Jub- 
bulpore — while it is scarce and expensive in England. 
It is well known at home that pure iron ores contain-, 
ing up to U7 per cent of ferrioxido abonud in India, 
To discredit them interested or ignornot parties have 
got up the cry that there is no goof lime in India. 
Tlie standard work on steel-making Mr. .leana published 
as late as 1880, contains the iiiformatiuu that India 
Buffers from a want of lime, though many years before 
that date analysis had proved that limestone of unsur- 
passed purity covered thousauds of square miles rouiid 
Batna and Katni. We aro also told that firebrick clay is 
wanting, though Mr. Hughes found abundaut supplies 
near Jnbbulporc, and au English firm lias recently 
made firebricks from (he clays beside the rail- 
way station. Iron is manufaotnred at a cost of 
£14 per ton in Knmaon, says Mr. Joans; but the 
Government Geologist reports the co.-it of making 
steel in 1888 to he liH per maund, or £3—12 per ton 
at present rate of exolmiige. If such results are 
achieved without the uses of hot blast, or of per- 
manent furnaces with apparatus of the most primeval 
type, wliat may wo not expect from the adoption of 
modern improvements ? It ia true that the best ooal 
ia yet wanting in India, on the other hand, the host 
charcoal and wood abound, and are a waste product. 
Tho jnugle fires iu 16,000 square miles of Governinont 
forest oonsnme (imbot which is useless for construction, 
which now vauishes iu smoke and ashes, but which 
might bo utilised to turn tho iron ores into sloel rails, 
steam engines, and a hundred items required alike iu 
indosfry and in war. 
Uonudatiou is dreaded by forest authorities who 
possibly are ignorant that in even inferior furnaoea 
one ton cf iron is produced by the consnmptiou of 
thirteen hundredweight of charooal. Charcoal may be 
made from inferior woods, such as Boiweltia and 
Bterewlia, or from rrooked and worm-eaten boles ; in 
fact tho wisest forcator admits that ironsmeltiug and 
forest conservancy may co-operate to their mulnal 
advantage when reboisment is fostered by heavy rain- 
fall, With all those advantages and a falliug rupee, 
how happens it that although steel-mukiug by too Bes- 
semer system was taken up in India in 1861, the pro- 
ject wns nipped in the bud, iiud for thirty years no 
steel has been made here by Kuropoau methods ? How 
is it also that iron smelting has failed in Kumaou and 
Porto Novo, while it has euooeeded in Barakur ? The 
answer to these questions must be deferred to another 
occasion. It may bo noted, finallv, that obarcual is 
(till largely used for the produotion of the finest 
qualities of steel and iron in Sweden and the United 
States, where forest reproduction is much slower, and 
labour far more costly than in India. The finest 
qualities of steel are those wbioh State railways and 
arsenals demand in annually increasing quantities. 
Strange to say we import ores or iron from Sweden, 
Algiers and Bilbao. We aotnally construct lengthy 
railways solely for ore carriage, we turn those imported 
ores into steel by the aid of ooal, of which our supplies 
aro threatened with extinction, and then send the 
finished attiolo to Allahabad or Agra, pacing thirty 
sbillinga per ton fur oarriiigo alone, while all tho 
materials for steel manufaoture exist actually under tho 
railways which carry tho 00 itly foreign product. Soon 
we trust Bessemer Converters will be seen opi ratiug 
ou Indian ores again : no royalties are i uw required ; 
hundreds of millioiia have been added to tbo world's 
wealth by blowing air bubbles into big iron pots. 
India shonld now realise these marvels, and share in 
tho gains.— Z’ionser. 
THE TK.\ I.NHUSTIIY. 
On (he 3rd instant the last of the Indian lea 
crop, 1891, virtually passed tho hammer, and before 
entering on the prospoots of 1892 a retrospoot 
may be desirable. The averages realised during 
the past season, as the reports of the vatious 
companies noW| appearing in cur columns prove, 
liavo hceu little short of disastrous, and better qnality 
must be the aim. A casual survey of the reports seem, 
iu onr opinion, to evade tho real issue, which is nothing 
more nor less than over-produotioo butli here and in 
OeyloD, and the inevitable result must be tha sur- 
vival of the fittest. Tho averages must surely open 
the eyes of proprietors to the fact that to soil tea 
at five aunas per Ib. , and eveu lower, which costs 
more to produce, oau only result iu liquidation. The 
various reports teem with the proniiso Lhat every 
attention will be paid to mauufaotnre iu tho future, 
as if it had been uegisoted in tlie past, and then 
hopeful results appear in print about 1692 — “ a superior 
class of tea will be produced, or au entire 
charge in the management will he a neocssity.'' 
In tho face of tho annual depreciation in (he 
London market, and a further annual increase 
iu outturn, wo venture to think Hint a prediction 
of this sort is purely delusive. Tho great question 
that presents itself is, have we reached tho lowest 
point of economy in the oost of protection, or ia there 
any step yet to be taken P 
Machinery has effected much in that respeol, but, on 
the other hand, tho brain of tho inventor has involved 
ail outlay that seems to bo endless, and no sooner is 
one machine pronounced the acme of perfection than 
forthwith comes another that is predicted to perform 
doublo the work at less oost. It tlierofore strikes ns 
that the expense of local management and anpervision 
ia far beyond actual requirements, and in this direction 
and the amalgamation of neighbouring properties must 
we look in lutore lot further economy ; and in adCaU' 
