364 
and the Secretary all expressed satisfaction at the result and in my 
presence the expert advised the Managing Director to make a con- 
tract with us. 
The Managing Director after telling me that he was confident 
that he could buy a fibre equal to the finest “ China Grass ” in the 
market for £,\$ a ton (the price I asked him for our Eke pro- 
duce) agreed to take the latter for a year and he would send us out 
a decorticator which they were then constructing. 
We sent them a further consignment and afLer a lengthy delay 
we asked them if they would take a few more bales then stored at 
Liverpool, as a present. To this they replied “ VVe are sorry to 
say that the ramie ribbons are useless to us. ” We have heard no 
more of their decorticator. These are only examples of the num- 
erous difficulties 1 have encountered in trying to find a market for 
our produce. 
7. Mr. D. Ed wards-Rad cliffe . — this gentleman called on me 
in London. I had the pleasure of meeting him again and we dis- 
cussed every branch of the ramie industry." He was interested in 
the Spinning Company just referred to, but was. I believe in no 
way responsible for its extraordinary management. 
Without pretending to be an authority on the manufacturing 
side of the question, I have seen sufficient of i!s treatment and the 
numerous uses to which it can be put, to have, like Mr. Radcuffe, 
a strong belief in the future of ramie but I think that Mr. 
RADCUFFE has set to work at the wrong end of the line. It is the 
spinning industry which seems to need conviction, not so much the 
planting. 
It would seem to me that there is reason for supposing that in 
Mr. Edwards-Radcuffe’s letter a fair example occurs of how 
even the smallest demand for ramie is believed by many of those 
who wish to encourage its increased cultivation, to be an indication 
of the existence of an unlimited market for this product. It is 
stated by Mr. EdyvaRDS-RadcliffE that “enormous quantities" 
of ramie fibre will be required for making incandescent gas man- 
tles. I may be mistaken, but I would suggest that not more than 
one ton of fibre is consumed in the manufacture of 100, 000 man- 
tles. 
Sufficient China Grass reaches Europe for experimental purposes, 
hor several decades the Spinner has had opportunities for thorough- 
ly testing the possibilities of the fibre. Although we are the only 
people who have shipped ramie in bulk from the Federated Malay 
States, trial shipments have been made from many other parts of 
the Empire with apparently similar results. Sir George Watts 
Adviser on Economic Products to the Government of India, pub- 
lished a whole volume concerning similar failures. We are told 
that spinners are eagerly demanding our produce but when we 
have any produce to sell we find that there are only a few small 
ramie factories in the United Kingdom and those to which I have 
gone are only willing to buy fibre produced by a decorticating pro- 
