Part III.] Raitt : Bamboo as Material for Paper-pulp. 35 
amount of uncertainty the only safe rule is to frame an estimate which 
may prove in actual practice to be somewhat high. I would therefore 
put the charge for native labour and imported superintendence at Rs. 7 
per ton. This figure is based mainly on a knowledge of what can be done 
in European factories translated into terms of native labour efficiency, 
with its lower cost qualified by the higher expenditure on imported super¬ 
intendence. Should it prove to be wrong, I shall expect it to be some¬ 
what too high. It does not include labour on the chemical plant, that 
having been estimated for in its own department. 
44. Fuel is a somewhat serious item as it would be necessary to use 
coal imported from Bengal. The power required in a pulp factory is not 
large, an installation of 500 to 600 I. H. P. being sufficient for an output 
of 200 tons per week. The total amount of fuel required for all purposes* 
making ample allowance for the low calorific value of Bengal coal, would 
be about 2 tons per ton of pulp. 17 cwts. of this will be used by the 
chemical plant and has already been included in the estimate for that 
department. Of the remainder about 15 cwts. is required for pulp 
digestion and drying, and 8 cwts. for power. At Rs. 15 per ton the cost 
will be Rs. 17-4 per ton of pulp. In districts where firewood is avail¬ 
able or coalfields are near, this item is capable of considerable reduc¬ 
tion, but the proportion of it actually used for power does not invest 
the question of waterpower with much importance, unless it can be 
obtained without sacrificing other advantages. 
45. The whole manufacturing plant and buildings will cost approxi¬ 
mately £50,000 of which £8,000 is absorbed by the chemical plant and 
for which provision has already been made for depreciation and repairs. 
A similar charge on the balance expended on the mill proper, viz., 10 per 
cent, per annum, amounts to Rs. 6-5 per ton of pulp. Other charges to 
be considered are Government royalty Re. 1, and insurance, taxes, mill 
stores, and sundry and petty charges Rs. 3-9 per ton. 
46. We thus arrive at an estimated cost per ton of unbleached pulp 
as under :— 
Rs. a. p. 
Bamboo . . . . . . . . 27 8 0 
Chemicals . . . . . . . 29 14 0 
Fuel.17 4 0 
Labour and superintendence . . . . 7 0 0 
Depreciation and repairs . . . . . 6 5 0 
Royalty . . . . . . . . 10 0 
Insurance, taxes, stores and sundries . . . 3 9 0 
£6-3-4 per ton of 2,240 lbs. 
[ 215 ] 
92 8 0 
or say 
