Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/788

764 764 way took 20 millions for the grain marts of Behar and the North- Western Provinces (chiefly Patna and Cawnpur) ; and 1 million went as far as Ludhiana in the Punjab. The total exports by sea exceeded 57 millions, of which 32 millions represent interportal, and 25 millions foreign trade. Bombay took as many as 16 mil lions, and British Burmah 12 millions. In fact, Calcutta supplies bagging for the whole of India. The foreign trade may be given in greater detail, for gunny weaving is perhaps the single Indian industry that aims at a foreign market. The total export of jute manufactures (both bags and cloth) in 1872-73 was valued at 200,669. By 1878-79 the value had risen to 1,098,434, or an increase of fivefold in six years. Within the same period the ex ports to the United Kingdom alone increased from 21,200 bags, valued at 585, to 7 million bags, valued at 184,400. The other countries which take Indian gunny bags are the following, with the values for 1877-78 : Australia, 298,186; Straits Settlements, 161,772; United States, 79,795; Egypt, 76,726; China, 32,121. }rew- Brewing has recently become established as a prosperous business ng. at the large hill stations on the Himalayas. There are now about twelve breweries in India, including five in the Punjab and North- Western Provinces, at Mari (Murree), Simla, Kasauli, Masuri(Mus- soorie), and Naini Tal, and two in the Madras presidency, at Utaka- mand and Bellary. The total quantity of beer brewed was returned at 2,162,888 gallons in 1877 and 1,522,769 gallons in 1878, the diminution being due to the termination of a contract between the Commissariat Department and one of the Masuri breweries. The total quantity of beer imported in 1878-79 was 2 million gallons by Government and 1 million gallons on private account, so that the Indian breweries now satisfy just one-third of the entire demand. At Simla imported beer sells at over 18s. per dozen, while that from the local brewery can be obtained for 11s. per dozen. The hops are entirely imported, for the experimental plantation of 100 acres established by the raja of Kashmir has not yet proved a prac tical success. The imports of hops show a steady increase from 1529 cwts. in 1875-76 to 1807 cwts. in 1876-77, and 2135 cwts. in 1877-78. ^aper. The steam paper-mills established in the neighbourhood of Cal cutta and at Bombay have almost entirely destroyed the local manufactures of paper which once existed in many parts of the country. The hand-made article, which was strong though coarse, and formed a Mahometan specialty, is now no longer used for official purposes. Besides manufacturing munitions of war, the jcather. Government possesses a large leather factory at Cawnpur, which turns out saddlery, &c. , of excellent quality. Indeed, leather manu factures are an important local industry in Omlh and the North- Western Provinces, and are conducted on such a scale as to pre clude the import from England, except in the case of articles de luxe. MINERALS. The Indian peninsula, with its wide area and diversified features, supplies a great store of mineral wealth, charac terized both by variety and unusual richness. In utilizing this wealth, English enterprise has met with many rebuffs. Much capital has been expended with no other result in many cases than disappointment. But the experience has not been thrown away ; and the mining industry, now established on a sure basis, is rising into an important position in a country which ought gladly to welcome any employment other than the universal pursuit of agriculture. Iron. Iron. In purity of ore, and in antiquity of working, the iron deposits of India probably rank first in the world. They are to be found in every part of the country, from the northern mountains of Assam and Kumaun to the extreme south of the Madras presidency. Wherever there are hills, iron is found and worked to a greater or less ex tent. The indigenous methods of smelting the ore, which are everywhere the same, and have been handed down un changed through countless generations, yield a metal of the finest quality in a form well suited to native wants. But they require an extravagant supply of charcoal ; and even with the cheapness of native labour the product cannot compete in price with imported iron from England. Euro pean enterprise, attracted by the richness of the ore and the low rate of wages, has repeatedly tried to establish iron works on a large scale ; but hitherto every one of these attempts has ended in failure, alike in Madras, in the Central Provinces, in the Raniganj coal-field, and in Kumaun. At the present time iron is manufactured only [INDUSTRIES. by peasant families of smelters, each working on a very small scale ; and even this industry is languishing undei the competition of English imports. The initial difficulty in India is to find the three elements of iron working. namely, the ore, the flux, and the fuel sufficiently near to each other ; the second difficulty is the choking of the furnaces from the excessive quantity of ash in the coal. Coal has been known to exist in India since 1774, and is Coal, said to have been worked as far back as 1775. There are now altogether fifty-eight collieries in the country, with an annual out-turn of about 1 million tons. In India, as elsewhere, coal-mining and railway extension have gone hand in hand. Coal is comparatively worthless unless it can be brought to market by rail ; and the price of coal is the chief element in determining the expenses of railway working. The his tory of coal in India has, on the whole, been one of con tinual progress. The first mine, at Ranfganj, dates from 1820, and has been worked regularly up to the pre sent time. In 1878 its output was 50,000 tons. For twenty years no new mine was opened; but the com mencement of the East India Railway in 1854 gave a fresh impetus to the industry, and since that date collieries have been opened at the rate of two or three every year. The largest number of additions was seven, in 1874. By 1878 the total number of collieries in connexion with the East Indian system was fifty-six. From these are supplied, not only the railway itself, but also the jute mills of Calcutta, and the river steamers of Lower Bengal. In 1877-78 the railway used 308,000 tons of coal from its own collieries at Karharbari and Srirampur, and sent exactly the same quantity to Calcutta. In that year the imports of coal into Calcutta by sea were only 80,000 tons, so that Calcutta now uses about 80 per cent, of Indian to 20 per cent, of foreign coal. Bombay, on the other hand, and also Madras are entirely supplied with coal from England. The collieries in the Central Provinces, which are the only others worked on a large scale, are limited to the supply of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. They are two in number, (1) the Warora colliery, under the management of the Public Works Department, and (2) the Mohpani colliery, which has been leased to the Xarbada Coal Com pany. The total area of the Ranfganj coal-field has been estimated at 500 square miles. In this &quot;black country &quot; of India, which is dotted with tall chimney-stalks, six Euro pean companies are at work, besides many native firms. At first coal was raised from surface quarries, but regular mining is now carried on, according to the system of &quot;pillar and stall.&quot; The seams are entirely free from gas, so that the precautions usual in England against explosion are found unnecessary. The miners are all drawn from the aboriginal low-castes, chiefly Santals and Bauris, who are noted for their endurance and docility. Baurfs work with the pick, but Santals will consent to use no other tool than the crowbar. Wages are high, and the men look well-fed, though they waste their surplus earnings in drink. The great drawback of Indian coal is its large proportion of ash, varying from 14 to 20 per cent., as against 3 to 6 per cent, in English coal. This places it at a great dis advantage alike for iron-smelting and locomotive pur poses. But it has been proved that, with efficient fire grates and proper manipulation, 135 Ib of Warora coal will do the work of 100 H) of English coal. Salt, an article of supreme necessity to the Indian Salt, peasant who eats no meat, is derived from three main sources, exclusive of importation from Europe : (1) by evaporation from sea-water along the entire double line of seaboard from Bombay to Orissa, but especially in Guzerat and on the Coromandel coast ; (2) by evaporation from in land lakes, of which the Sumbhar Lake in Raj putan a affords the chief example ; (3) by quarrying solid hills of salt in