for bleached. The estimated monthly consumption is about 50 cases of grey and 75 cases of bleached. The price of 84/2 was 13 rupees ($4.22) per bundle for grey and 14 rupees ($4.54) for bleached. The estimated monthly consumption is about 150 cases of each quality.

BLEACHED AND COLORED YARNS.

About 75 per cent of the bleached yarns imported is 40/2 and the remainder is mostly 30/2. In November, 1916, the bazaar price of the former was 1 rupee 7 annas (46.63 cents) per pound. The yarn is packed in bales of 300 pounds, with 10 pounds in a bundle. As the bleached yarns imported into Bombay are largely reexported to Persia, the war and consequent difficulties in transportation have resulted in a considerable decline in this trade.

The colored yarns imported are mostly Turkey red (the principal color), alizarine or other red, yellow, orange, and green (in three shades). Approximately three-fourths of these are 40s full weight and the remainder is 44/40s. The latter term has reference to the so-called systems of "reduced counts," which was fully described in the report on the trade of Bengal. No. 40 full weight means actually 40s yarn, that is, 1 pound in the grey contains 33,600 (840X40) yards of yarn; No. 44/40 means 44s put up as 40s, a nominal pound in the grey containing the same number of yards as 40s full weight. The price of 44/40s is lower than the price of 40s full weight, because the hanks per pound are reduced to compensate for the higher number. Although prices are quoted per pound, this refers to the weight of the yarn in the grey before dyeing in the case of 40s full weight and to 40 hanks or 33,600 yards of 44/40s. In November, 1916, the prices per pound of some of the principal colors and numbers were: 40s full weight, Turkey red, 2 rupees 4 annas 6 pies (74.01 cents); 44/40s, Turkey red, 2 rupees 2 annas (68.93 cents); 44/40s, light green, 1 rupee 10 annas 6 pies (53.73 cents); 44/40s, dark green, 1 rupee 11 annas (54.74 cents); 44/40s, orange, 1 rupee 12 annas 6 pies (57.88 cents); 44/40s yellow, 1 rupee 10 annas 6 pies (53.73 cents). All prices at the present time are largely determined by the supply of dyestuffs, and frequently the spinner or dyer will decline an order for one color unless it is accompanied by an order for another color that is easier to obtain.

Colored yarns are put up in bundles of 5 pounds; 60 bundles of red yarn and 80 bundles of all other colors are packed in a bale.

FUTURE OF YARN TRADE.

In spite of the rapid growth of the cotton-mill industry in India (from 1,100,112 spindles in 1876 to 6,848,744 in 1915) there has been only a comparatively slight decline in the imports of foreign yarn. The total in weight is less, but as the tendency has been for the local mills to take over the trade in low and medium counts the average number of the imported yarns is much higher than formerly. Consequently the yardage of the yarn purchased abroad is doubtless considerably greater than formerly, and this would seem to indicate that the quantity of the cloth produced on hand looms, for which most of the yarn is used, has not greatly diminished while the quality

1 See Cotton Goods in British India, Pt. II, Special Agents Series No. 127, p. 23.

has improved. In recent years, however, an increasing amount of imported yarn has been used by the mills to manufacture finer cloths than can be made from yarn spun from locally grown cotton, and also by the knitting industry. Moreover, the yarns imported from abroad and those produced in Indian mills have undoubtedly replaced to some extent the hand-spun yarns of former years. The hand-loom industry is probably older and more extensive in India than in any other country in the world, with the possible exception of China, and it is not likely that it will ever entirely disappear. Its importance, however, is bound to be adversely affected by the economic development of the country, the increased demand for labor on farms and in the mills, and the consequent enhancement of the buying power of the people. Formerly the Indian natives had ample time to weave the cloth that they required on their hand looms, and they did not have the money with which to buy the imported article. But the material and industrial progress of India in the past decade has opened up many new fields of employment to them, and a decline in the hand-loom industry is almost inevitable. Efforts to maintain and encourage it are being made by the various provincial governments, and recently considerable attention has been given to the introduction of the fly-shuttle hand loom, which reduces the operation of weaving to one motion and considerably increases the production. Commendable as these efforts are from the standpoint of the preservation and continuance of a native industry, it is hardly likely that they will succeed in maintaining it in the face of the competition of the local mills and imported cloths, and the natural tendency of the people to purchase mill-woven fabrics whenever they can afford them.

In connection with the hand-loom industry and the yarn trade the Indian Trade Journal, issued by the Department of Commercial Intelligence of the Indian Government, published a table in August, 1913, which shows, for a period of years, the net imports of yarn, the production of Indian mills, the quantity consumed by the mills in the production of cloth, and the estimated quantity of yarn used in the hand-loom industry. This table is reproduced below:

The figures are for the fiscal years ended March 31 and cover the whole of India, including Native States. They reflect conditions in the Bombay Presidency, however, because the mills in that Province produce more than three-fourths of all the yarn spun in India, and it is also the largest importer of foreign yarns. Although the figures in the last two columns are only approximately correct, they are sufficiently accurate for a comparative study of the hand-loom industry. Comparing the figures for the first eight years with those for the last eight years, it will be found that the net imports were slightly less and the quantity consumed on hand looms greater in the latter than in the former. This may be partly explained by the increased production of local mills and by the substitution of mill-spun for hand-spun yarns. The hand-loom industry still flourishes in certain remote districts of India, but there is little doubt that it is tending to decline and that the trade in imported yarn is not susceptible of much further expansion.

PIECE-GOODS TRADE.

In Bombay, as in the whole of India, the imports of piece goods make up the greater part of the trade in cotton manufactures. In the fiscal year 1913-14, for example, they accounted for 85.6 per cent of the total.

The following table shows the quantity and value of the imports of grey, bleached, and colored, printed, or dyed piece goods from foreign countries into Bombay during the years ended March 31, 1906 to 1915:

NOTE. The total figures include imports of remnants during the fiscal years 1913, 1914, and 1915 to the amount of 31,833,606, 31,437,074, and 19,050,323 yards, valued at $1,357,992, $1,411,319, and $812,989, respectively; they also include imports of piece goods of cotton and artificial silk, in the fiscal year 1914-15, amounting to 452,222 yards, valued at $112,863.

According to preliminary returns, the imports in 1915-16 were 102,822,637 yards of grey goods, 135,918,447 yards of bleached goods, and 151,668,985 yards of colored, printed, or dyed goods.

The total imports of piece goods into Bombay are only about one-half as large in quantity as the imports into the Bengal Presidency, which amounted to 1,586,297,092 yards in 1913-14. In value, however, the imports into Bombay are considerably more than half as much as the imports into Bengal. Owing to the differences in dress fashions and the large production of the local mills, grey goods are the smallest item in Bombay's trade, whereas they

are by far the most important in Bengal. The imports of bleached goods into Bombay, however, practically equal, and those of colored, printed, or dyed goods greatly exceed the imports of similar goods into Bengal. Of the latter kinds, Bombay imports more than any other Province in India.

It will be noted that the imports have fluctuated from year to year, but have increased considerably in the period shown. In the year ended March 31, 1914, they exceeded in quantity and value all previous records. The largest increase has taken place in colored, printed, and dyed goods, the imports of which were more than 60 per cent greater in 1913-14 than in 1905-6. The trade in bleached goods has also increased, but the imports of grey goods have remained practically stationary, with a tendency to decline. The growth of the local weaving industry (from 39,089 looms in 1905 to 85,388 looms in 1915) has undoubtedly had an adverse effect on the imports of foreign grey goods, particularly in the lower qualities. More than three-fourths of the total production' of these mills consists of grey goods. In 1915-16, for example, 909,974,650 yards of grey cloth were woven in the mills of the Bombay Presidency out of a total production of all kinds of goods amounting to 1,201,489,745 yards. As the exports of Indian piece goods to foreign countries are comparatively small, the greater part of the cloth woven in the mills enters the domestic trade. The war has resulted in a substantial decline in the imports of all kinds of piece goods, but the largest decrease has taken place in dyed, colored, and printed goods on account of the scarcity of dyestuffs. The imports of grey goods have been affected to some extent by the same cause, owing to the fact that many of these goods are not used in their natural state but are dyed or printed in native establishments. As colors have been difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain, the demand for those qualities of grey goods that are ordinarily used for dyeing. has fallen off.

III. GREY AND BLEACHED GOODS.

KINDS OF GREY GOODS IN DEMAND.

The

The table on page. 24 shows the principal classes of grey goods imported into Bombay. This table is based on the uniform classification that is used in the custom returns throughout India. following table, showing the number of pieces of various kinds of grey goods imported at the port of Bombay from England, Europe, and the United States during the calendar years 1911 to 1915, affords a better analysis of the trade: