136

The  Cotton  Ready  fob  Market.
The  cotton,  having  passed  through  the  cleaning  process,  is  now  ready  for  sale,  and  it  is
packed  by  the  cultivator,  and  carried  by  him  to  market.  It  was  in  this  process  that,  in
old  days,  Indian  cotton  suffered  considerably  in  character.  Little  care  was  taken  in  packing
  it,  and  consequently  the  damage  done  by  the  weather,  and  by  the  dust  and  dirt  that
accumulated  in  transit,  was  generally  considerable.  The  colIection  contains  specimens  of
the  nets  and  bags  in  which  the  staple  is  packed,  and  models  of  the  carts  and  sketches
of  the  bullocks  and  camels  by  which  the  bags  of  cotton  are  carried  to  market.  In  former
times,  in  consequence  of  the  state  of  the  roads,  the  traffic  was  chiefly  carried  on  by
bullocks,.  on  each  of  which  a  bhojah,  or  “  load  ”  of  two  bags,  was  slung,  pannier-fashion,
and  carried  thus  for  great  distances.  Although  this  means  of  transit  is  now  but  little
used,  the  Word  bhojah  still  remains  in  the  name  of  the  conventional  weight  by  which
cotton  is  sold.  Of  late  years  the  state  of  the  roads,  and  the  state  of  the  trade  also,  have
been  greatly  improved.  European  agents  are  to  be  found  established  at  all  the  chief
cotton  markets  in  the  inferior  of  India,  and  as  they  pay  a  high  price  for  cotton  that  has
been  well  cleaned  and  carefully  packed,  much  more  attention  is  bestowed  by  the  cultivators
  on  these  important  processes.  In  fact,  the  great  improvement  that  can  be  claimed
to  have  taken  place  in  Indian  cotton  since  the  date  of  the  Exhibition  of  1862,  is  superior
puiity,  consequent  on  the  manner  in  which  it  is  now  prepared  for  market  and  sent  to
England.  It  was  at  one  time  hoped  that  the  staple  might  be  much  improved,  and  a
greater  length  and  fmeness  obtained;  but,  as  already  mentioned,  it  would  appear  that  the
climate  of.  India  militates  agaiust  success  in  this  direction.  Still,  the  improvement  in  the
condition  in  .which  Indian  cotton  is  now  brought  to  Europe  is  generally  admitted,  and  is
of  no  small  importance.  The  circumstances  to  which  this  improvement  is  due  are  now
to  be  noticed.
The  Cotton  Markets  in  the  Interior  of  India.
In  Mr.  Kipling  s  very  clever  sketches,  and  in  the  series  of  photographs  contributed  by
Mr.  I  itz-Gerald  and  Mr.  Dunlop,  the  hon.  secretaries  respectively  of  the  Bombay  and
Berar  Committees  for  the  Exhibition,  a  very  accurate  idea  is  given  of  the  manner  in
which  the  trade  is  carried  on  in  the  interior  of  India,  and  at  Bombay  and  Calcutta,  where
most  of  the  cotton  is  sent  for  export.  Space  will  not  permit  of  the  subject  being  dwelt
upon  at  any  length  in  this  paper.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  extension  of  railway
communication  has,  of  late  years,  quite  revolutionised  the  trade.  In  old  days,  when  the
chief  cotton  markets  in  the  interior  were  separated  from  the  sea-board  by  three  weeks’
journey  over  almost  impassable  roads,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  many  European
merchants  would  penetrate  into  the  districts,  and  carry  on  business  at  out-of-the-way
markets.  The  trade  was  then  entirely  in  the  hands  of  native  dealers,  and  the  cotton,
beforeit  reached  Bombay,  besides  having  to  und  ergo  a  long  journey  abross  diflicult  country
and  along  indifferent  roads,  had  to  pass  through  the  hands  of  many  middlemen,  whose
interest  in  preserving  it  from  dirt  and  damage  was  often  small.  The  European  merchant
at  the  seaport  was  obliged  to  take  what  he  could  get.  And  this,  as  a  rule,  was  cotton  not
inferior  in  staple  to  that  which  is  produced  in  the  present  day,  but  which,  from  careless
picking,  bad.paeking,  and  too  often  from  admixture  with  inferior  cottons  grown  in  other
parts  of  India,  was  not  fit  for  any  but  the  most  ordinary  dass  of  work.  The  railways
have  now  connected  Bombay  with  Allahabad,  Madras,  Nagpore,  Calcutta,  and  Lahore,
and  nearly  all  the  cotton  markets  in  India  have  been  brought  into  easy  communication
with  the  most  important  ports  of  shipment.  Heavy  machinery  (to  transport  which  over
the  roads  of  the  interior  was  formerly  a  physical  impossibility)  can  now  with  ease  be
carried  to  any  of  the  up-country  markets.  The  introduction  of  machinery  has  of  late
years  largely  increased,  and  in  addition  to  the  steam  machines  for  cleaning  the  cotton
already  noticed,  there  is  hardly  an  important  market  in  the  interior  which  is  not  now
supplied  with  powerful  steam-pressers  for  packing  the  cotton  for  export.  The  number  of
European  merchants  settled  in  the  interior  has  increased  in  like  proportion,  and  the  consequence ­
  is  that  the  cotton  grown  in  a  district,  instead  of  passing  through  the  hands  of
a  series  of  middlemen,  and  being  sent  carelessly  packed  to  the  seaboard,  is  now  bought
direct  from  the  cultivator  by  the  European  agent,  and  then  packed  on  the  spot,  in  fullpressed
  bales,  and  sent  by  railway  direct  to  Bombay  for  shipment.