The Jute Trade of Dundee

Calcutta – Dundee Competition

Facts about the Bengal Jute Factories

RATES OF WAGES.

Visitors to India accustomed to the jealousy with which trade secrets are guarded in other parts of the world are agreeably surprised at the alacrity and manifest pleasure with which their humble request to view a jute mill in Calcutta is invariably granted, There is never any humming or hawing or "Very sorry, old fellow, but you know I really can't." You are at once made to feel that it is you who are conferring the favour. You are honouring the mill by the very suggestion of a visit, and all difficulties of conveyance and catering for your pro­jected trip are immediately wiped out by your host saying, "The launch will be at the ghat at eight to-morrow morning, and I shall telephone the manager to have break­fast and an iced pilsener ready for us at twelve o'clock." So you start from Wilson's Hotel without any impedimenta for your projected picnic, and getting into a cab, locally known as a "ticca gharri," make your way to the landing stage thoroughly prepared to enjoy yourself and have a day's outing.

SITUATION OF THE MILLS,

The jute mills of Calcutta, with the ex­ception of three which are on the banks of a canal running at the back of the city, and one located at the Central Jail at Alipore, are all situated on the river Hooghly, and have jetties running well into the river con­nected by tramway with the mill, from which they can load into, or discharge from, boats at almost any state of the tide. They are as near the river bank as Lindsay & Low's preserve works are near the Tay.

Other Indian Jute Mills

SERAJGUNGE, at Serajgunge, 150 miles from Calcutta.

CHITTIVALSAH at Ganjam, in Madras Presidency

CAWNPORE, at Cawnpore, 600 miles from Calcutta.

The Budge-Budge Mill lies about 12 miles below and the Gourepore about 28 miles above Calcutta, and the others are located between them.

RAILWAY CONNECTIONS.

Nearly all the mills on the left bank of the Hooghly have sidings connecting them with the Eastern Bengal State Railway, and those on the right bank are similarly situated with regard to the East Indian Railway. These two railways are connected by the Jubilee Bridge at Naihati, close to Gourepore and just above Chandernagore, but owing to the jealousy existing between the management of the officially and non-officially worked line the exchange of traffic is very much hampered. The State Railway is connected with the jute district, and affords facilities by booking right through to all the mills in conjunction with the Cal­cutta Landing and Shipping Company at at least equally low rates, and consequently very little jute goes to the mills on the right bank via the Jubilee Bridge. The East Indian Railway acts in a similar way with regard to the delivery of coal, which is all found on the west side of the river at Raneegange, about 150 miles distant from Calcutta.

VALUE OF WATER CARRIAGE.

As a consequence of their situation nearly all the jute and coal used by the mills is received by water, and similarly nearly all the gunnies are exported by water. Cartage is consequently a very small item, of cost of production of most of the concerns. It is chiefly for this reason that the Serajgunge Mill situated in the jute mart of that name does not pay. Although during the rainy season the river, which then rises from 20 to 25 feet above its ordinary level, flows past its doors, so to speak, for the other eight months of the year it is nearly five miles distant from the water. Consequently the price of coal, which in Calcutta averages eight rupees per ton, and in Serajgunge nine and three-quarter rupees, costs the mill another one and three-quarter rupees for cartage, or a total of eleven and one-half rupees. A full year's supply may be bought in the rains, which, however, besides requir­ing financing, ensures a very considerable loss by shrinkage in the dry weather. As the Serajgunge Mill turns out about 10,000 tons of cloth yearly, and uses at least 15 cwts. of coal for each ton of cloth, its coal consumpt amounts to 7500 tons, which, at 3½ rupees, is 26,250 rupees, or 2⅝ rupees on each ton of cloth manufactured. Similarly, their cartage bill on their 10,000 tons of jute bought and gunnies exported, allowing nothing for waste in manufacture, amounts to 35,000 rupees, being at the rate of If rupees per ton on jute and the same rate on gunnies. This increases their cost of manufacture another 3½ rupees per ton, or a total increase of 6⅛ rupees, equal to 10 per cent, on the manufacturing cost, or nearly 4 per cent, on the value of the goods. Even allowing that one-third of the coal, jute, and gunnies is bought in the rains and escapes cartage charges, it is easily seen how heavily handicapped this mill is. Then, owing to the excessive amount of handling, all ex­port bales have to be repacked at Calcutta to get them shipped at the measurement freight.

GROUND VALUES.

The ground on which the mills are built is for the most part either freehold or feu in perpetuity, though one or two properties are leasehold only. Recently built concerns have made a point of buying the ground light out, as being the most satisfactory arrangement, especially as land in the neighbourhood of Calcutta has lately shown a decided tendency to increase in value. The prices paid for freehold properties have varied considerably, but now cost from £500 to £1000 per acre, according to their dis­tance from, or proximity to, Calcutta, and, as a mill compound usually averages six acres, the cost may be put at £4500.

WHAT A MILL COSTS.

A mill building to contain 400 looms would cost about £25,000, and warehouses for jute and finished goods probably another £7500. A mill manager's house and overseer's barracks would ruts to another £1500, and jetty, tramway &c also £1500. The cost of 400 looms, with all necessary preparing and spinning machinery, engine power, and accessories, delivered and erected, would cost £100,000, making the total cost of a 400-loom mill about £140,000.

APPEARANCE OF THE MILLS.

In appearance the Indian mills leave noth­ing to be desired, and are very different from the majority of such buildings one is accus­tomed to see at home. In the first place their large compounds, tastefully laid out with a garden and tennis court, usually adorned with one or two large tanks, and generally situated "fat from the madding crowd," give the place quite a countrified look. Then the mills, with the exception of the Barnagore, India, and Budge Budge, which are partly two-storeyed, are all built one storey only. The walls are of brick, and are very massively built. The roof is supported by iron columns and girders, and is quite fireproof. The buildings are very lofty, the height of the iron columns generally being about 20 feet. The whole building, averaging about 150 yards long by 100 yards wide, and occupying roughly about three acres of floor surface, is entirely open from end to end, except where the view is interrupted by the iron pillars, Rows of skylights and ventilators are let in. at intervals in the roof, and the buildings are generally excep­tionally well lighted and ventilated, and every effort is made to keep the temperature as equable as possible. The floors of the mills are chiefly composed of asphalte or teak planking, which have superseded brick, which never looked well, and almost invari­ably was the worse for wear.

THE WORKPEOPLE.

Each mill is in charge of a European manager assisted by some half-dozen European mechanics, who supervise, and are generally responsible for the work of their departments. The hands employed in the mills are all natives—men, women, and children—and average about 650 for every 100 looms, including all departments, so that the 9330 looms of India give employ­ment to more than 60,000 hands.

PREPARING DEPARTMENTS.

The assorting and batching department is entirely worked by men under the supervision of a European overseer. This depart­ment is generally divided off from the mill proper by a boundary wall to minimise the risk of fire. The preparing machinery is wrought by both men and women, under the supervision of a European overseer.

THE SPINNING MILL.

The spinning mill is attended to by boys under the direction of men called sirdars, who are supervised by a European overseer. Tills is the most interesting department, as it- employs the half-timers, who seem to thoroughly enjoy the sound of the gaffer's whistle, the signal for shifting the bobbins, which they accomplish with marvellous quickness. So far the Calcutta mills only go in for dry spinning, which entails their having more spindles per loom than is found necessary when starch is used, as the yarn has to be about 25 per cent, harder twisted. This prevents the cloth taking on so good a finish, and gives it a rough and fluffy appearance, which for a long time told against its sale when competing with Dundee goods with their smooth polished surface. Buyers have now found that these rough looking Calcutta goods are very much stronger than the heavily glazed Dundee article, and they now sell on equal terms, where formerly a considerable concession had to be made to tempt customers.

WEAVING AND FINISHING,

The beaming, weaving, and finishing are all done by men under European supervision. The sack-sewing is now for the most part done by Laing's machine worked chiefly by men, but the hemming is principally done by women by hand. In some mills, in order to attract labour and give employment to married women with children, a good deal of the sewing is done by hand. The pack­ing presses are worked by men, and the boilers are stoked and the blacksmiths' and mechanics' shops are also worked by men, all under European supervision.

THE ENGINE-ROOM

is generally a very fine building, and the engines very much more up to date than is usual m Dundee, except in very exceptional cases. A good many of the mills have already adopted the triple-expansion engine of the marine type. The old compounds have been discarded, although the latter had only seen a few years' service, but it is argued that the saving in coal is so marked that a very short time will repay the sacrifice. Most of the mills have their machinery driven by ropes, but in. one or two instances gearing is used. It is a moot point which is t&e better plan, advocates of gearing con­tending that their system minimises the loss of power in transmission, whilst the advocates of ropes contend that they have less chance of a breakdown. As all the ground in Calcutta has at one time or another been reclaimed from a bog, and is very little removed from one even now in the height of the floods in the rainy season, and there consequently is a decided risk of the engine foundations sinking and getting off the plumb, the balance of opinion seems to favour driving by ropes, as the very slightest tendency to be "off the true" is instantly fatal to gearing. The mechanics' shop is a very elaborate affair, as nearly all repairs are done on the premises, since, generally speaking, the mills are too inaccessible to be dependent on outside help for every petty breakdown. All the porterage about the works, such as unloading jute and coal and loading gunnies, is done by men known as coolies.

THE SHIFT SYSTEM.

All work is conducted on the shift system, which entails the employment of one-third more hands, and by this means work goes on continuously, and the machinery consequently runs on an average 12 hours daily, or 72 hours per week, while individual hands only work from eight to nine hours a day, or from 48 to 54 per week.

STRAIN ON MACHINERY,

Of course, this continuous running is a great strain on the machinery, as it allows very little time or opportunity for repairs, but, fortunately or unfortunately, a spell of bad trade occurs every now and again, when working is reduced to five or even four days a week, and the machinery is then put in thorough order for the next spurt.

THE NATIVE WORKERS.

The native workers as a whole are very well-behaved and orderly, and very rarely indulge in strikes, unless badly treated. Most of the mills have found it advantageous to build a village, and open a bazar for the sale of rice, fish, fruit, milk, &c., in their own compounds, as by this means they get a certain proportion of the workers attached to the mill for life, and get the benefit of the rising generation. The Hooghly Mill management held out against this system for years, and partly on this account, partly from their proximity to the late ex-King of Oudh and his crowd of blackguard retainers, the mill was nearly always short of labour. They have now a splendid village, and the rents they get for the houses yield a handsome interest on their outlay, and the supply of labour is consequently much better than formerly. The mills in the neighbourhood of Chandernagore draw all or most of their labour from that French town, which is densely populated on account of the excessively low rate of living and taxes, and consequently is a very good centre for establishing - an industry in, as there is practically no trade there. Since India imposed an import duty it is, however, doubtful if Chaiidernagore will prove a happy selection for British capital, as all goods must enter British territory for ship­ment, and will thus render themselves liable to a 5 per cent, duty, a pretty severe handicap. To show what treatment gunnies from Chandernagore are likely to receive when entering the port of Calcutta, I may instance the case of a lady living in the French settlement of Pondicherry, near Madras, who ordered three bonnets from a Banga­lore shopkeeper for inspection, and, after making her selection, returned two, which had to pay duty before they were allowed to re-enter British territory!

POPULARITY OF THE JUTE MILLS.

The lot of a worker in an Indian jute mill must be described as a happy one compared to the hardships endured by a mere tiller of the ground, from which class the workers are chiefly drawn. Instead of having to work in the fields exposed to the full glare of a tropical sun or the heavy downpour of a tropical rain at a miserable three rupees a month for a 12 hours day, they get double the pay for an eight hours day. at a comparatively easy job, sheltered from the inclemency of the weather by one of the finest and best-ventilated buildings designed by-man. Home agitators who advocate a 56 hours week for Indian factories should bear this in mind, and also that one-third of the 60,000 hands employed by Indian jute mills, and chiefly women, will be forced back to this uncongenial field labour should their agitation prove successful.

RATES OF WAGES.

The wages paid in India appear very paltry to a home economist, but it must be borne in mind that a native's standard of living is very different to ours, and his expenses for food, raiment, and house rent are excessively low, so that his idea of a "living wage" is very different from ours. An ordinary mill coolie or labourer earns from 6 to 6½ rupees per month, and the lower class of mill hands, such as batchers, rovers, winders, &c., earn about the same rate, though the women get considerably less. Warp spinners are paid from Rs, 7 to Rs. 9, and weft spinners from Rs, 9 to Rs. 12 per month. Half-timers get from Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 per month. Skilled mechanics, such as engine-drivers, car­penters, turners, and vicemen, command from Rs. 15 to Rs. 40, and even more in the case of really good men. The total wages cost of sacking is roughly Rs, 35, and of hessian Rs. 55 per ton. At the present rates a rupee represents a shilling and a half­penny of our money.