The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-28 00:00:00

deal. His attention, he informs us, had been
directed to fibrous substances in a greater
degree than to other Indian products, because
India appeared to him (and the Learned Doctor
is well acquainted with India) to be pre-eminently
a country of fibres. A noticeable piece of testi-
mony. "The climate of India," he goes on to say,
"is favourable to the growth of fibrous plants ;
there is abundance of unoccupied land as well as
cheap labour and ready transit either by sea or
river. These plants are to be met with in great
diversity and luxuriance, and afford every variety
of fineness or strength which we can expect or
almost wish for in fibres." It is consequently not
surprising that the export of hemp has rapidly
increased, as the following table will show :
In 1831. there were imported from
Russia
And from British India 95,472 „

In 1851 there were imported from
Russia
And from British India 590,923 „-
Thus, while the imports from Russia have only
increased by 84,451 bales, the imports from
India have increased by far on to 500,000 bales,
so that by this time it is probable more hemp is
imported from India than from Russia. The
wonder really is that India has not been enabled
to drive, as she could do, Russia out of the mar-
ket. Russia, it must be remembered, is a poor
and thinly populated country, while India is fer-
tile, and teems with countless millions, who can
furnish both cheaper and superior labour to in-
sure successful cultivation. The reason is to be
found in a few words—lndia has been neglected.
The high price of paper, owing to the duty,
which is 1-id. in the 7d. it costs us per pound—a
duty, by the way, we would gladly see
abolished, attaches great interest to its pro-
duction at the cheapest possible rate. On
all hands the desire for knowledge is increas-
ing, and the multiplication of useful works is
more and more a matter of imperious necessity.
The press, too, is more exigent in its claims, and
everywhere the excessive cost of paper is the sub-
ject of complaint, as at once annoying and ob-
structive. What can India do to meet this grow-
ing want ? Dr. ROYLE tells us of many fibrous
plants, admirably adapted for paper making, be-
ing found wild and luxuriant in the country, as
well as cultivated. Indeed few of the fibrous
plants to be met with in the country will fail to
yield paper of one quality or other. India, how-
ever, it would seem from the specimens exhibited
at the meeting, is able to produce a superior
quality in abundance from the plantain, the
paper shown of that material being described
as unrivalled both as regards texture and extreme
toughness. India can supply us with fibre suffi-
cient to supply all our need, and that at a rate con-
siderably below what we are paying for an inferior
article. The great desideratum is a regular supply,
and this can only be insured by the application
of capital to the collection and cultiva-
tion of fibre by English enterprise in India.
In a word, a further instalment of justice
to that country, the withholdingof which, together
with the Government tax, have given America,
France, Belgium, and Holland the advantage over
us, more paper being consumed in those countries,
and the prices of the raw material in the three
last being 10 per cent. less than in England.
Capitalists have hitherto overlooked one of the
most promising fields extant. It is to be hoped
they will do so no longer. The interests of India
and of England will be found more and more con-
current as time rolls on.