RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE JUTE TRADE.

Evening Star, Issue 3084, 7 January 1873, Page 2

RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE JUTE TRADE.

The following extract from the Dundee Advertiser will perhaps interest some of our readers, and there is much in it that should afford encouragement to producers of our valuable flax fibre :

The extraordinary development of the jute trade is probably without a parallel in the history of textile manufactures. Thirty years ago the fibre was scarcely known in this country, or was looked upon with the greatest suspicion by spinners and manufacturers, [f any one had ventured to predict that the barque Selma, which, in the year 1840. brought the first cargo of jute from Calcutta to Dundee direct, was the pioneer of a trade destined to emp'oy a fleet of the largest merchantmen, he would have been laughed at as a dreaming enthusiast. To have prophesied then that the despised oriental fibre would yet grew to bo of mo e importance than flax, would have been counted foolishness. Yet this is actually what is taking p’ace. Without this fibre Dundee would never have know the prosperity it now enjoys. Goods made from fl ix would never have been able to compete successfully with cotton for cheapness, but, with an unlimited supply of jute, Dundee has little to fear. Mr Warden, in his ** Linen Trade,* tells the many difficulties which surrounded the introduction of jute into the manufactures of the town. Spinners, manufacturers, and consumers were alike prejudiced against it. The machinery used for spinning flax was not well adapted for working it, and when spun, owing to the bad reputation of the material, the spinner could not find a market for his yarn. Bye-and-bye, after many failures, these difficulties were overcome, and since the real merits of the fibre have come to be known, the growth of the trade has been something wonderful. On all sides we tee evidence of this growth. The extension ot our factories, the great increase of the population, the growing wealth of the town, are all the result of an intel igent appreciation of a fibre which, forty years ago, our manufacturers looked upon as little better than useless. It was between the years 1830 and 1840 that the jute trade may be said to have taken its rise. Its progress was at first slow, and in the year 1836 the total quantity imported into Great Britain was only about 4000 bales. Four years after, however, 29,500 bales were imported, and during the next ten years the trade took a fair start, the imports in 1851 reaching 219,346 bales. The price of the raw material was first quoted m the price current of the Dundee Advertisei on the 11 hj > o vein her, 1836, when it sold at L22toL 23 a ton. On the 19th July, 1844, 7;h jute yarns fust appeared in our list, the prices being Is 11 dto 2s per spindle. From that date forward the trade c nfcinued to increase steadily ; but until the year 1861, when the exports of jute yarns and jute manufactures were first entered sei a ately in the Board of Trade returns, there was no means of ascertaining accurately the rate at which it was expanding, The jute trade having now passed through its first decade as an officially recognised branch of our textile manufactures, a glance at the progress it has made during that period wilt doubtless be of inte r est to our readers. At the period when jute manufactures first took their place in the Board of Trad-.* ret irns, Dundee was just recovering from the effects of the panic of 1857. That panic—occasioned by the disarrangements of American commerce, and the absence of the usual remittances from the other side of the Atlantic —was one of the severest through which the country has passed The failure of banking companies and private mercantile firms were of a magnitude previously un heard of, and the linen trade, in common with other branches of industry, suffered seriously. Several heavy failures occurred, and the development of oar local trade received a decided check. Product on was curtailed, and much distress endured by the working-classes in consequence. I »uring the five years following the financial crisis, the trade qf tliO town slowly recovered. The weak firms had been weeded out, and on the outbreak of the civil war in America the local linen trade was considered to be again in a very satisfactory state. One result of that war was to give a start to the jute trade, which it has fully maintained ever since. The great dearth of cotton opened up markets for coarse Dundee goods that otherwise might have remained closed. To ipeet the additional requirements, old works were extended and new ones built. Those who were fortunate enough to be in the trade made money rapidly, and every branch of the trade in the town was benefited by the change. The imports of jute into Great' Britain, in the year 1861 reiched a total of 43,205 tons, being about double the importation of 1851. In 18G4, the importation was more than double that of 1861, the total reaching 101,226 ton. The year following, there was a still further increase, but at the close of the civil war the trade received a temporary check, and for two years there was a falling off in the imports. Since then, however, there has been a steady increase—the imparts last year reaching the large total of 172,719 tons, being only some 8000 tons short of four times the quantity received in 861. The imports of flax in 1871 did not exceed 107,124 tons ; and taking flax, tow, and hemp together, the total imports were only 195,299. In 1861 the quantity of flax, hemp, and tow imported reached 107,714 tons, wh : le that of jute was only 45,205 Last year, as we have seen, the total of the fibres used in our local trade, other than jute, was 195,299, white M

jute alone reached 172,719. The following table, compiled from the Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom will show the rapid incease in tho consumption of jute during tho ton years :

Dundee and the district have reaped nearly all the advantages of this vast expansion of the jute trade. Although there are large jute factories in Glasgow and other parts of the country, the consumption of toe raw material outside Dundee is comparatively limbed. Last year the importations into Dundee by rail, coastwise, and direct from Calcutta, reached 101,500 tons, of which 67,000 tons were imported direct. A considerable quantity of this may have been sent out of the town, but we are probably correct in assuming that the bulk of it was used up in the district. As noticed above, the total importations in 1871 reached 172,719, of which Dundee and district took 101,500 .tons, and as there were 28,759 tons re-xportod, this woald leave only ‘.'2,4 0 tons as the entire consumption outside what may be called our local limits. It is no figure of speech, therefore, to say that the prosperity of Dundee is based on jute. So rapid an expansion as has been witnessed during the past ten years can hardly be looked for at the end of tho next decade, but the trade has become firmly rooted in our midst, and there is little fear of Dundee receding from i s position as the capital of the jute manufacture. The expansion of the trade is even more strikingly seen in the increase in the exportation of yarn and jute goods since 1861, than in the increase in the importation of the raw material. For 1861, the fitst year, a separate enumeration was adopted ; there were 7,047,2161b* of yarn exported ; ‘ast year there were 13.7-9,993. Of jute manufactures, there were exported in the former year 6,519,252 yards; in 1871, there were 62,583,244 yards. The trade in bags has extended in something like the same ratio, the quantity sent out of the country in 1861 beit g 642 840 doz„n, as against 2,841,307 dozen last year. The following table, compiled from the same source as the above, shows the growth of the trade in jutfi yarns :

For the price per spindle of yarn we are indebted to the tables published monthly in the Dundee Price Current and Trade Report. VVith regard to jute manufactures and bagging, the results are as follows

During the eleven years mentioned the manufacture of flax goods has also made progress, but Dundee has powerful rivals iu that branch. With respect to the jute, she is, and will continue lo be, mistress. The fibre, which was at first despised and looked upon with suspicion, has, through the enterprise of our spinners and manufacturers, become the staple trade of the town, and the source of vast profit and wealth. Thirty-seven years ago, the Dundee Advertiser, reflecting the opinion of the most honorable merchants of the day, warned the lojal manufac urers to be careful lest the use of the fibre should bring Dundee goods into bad repute, and thus ruin the trade of the town. At that time jute yarn was ill spun, and its use deteriorated the value of the cloth with which it was incorporated. The improvements in spinning and manufacture, and the weaving of goods wholly of jute, have removed all these misgivings ; and now, iu the interests of the trade

of the district, the Advertiser thinks it worth its while, at considerable expense to recejve a weekly leport by telegraph of the state of the Calcutta jute market. Such are some «f the changes which have been brought about in the course of the past quarter of a century, and we trust that at the end of the next decade the jutp trade will exhibit equally gratifying resuits to tho j e which it shows at the close of its first ten years of official recognition as a branch of British industry. Oue satisfactory feature of the above table is the evidence it affords that (he cultivation of the fibre in India is keeping pace with the demand. Although the importation has gone on increas ng so rapidly, the av-rage price, except iu the exceptional year of 1863, has not varied to any material extent. !he great rise in the value of the fibre in 1863 was caused mainly by speculation iu connection with the cotton-jute experiments. Owing to that speculation, the price of the raw material was run up for a time as high as L4O a ton for fine jute, and L3O for cunm-n qualities. The speculators who had faith in the glowing representations which were made regarding the new way of working up the mateiial were the chief sufferers, and not the manufacturers who had practical experience of the fibre. During the past ten years the direct importation of jute to Dundee has beep fairly established. Prior to 1862—with the exception of the smiall cargo by the Selma—the whole of the jute received in this coiiptry was imported into London and Liverpool. Last year the quantity landed at Dundee, direct from Calcutta, was 436,985 bales, as against 648,803 bales received at London and Liverpool. So far as regards Liverpool, the trade seems to be gradually dying out, and to all appearance the direct jute trade between Calcutta and Dundee will, iu the course of a few years, be one of very great magnitude.

Imported. He-Expokted. DeQuantities Value Quantities dared Value cwts £ cwt £ 1861 904.692 709.691 86 971 68,490 1862 963,774 930.634 114,399 110 586 1863 1,223, 33 1,625.936 165,634 200,352 1864 2,0 4,637 2.192,498 270,090 292 598 1865 2,108,942 1.774,992 417,981 35 ,8 1 I860 1,625,903 1.476.214 416,352 378,186 1867 1,682,611 1,414.321 366,793 327.057 1868 2.182.521 1.936 23.) 415.266 368.549 I860 2.467.817 2.143,100 413 952 358,758 1870 2,376,690 2,326,910 425,712 416,843 1871 3,451,336 4,103,736 575,177 650,431

Jut i Y. ARNS. Price per Spindle Quantity. Value. 71b Yarn as at Lbs. £ 1st Jan. 1831 . . 7,047.217 85,123 Is 9Jd to Is 9Jd 1862.. . 6.615,882 95,152 Is 91 1863.. . 7,391,327 154,618 2a Oil 1864. . 5,497,603 114,603 2s lid to 2s 11 Jd 1865.. . 4 944.230 82.141 2s 9$d 1866.. . 7,761,391 128,704 2s 7d 1867.. . 7,320.911 117,028 Is lOd to Is lid 1868.. . 8.108,101 126,045 Is Sgcl to Is 9d I860.. . 8,041,082 126,691 Is 8d to IsS^d 1870.. .12,609.948 196,465 Is to Is lOd 1871.. .13,729.998 2» 3,298 2s Id to 2s Ud

Jute Mvnupactuues. Bagging. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Yiirds. £ Doz. £ IS6I 6,319,252 127,031 642,848 307,583 1802 6,959,189 133,149 802,095 388,724 1863 11,034,412 243 379 894,430 555.282 1864 13,910,717 356,704 971,871 749 422 1865 15,460,459 311,540 1.137,8 2 696,291 1866 19.394 926 361 857 1,290,677 681,445 18-7 26,745,187 4 5 396 1 675,321 7 4 369 1808 43,081.332 700,900 2,144,593 860,543 1809 50.127.853 742,801 2,375 8 55 940,378 1870 51,920,808 789,657 2,477.334 913,642 1871 62,583,244 1031,072 2,841,397 1201,165