RAILWAYS IN INDIA—THE DEARTH OF COTTON. [From the Manchester Examiner.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 483, 20 March 1850, Page 4

RAILWAYS IN INDIA— THE DEARTH OF COTTON. [From the Manchester Examiner.]

The gloomy accdanls relating to the cotton crop of 1849, which Have been received

, '„ ,! / '■ j\ '-t- > doting the lest fortnight,' riitai-atl? cktrle many of our LancStliire reslers^o turn vrit& renewed interest to the subject of cotton ciil r livation in India •; and' once more we hear, as "on raatiy fotmet bectsions, inuttineTtfcle esflfy&imi of figffii at tHB apathy tlfe people of England have displayed with, regard to all the harlots nio'dei pirop'o^d \\o% time to time for making us lets dependent on America for the raw material of out itaplfe manufacture. Little more than half a century ago we imported ,as much cotton from our colonies in the West Indies as we did from the United States. Daring the first half of 1848 arid 1849 our imports fro tn these countries respectively have been as follow :—

Less than thirty years agd our imports of West India cotton were equal to one-tenth of what we have received from America* bat since that period they have very rapidly decreased. Year after year Have the receipts bi our own colonies dwindled awiy^ while the* quantity imported from the United States lab been increasing at such a rate as to render vi almost entirely dependent upon them for supplying Lancashire with the chief material required for its industry. Comparing the progress of the woollen trade with that of tfre cotton manufacture, as regards their dependence upon the importation of the raw material employed in both, one cannot help remarking the singular change which has been going on in each pf these two great branches of industry.In 1822 our woollen manufactures depended cirefly upon Germany and Spain for the large quantities of foreign wool they required, in the manufacture of cloth. At the time tht whole of our imports from our own colonies did not probably amount to more than 200,0001b5. a-year. In 1848, out of 62,103,0001bi. of foreign wool consumed in Great Britain, nearly 40,000,0001b5. have been imported from the following British colonies :— lbs. New South Wales 32,091,481 East India 5,997,435 Van Diemen's Land 4,955,968 Cape of Good Hope, &c 3,497,250 South Australia. 2,762,672 West Australia 129,205 New Zealand 95,151 Total 39,529,252 In. 1820, out of 151,572, 0001b5. of cotton wool imported into Great Britain, 89,999,000 lbs. were from, the United States. Last year out of about 740,000,0001b5. imported not less than 640,000,0001b5., neatly seveneighths of the whole quantity consumed,' must have been from the United States. Had the increased production of cotton wool in our own colonies since 1820 been going on at the same rate as that of sheep's wool has been^ we should now have been importing only about 800,000 bales from America, in addition to 1,200,000 bales from the Eatst Indies, Australia, Port Natal, and other colonies favourable to its cultivation. But it is useless to repine over what might have been. The only task that is left for us now is to improve the opportunities which still lie before us. In looking orer the table! of imports of cotton, from 1820 to 1849, we find that in 1841 we imported no less than ■ 100,104,5101b5. from the East Indies, which is considerably more than the whole of our average annual import from the United' States', th the five year* ending in" f824. Blirirr 1%4 ! 8 our' receipts of American' cotton were nearly double what they ba*d been in 1841, While those from the East Indies had sunk to less than one-Balf of what they were seven years ago; and yet how easily might it haVe been otherwise? Had the East' India' Company merely spent one-fiftieth part of it* enormous revenue during those seven years in the con- ' strtrction of railways and; dther w r 6rks fof f«- "" cilitating the transit of v good*, tiaight ( it J this moment have been* receiving fromßqiff- - | bay one-tblrd of'all the cbttdh' we consum*'; ra which case,' ndfto speak of the gwatly:iniproved demand which tfould Mmf'Khrji' been created for the twist and calicoes of'^an-' } cashire,' wfc should' have felt coriiparatr^ely easy as to' the probable estimate of tie' American cotton crop-tff 1&£9". Now' tKar^W J ' railway system is about to be introduced into .. out Indiafa' empire, iV remains' t& 1 be'ieeir I whether the Court of Directors wiirso be>tir themselves' in: promoting _ its rapid develops - ment, as to give them' something more' pf * daim upon the Legislature for the renewal 'of their expiring crrsrter than they^could venture _ to urge at' present. ■ ' :'. ir '~ : L

foited States, bales 875,367 1,170,132 rest Indies, b«le» .. .'. 2.385......' 2,199