THE INDIAN COTTON SUPPLY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 1723, 5 February 1862, Page 3

THE INDIAN COTTON SUPPLY.

I hr- London cum.-spondent of the Man Chester Guardian says:—

lite question of cotton is of so much impor. tance to your readers, that I feel bound to bring before them some facts and considerations as to the supply from India, on which such large and confident expectations are founded by many. I'or example, a leader in yesterday’s Telegraph rangequite an lo Paun on what the writer treated as “the opening of theGodavery" and the tapping of the great Central Indian cot’- ; field. Now, I arn sorry to throw cold waler on hopes which every one must long to see realized; but the truth is, that the Indian Council know very little as to the present state of the Godavery navigation, and are divided in opinion its to the value of what is supposed to be done and doing ; for of exact information on the matter there is next to none.

I have, before me a letter from an Indian official of ability and rare opportunities for exact knowledge as to the position and prospects of the Ind'an cotton trade in Dharwar, which, with the Guzerat and Central ndian fields, is the great source to which we ,skve to look for Indian cotton, and of which the central town will soon be connected with the capacious port of Shedusbegur hv an excellent road, now in progress, of about'B4 miles long. W hen that road is completed the Dharwar cotton will be easier of shipment than that of Guzerat or Oomrawuttee :

“I am certain," says my authority, “that a steady rise in the value of cotton at home would, in three years, enable the part of the country with which I am acquainted (Dharwar) to treble its supply,—indeed, it is stated in 1857 to have supplied one-fourth of the demand, and could supply three-fourths in three years if inducement is held out steadily. The cotton grown here is excellent in quality, both New Orleans and indigenous; but the curse is, that the seeds get mixed, and the plants grow up mixed, and the cotton is picked mixed. The native seed is small, therefore clogs the teeth of the saw-gin, and the value of the staple is reduced to a very low point below its original worth. This is lhe great difficulty we have to deal with here ; and nothing shott of enabling the revenue officers to direct the extirpation of the native cotton in a New Orleans field, and viceversd, can cure it. If left alone it will cause ruin. It is not always dishonesty, but partly that and partly apathy. It is so general that it hardly pays one individual to be particular. The demand is aln-dys greater than the supply, so the grower can always sell any kind of cotton so that there is no loss, and a careful cultivator at beet can only sell a few dozen bales, —too small a quantity to secure a separate rate. The demand depends less on the supply, the crop, &c., than on the rate of freight at Bombay. Our New Orleans is less strong than the American, and suffers more in the gin. As it is, onr cotton cultivation increases some 10,00(1 acres per annum, in good years, and never falls away again. The present movement has sent the price up lo about 15 or 20per cent., and it is still rising, but not near what it was in ’57 or ’5B. [N.B. This was written in March last.]

“All government interference is ‘ bosh.’ The ryots will grow cotton exclusively if cotton pays. The European can teach them how to cultivate it. AH that the Manchester and Liverpool men should do is to send European agents to purchase it. Guarantee a certain fixed demand for a certain number of years—buy superior Cotton at a trifle over the rale given for the ordinary sort—offer large prizes for improved produce—bnt as for any Company cultivating cotton hereabouts, why the land is altogether taken un, and they could" not get an acre without paying 20 vears’ purchase. Indian cotton is used to supplement lhe American, therefore the demand is fluctuaing.- Make it constant, and the thing is done. Government can do no more than they have already done, that is, they bare introduced lhe New Orleans cotton, and it is now cultivated over thousands of acres, more and more every vear.” This letter brings into a strong light one point which has not been sufficiently considered, I think, in our calculations on’an Indian supply of cotton. The writer—who, I repeat, is in a position to know, and of capacity to judge—says that three years will be required to treble the supply of Dharwar. But the stimulus to be applied, in order to induce this increase, is a constant demand. Can we promise this ? Will there be any resort to India for long-stapled cotton, when the American field is again opened to us? And are we not bound, as rational beings, to look for the reopening of that field sooner or later ? Suppose the American crop and an Indian crop thrown on the market together, prices would fall far and fast. This might benefit the manufacturer, but it would certainly involve both the Indian and American shippers in heavy loss, and though the American factor and planter would persevere in his cotton buying and cotton growing in spite of a year’s or two vears’ discouragement, can we promise ourselves as much for the Indian cotton factor and rvot? I fear not, from what this letter says as well as from all we know of the character of the Indian population. I confess these considerations make me far from sanguine as to any great good to be derived by this country or by India, from the present crisis in North America. I cannot but think that crisis a temporary one. India cannot give us the cotton we want to tide us over the storm ; and as for a permanent supply, we cannot ensure that steadiness of demand which alone can draw that supply to England, unless the cotton growing capacity of the Southern States is to' be altogether annihilated in the present struggle,, which, I presume, no one expects. Ido not insist upon the comparative cost of inland transport and sett voyage in the case of Indian and American cotton, because I wish to keep l this point distinct from that to which this letter is directed, viz.: that to materially enlarge the cotton crop of India, and to draw it to this country in a form suited to our needs; there wants’ a steady guaranteed demand for a fixed period, which I do not conceive we are in any position to ensure to the Indian grower and factor.-