RDL701RURAL INDUSTRIALISATION:

POLICES PROGRAMMES AND CASES

Prof. Rajendra PrasadCentre for Rural Development and Technology

Technology, Culture, and Empire: The Colonial Age

• In 1498 Vasco da Gama opened searoute to India

• Before 1498, the civilizations ofEurope and India virtually, and in agreatly limited sense, geographicallyisolated from one another.

• Rise of Islam: Changez Khan andTemurlang.

• Even after 1498, in fact till the year1800, the relation between East andwest still continued to be conductedwithin a framework and on termsestablished by Asian nations.

Vasco da Gama

Empire of Changez Khan

Empire of Tamurlang

• For the two hundred and thirty years afterAlbuquerque’s disastrous attempt to challengethe power of the Zomorin of Calicut (1506)-hehad to be carried unconscious to his ship-noEuropean nation attempted any militaryconquest or tried to bring any ruler undercontrol. In 1739, for example, the Dutch whocame up against the Raja of Travancore had tosurrender.

• Company settlement made possible in Madrasin 1708 after grant of 5 villages by regime inDelhi.

• In addressing the Emperor one of theEnglishmen described himself as “the smallestparticle of sand, John Russell, President ofEast India Company with his forehead atcommand rubbed on the ground”

• Europe at the time had but little to offer toAsian Countries

• Founding of East India Company in 1600

• Company’s attempt to establish trade with Chinawere unsuccessful

• Tried to dispose English woollen cloth on spice-islander

• Discovered: only commodity acceptable wasIndian textiles and it prompted it to seek amarket for its woollen goods in India

• Ideas was to buy inn return the Indian cotton andsilks wanted by spice-islands

• English ships reached Surat (Gujarat) in 1608.• In 1611 the company's factor wrote top directors

in England “ Concerning cloth, which is the mainstaple commodity of our land.....it is so littleregarded by the people of this country that theyuse it but seldom”

• Decade later company abandoned hope for big Asianmarket for English cloths

• Some other commodity had to be battered if companywished to get hands on spices and pepper of Malay

• Other alternatives: looking glasses, sword blades, oilpaintings, drinking glasses, quicksilver, coral and lead.

• To simulate the demand for English lead, it was decidedto send out “plumbers to teach them the use of pumpsfor their gardens and spouts on their houses”.

• Followed by scheme to persuade Jahangir to pay forerection of waterworks for the supply of Agra.

• London Directors heard “ Indians are superstitious andwash their hands whenever they go to their worship”,immediately ordered the dispatch of a consignment ofwash-basin for trial sale

• It was concluded that “no commodity brought out isstaple enough to provide (in return) cargo for one ship”

• Company was compelled to fall back on theexport of bullions (in form of gold and silver)for purchase of goods in India

• The Moghul empire declined in the first half of theeighteenth century: more precisely, effective centralcontrol over the Empire’s territories was loosened andlost after the death of Bhadur Shah-I in 1712.

• The decline of central Moghul power did not meanmuch to economy is evident from a quick look at thetrade figures of the economy after Moghul decline.

• In 1708, Britain imported goods from India worth4,93,257 pounds and exported in return goods worth1,68,357 pounds.

• By 1730, while the imports to England rose to10,59,759, the exports fell to 1,35,484 pound .

• In 1748, imports into Britain were still 10,98,712 andthe exports had declined further to 27224 pounds. Thebalance was paid by Britain in bullion.

• In fact between 1710 and 1745, India received17047173 pound in bullion.

• By 1757, the East India Company, with thesupport of a powerful Hindu capitalist, hadgained a foothold in politics of Bengal.

• Hindu merchants were keen to associate withforeigners to reap huge profits.

• The east India company received the right ofrevenue of a district: the twenty-fourPargannahs.

• By 1764 Moghul emperor was forced toextend the revenue rights of the company toother territories in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

• The company’s early administered in Bengal istoo sordid: it used its monopoly positions toimpose taxes of numerous kinds on differentproducts including salt, betel–nut, tobacco .

• The Indian textile industry declined before theindustrial revolution in Britain. Thedisplacement of Muslim aristocracysimultaneously displaced domestic demand.

• A famine in Bengal in 1770 decreased Bengal’spopulation by a third.

• The company’s behaviour toward the weaverwas deleterious.

• Political power of English allowed entire goodto be sold to them.

• A document of that time noted: “ theytrade.....in all kind of grains, linen andwhatever other commodities are provided inthe country. In order to purchase thesearticles, they force their money on the riotsand having by these oppressive methodsbought the goods at a low rate, they obligethe inhabitants and the shopkeepers to takethem at a high price, exceeding what is paid inthe markets. There is now scarce anything leftin the country”

• After the company took over theadministration of Bengal, the once favourablebalance of trade was reversed.

• In 1773, a report made to parliamentcalculated revenue collections to be1,30,66,761 pounds for six years. Andexpenditure was 90,27,609 pounds. Companywas left with 40,37,152 pounds.

• This surplus was used to purchase Indianproducts for exports into Britain: thus did thecolonial “drain” begin.

• Bengal had a surplus on trade with other partsof India and these revenues were used by EastIndia Company to finance military campaign inMadras and Bombay.

• Also to finance local cost of servants andprivate traders.

• The annual net transfer of resources to theU.K. Amounted to about 1.8 million pounds in1780.

• Indian cotton manufactures continued to beto be imported into Britain.

• It reached peak in 1798 and in 1813 it wasabout 2 million pounds.

• Industrial revolution in England revolutionizedtextile industry, the cost dropped to nearly nine-tenths.

• But Indian goods were still in demand: WHY?

• Even thirty years after industrial revolution,Indian goods were still cheaper than machinemade goods.

• This was due to the fact that the weavingprocess in England was not extensivelymechanized.

• Historian H.H. Wilson said: “It was stated inevidence ( In 1813) that the cotton and silk goodsof India up to the period could be sold for a profitin the British market at a price from 50 to 60 percent lower than those fabricated in England. Itconsequently became necessary to protect thelatter by duties of 70 and 80 per cent on theirvalue, or by positive prohibition. Had this notbeen the case, had not such prohibitory dutiesand decrees existed, the mills of Paisley andManchester would have been stopped in theiroutset, and could scarcely have been again set inmotion even by the power of steam…. Theforeign ultimately strangle a competitor withwhom he could not have contended on equalterms”.

• In Britain, the power-loom was being used on a widerscale after 1815.

• In 1814, the quantity of cotton goods exported to Indiafrom Britain had been a mere 818,208 yards; in 1835,the figure had risen to 51,777,277 yards.

• Duties on Indian goods imported into Britain werefinally repealed in 1846, when Britain legally acceptedthe laissez-faire ideology

• By then, the British factory system’s foundations hadbeen firmly cemented

• There still remained the problem of silk: fine silks couldnot be woven by power

• Yet a great deal of raw silk had been continuouslyimported into Britain in the 1820s, where it wasworked and later exported to European markets

• Till the thirties, British silk goods had done well inFrance, where Indian goods were officiallyprohibited.

• Once the prohibition was removed, the entireBritish trade collapsed in favor of Indian silks.

• The export of raw silk from India began todecline; in 1829, India had exported silk worth$920,000.

• By 1831, this raw silk export had fallen to $540,000: more raw silk was being used in Indiafor manufactures for export

• In 1832 British silk exports to France had beenvalued in the region of $5,500 and India’s stoodat $168,500.

• The duty on Indian finished silk goods into Britain was fixed at 20 per cent.

• While British finished silk goods to India paid a nominal duty of about 3-1/2 per cent.

• A proposal to equalize the duties was rejected by a Select committee, to protect British labourers.

• The following discussion between Mr. Cope, a silk weaver in Britain, is not only significant, but has contemporary connotations too:

Mr. Brocklehurst: What would be the effect upon this branch of your trade if the present duty on East Indian silk goods were reduced from 20 to 3-1/2 per cent?

Mr. Cope: In my opinion, it would have the effect of destroying this branch to trade; and if so it would rob of their employment, and consequently of the means of living honestly by their labour, all those parties which I have named, and would make them destitute and reckless, and cause them to become a burden to the rest of society, whose burdens are already too heavy. It would throw out of employment a large amount of capital and would give into the hands of foreigners that employment by which we ought to be supported.

Mr. Elliott: Do you think that a labourer in this country who is able to obtain better good has a right to say, we will keep the labourer in the East Indies in that position in which he shall be able to get nothing for his food but rice?

Mr. Cope: I certainly pity the East Indian labourer , but at the same time I have a greater feeling for my own family than for the East Indian labourer’s family; I think it is wrong to sacrifice the comforts of my family for the sake of the East Indian labourer Because his condition happens to be worse than mine; and I think it is not good legislation to take away our labour and to give it to the East Indian because his condition is worse than ours.

Before EIC After EIC

1. Actual producers 700 350

2. Religious, cultural and Educational Institution

and Individuals

a) Exclusively Religious

b) Cultural

c) Educational

100 of which,

40

40

20

15

3. Economics services and Police

a) Economic services

b) Police

75 of which,

60

15

20

4. Militia and Political Aristocracy

a) Militia

b) Aristocracy

75 of which,

60

15

25

5. Central Authority 50 590

6. Grand Total 1000 1000

Tax structure in India

Taking 1000 as total gross produce form agriculture and manufactures, in 1750, Dharampal estimates the several allocation as follows: Science and Technology in 18th

Century in India

• There is a clear pattern in the attempts by British manufacturers to convert India after 1813 into a complementary satellite economy providing raw materials and food for Britain and an ever widening market for its manufactures.

• Twenty years after the enshrining of the free trade legacy, Richard Cobden, one of the chief pillars of the Manchester school suggested that the principles of adam Smith did not govern relations between Great Britain and India.

• In 1862, Thomas Bazley, the President of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, had already decide that the “ great interest of India was to be agricultural rather than manufacturing and mechanical

• The free traders with their laissez-faire attitudes were irked beyond reason by those nominal duties the Indian colonial government levied on English imports into India.

• As Harnetty notes: “The full development of India as a source of agricultural raw materials (and this meant, of course, cotton) was inhibited by the Indian cotton duties which, by protecting native manufactures, caused the consumption in India of large quantities of raw cotton that otherwise, i.e., under “ free competition” would be exported to Great Britain. It followed that the duties must be abolished, thereby enhancing the supply of cotton for british industry and enlarging the market in India for British manufacturing goods. Such a policy could be justified on theoretical grounds by the doctrine of free trade”.

• But to encourage India as a producer of raw materialsrequired more than economic freedom. It also involved acontradictory policy of governmental paternalism.Lancashire demanded that the Government of India inspirethe development of private enterprise in the Indian empireby financing some of this development. In line with thisdemand. The authorities in India guaranteed railwayconstruction and undertook numerous public works. Theyalso undertook the experimental cultivation of cotton and,in this connection, made the first attempt at stateinterference in India in the fields of production, marketingand trade

• In 1860, the East India and China Association was stillprotesting that a new increase in the cotton duties in India(necessitated by a deficit in the Indian budget) would give a“ false and impolitic stimulus to yarn spun in India, therebyserving to keep alive the ultimately unsuccessful contest ofmanual power against steam machinery”.

• Another petition from the Manchester chamber ofCommerce in 1860 could continue to claim that anynew tariff on British imports into India would harm notonly the manufacturer of Great Britain but also thepopulation of India “by diverting their industry fromagricultural pursuits into much less productivechannels under the stimulus of false system ofprotection.

• Sir Charles Trevelyan, finance minister of India in1860s, was anxious to see the disappearance of Indianweaver as a class, a development he thought best forboth Britain and India.

• India would benefit because of weaver, faced withcompetition from machine made goods, would beforced to give up his craft and turn to agriculture; theincreased labour supply would then raise output andEngland would benefit since makers of cloth would beconverted into consumers of Lancashire goods.

• It comes as no surprise to learn that when thecotton duties were totally abolished in 1882.

• The viceroy of India at that time, lord Ripon wasprivately willing to admit that it was pressurerather than fiscal arguments which had led totheir general repeal, and that India had beensacrificed on the altar of Manchester.

• Chief commissioner of central province arguethat construction of a railway would not onlysecure the more rapid export of raw cotton butalso would lower the cost of imported Lancashirepiece goods.

• This in turn would divert, labour from spinningand weaving to agriculture and so lead to anextension of areas under cultivation.

• The Scottish firm Fergusson & Co. Established the firstcotton mill in India at Bowreah, Calcutta with 20,000spindles and 100 looms.

• Fergusson & Co. Also imported Scottish lassies to workas operatives in the mill-to begin with it was shutdownin 1840.

• In 1817, the semi-fuedal labour-thekedar apparentlyhad yet not made his appearance, bringing with himthe impoverished peasant to be turned to industrialworker with option of starvation, and bare subsistenceunder the asurious board of the thekedar and hisprincipal- a legacy which still continues

• It was in 1859 that the full implication of a restless,alienated, mobile rural manpower were realized, notsurprisingly in Bengal through the enactment of thepermanent tenancy laws.

• In 1829, at Pondicherry the second cotton mill wasopened, in 1830 another at Calcutta with its supplyfrom south.

• These mills were producing yarn primarily for chinamarket and had local advantage of reduced freightage.

• The task of displacing the weaver and the spinner wasbeing pursued by imported piece-goods especially aturban centres.

• The task of collection and distribution of raw cottonwas done among others by the mill ownersthemselves.

• The multiplication of cotton mills came later in adecade’s time.

• The German war broke out, and with it startedthe hemp supply from Russia to mills inDundee

• Feudal Russia converted itself into a semi-feudal one with its program of import ofcontinental capital and equipment andmachinery.

• The disrupted cotton supplies from Americanslave plantation, following civil war in USA(1861-1865), stimulated a cotton epidemic inIndia.

• After the end of civil war, there werebankruptcy but the mills survived.

• The bankruptcy of 1865 must have left a deep and lasting impressing on Jamshed Tata, then cotton merchant, who had been rescued by his income from army supplies.

• In 1860 Jamshed Tata bought an old cotton mill at Bombay and try to recondition it. In 1877 he started the empress mills at Nagpur, well in the interior of cotton growing area with Tata as managing agents to it

• By 1889 there had been 17 cotton mills with 4 lakh spindles, 4600 looms and 10,000 as labour force, along with European mangers, engineers and technician

• Till 1900 domestic consumption totally from handloom, mills mainly for china market.

• In 1927 cloth woven by handloom continued to supply 26% of total cloth consumption in country.

• In 1930, Arno Pearse, a Manchester man, made a study tour in India to observe its cotton industry. “it is estimated”, he wrote: “that there are in India intermittently at work 5,00,00,000 spinning wheels (charkhas) which yield 48 lbs of yarn per spindle per year, and almost 20,00,000 handlooms.

• Report of the Letchemporam Iron Works; thinking that Indian manufacture, may prove of essential benefit.

• Excursion to the diamond mines of Mallavilly, proved favorable.

• Learned on the road, that many places in the Noozeed Zemindary, furnished iron for common use; nearest place was Ramanakapetth.

• 3 coss from Noozeed in the vicinity of some fine large tanks, from which in favorable seasons a very sufficient quantity of water might be furnished to produce a very plentiful harvest of paddy.

• Much better buildings than Noozeed. The streets very broad, houses good and large.

IRON WORKS AT RAMANAKAPETTAHBy Dr. Benjamin Heyne (1st September 1795)

• Famine of 1790-2 reduced the population from 1,00,374 in 1786 to 57,865 at the end of 1793.

• Before the famine there were 40 smelting furnaces, a great number of silver and copper smiths, in a state of affluence; their survivors now poor, in a wretched situation.

• Furnaces now reduced to ten.

• I maund, sold for 2 rupees this place, found eminently deserving of notice, in the event of adopting for any large works of this kind, in the Company’s possessions. The ore can be procured in any quantity, at a less expense than anywhere else. The nearest hills afford wood for coals in plenty; many people who would be glad to be employed in a business.

• Six more in the Noozeed country where iron is constantly fabricated.

• Opportunity afforded by the Government of Bengal

• Survey of districts of Jabalpur, Baragaon, Panna, Katola, and Sagur.

• 170 sers of ore, smelted by 140 of charcoal, produced 70 sers of crude iron in ten hours.

The MODE OF MANUFACTRING IRON IN CENTRAL INDIA

By Major James Franklin, Bengal Army, F.R.S, M.R.A.S., (1829)

FURNACES • Smelting furnaces, crude in appearance, very

exact in their interior proportions.• men ignorant of principle but construct them

with precision.• unit of measure breadth of a middle sized man's

finger; 24 of which constitute their large and 20their small cubit; a constant ratio of 6 to 5

• it is of the least consequence that theirdimensions are larger or smaller, so long as all theparts are in the same proportion.

• length of these measures on an average 19.20English inches for large cubit, 16 English inchesfor small one.

• As no standard measure, fingers, span andarm substituted by a piece of stick used inpractice.

• large one divided into six parts and small oneinto five, of four fingers each

• length of these parts on an average 3.20English inches.

• Geometrical Construction of the Furnace:

• Draw a line A.B. equal to a largecubit of 24 digits or 19.20 Englishinches

• divide it into 6 parts;• at C erect a perpendicular.• At C to E set off 6 parts, and it will

mark the central point of thegreatest bulge and consequentlythe point of greatest heat.

• From E set off 6 more points, andit will mark the point of cremation

• F to G, 6 parts more, will mark theline, where it is necessary torecharge the furnace, after theburden has sunk thus low.

• G to D-two parts more; will givethe perpendicular height of thefurnace, in 20 parts equal to 5 feet4 inches of English measure.

• To construct the interior, rulelines parallel to the base,through points E, F, G, and D,and from D. (fig 1) set off threeparts to the left hand for thetop.

• bisect it at J, bisect also thebottom at H.

• draw H, J, right angled at K, theoblique axis of the furnace (fig1. K-J) bisecting all the parallelscorresponding with CD (fig 2).

• make the parallels AB six parts,-E six parts, F five parts, and Dthree parts.

• rule lines through all thesepoints.

• geometrical outline will becompleted

• Appendages-Gudaira, Pachar, Garrairi,and Akaira.

• Akaira most extraordinary implement.(Diagram I, figs 4 and 5; and Diagram 2.fig 1+);

• externally a clumsy mass of clayenveloping the wind tubes (Diagram I.fig 9) the complete fusion of this mass,and the perfect completion of thesmelting process must be simultaneous

• if it is too small, or too large, its effectwill immediately be perceived; in theformer case the masset of crude ironwill be full of impurity, and in the latterthe iron will be consumed, and if itcracks during the operation of smelting,no remedy-short of dismantling thefurnace and commencing the workagain.

Diagram II

• mean length 4-1/2 parts, breadth 3 parts, andmean thickness 1-1/2 parts

• exactly equal a twentieth part of the cubiccontent of furnace.

• Guddaira-wedge of clay used to adjust thevertical position of Akaira when placed in thefurnace.

• Pachar an oblong plate of clay, used in walling upthe orifice after the Akaira is placed,

• Gurairy (diagram I, fig 6) a convex plate of clay;perforated with holes and used as a grate.

BELLOWS

• Made of a single goat skin, 7 parts in breadth when doubled, and 8 parts in length; for circular bellows of 5 parts diameter, rise 6 parts in height- having 11-1/4 circular folds; the wooden nozzles through which the blast is conveyed into the furnace through Akaira.

Nozzle of the Bellows

• Geometrically-rule a line AB equal 3parts (Diagram II, fig 2).

• divide it into four, giving one of thosedivisions to each of the legs, and two forthe space in the centre.

• set off a perpendicular from C to D equal3 parts.

• bisect it and the middle point will markthe apex of the central angle.

• through point D rule a line parallel to ABand from it as a centre set off each way3/4 of a part making together 1-1/2parts;

• divide it also into four, giving one of eachto the legs, and two for the space in thecentre. Rule lines to connect all thesepoints,

• Outline complete, the exterior of theimplement is plain but the interior iscomplex (Diagram II: fig 3).

Diagram II

• fastened to the bellows byleathern thongs,

• blast forced through it atan angle of 24 degrees butwhen it is luted to thewind tubes of the Akaira,the blast enters thefurnace at an angle of 12degrees, both verticallyand horizontally-becausethose tubes are placed soas to reduce that angle(Diagram II, fig 1 +)

•furnace closed up with clay, andthe bellows luted in, representedin Diagram III and IV; the dottedlines showing the chimney, A theouter walls, B a mound of earth tostrengthen walls, C an upperchimney of moveable bricks, Dplanks laid across the trench tosupport the bellows and the manwho works them, E a stonesupporting one end of the plank, Ffork branches supporting an ironbar on which the other end ofplanks rests, and G a simpleapparatus for preventing thebellows from rising from the plankswhen they are worked.

• “The angle of the blast is also worthy ofnotice, as well as the simplicity by which bothit and the obliquity of the furnace is obtained;all these serve to show that the original planof this singular furnace must have been thework of advanced intelligence, and that itsgeometrical proportions have been preservedby simple measures; hence though its originalform may be changed by caprice or ignorance,its principle never can be lost so long as handsand fingers remain”.

REFINERIES • The refinery as crude in its

appearance, and as novel in its construction as the furnace.

• Two refineries required for one smelting furnace.

• To construct-arrange a number of square un-burnt bricks, as in the ground plan (Diagram V, fig 1), a, a, a, a- the walls, C the seat of the refiner, D the anvil.

• Fig 2- a side view, A the chimney, B the refining furnace. E- piece of crude iron under the process of decarbonisation.

• Dimensions of chimney- about one cubit broad, one deep and six in length.

• Fig. 3 a front view showing the opening of the furnace.

• When the walls of the chimney finished- top covered with un-burnt bricks of an oval shape, flat below and convex above.

• Diagram VI refinery complete, refiner at work on his seat, bellows-man plying the bellows, and various implements lying about, A the outside of the chimney, B a mound of earth to strengthen its wall, C the refining furnace, D a piece of crude iron undergoing the process of decarbonisation (the dotted showing the interior of the furnace

Diagram VI

MODE OF SMELTING AND REFINING• Indian smelters use charcoal only.

• Ore- pieces about the size of a walnut.

• fill the chimney of the furnace with charcoal and burnuntil all moisture expelled.

• Then throw in small basket of ore, and a larger one ofcharcoal.

• Allowed to sink as low as the line G (Diagram 1. fig 1and 2) when it is again charged.

• Ore and charcoal alternately given in the sameproportions until the operation is complete;

• Scoria begin to flow within an hour, and by that time, itis known whether the furnace will work well or ill-thescoria being a sure indication; it is let out by piercingthe grate with an iron spike, and the orifice is againclosed with clay as soon as it is drawn off;

• Bellows worked by three men- by turns; constantly playing until the process completed.

• Time ascertained by introducing a hooked piece of iron through the wind tubes, into the furnace, which shows how much of the Akaira remains.

• The appendage should be totally fused before the operation is complete.

• The metal never completely melted by thisprocess-the heterogeneous mixture of the orealone is fused and thrown off in scoria.

• Iron freed from it falls by its superior gravity tothe bottom of the furnace, and coagulatesinto a mass;

• Bellows removed; front part of the furnacedemolished; red hot mass dragged out,divided by large ades* before it has time tocool, the parts of the furnace thus broken uprequire daily renewal.

PRODUCE

• Daily produce of four smelting furnaces,from the 30th April to 6 June 1827, mostunfavourable portion of the year forsmelting iron.

• Each furnace yielded upon an averageabout 18-1/2 Panchseri (5 sers) of crudemetal which is 38% of the ore, everyhundred sers of crude metal yielded 63 sersof malleable iron which yielded 56% whenwrought up into bars fit for the use in thesuspension bridge.

QUALITY OF THE IRON

• Captain Presgrave of the Sagar Mint (an officervery capable of judging with regard to itsquality) reported:

• “most excellent quality, possessing all thedesirable properties of malleability, ductility atdifferent temperatures and of tenacity for allof which cannot be surpassed by best Swedishiron”.

• Particulars Cost (Rupee)

1. Excavation/mining 25

2. four smelting furnaces, 30two refineries, one small round furnace3. Skins, for seven pairs circular bellows 25

Total 80

• Experiment lasted only five weeks, above outlay calculated to last a whole season, so a portion of it is only chargeable to the cost of iron.

• Hammers, anvils and other implement of iron, not being perishable- chargeable only for reasonable repairs.

• Thus proper proportions of outlay is 15 rupees

COST OF THE IRON

Working Expenses6 men for each smelting furnace or 24 for 4 furnace

from 30th April to 6th June, or 1-1/4 month at 4 Rs. Each per mensen 105

Charcoal for the furnace for the same period 115

For digging ore 15

Carriage of ore 15

Carriage of charcoal 15

Head-man 5

Total Cost of smelting 270

One Mistry at Rs. 8 and five lohars at Rs. 4 per mensen for

each refinery: this sum doubled for two and for a period of 5 weeks is 63

Teakwood charcoal for the refineries 53

Head man 4

Total cost of refining 120

Total cost of smelting 270

Total expenses 390

225 maunds of malleable iron produced, one rupee 12 annas per maund.

MANUFACTURE OF BAR IRON IN SOUTHERN INDIABy Captain J. Campbell, Assistant Surveyor General. Madras

Establishment. (A.D. 1842).

• In the commerce between India and England, a sourceof deep injury to the former country arises fromEngland having deprived her of the trade in cottoncloth, the manufacture of which was, but a few yearsago, one of the most valuable and extensive of Indianproducts; while from no other having been as yetintroduced as an export to balance the imports fromEngland,

• Among the most extensive of the exports of England toIndia, is the trade of bar iron, which to Madras aloneamounts to 1,000 tons per annum; and while India isknown to produce malleable iron of a superior quality,

• Informed by Captain Drummond, in journal of the AsiaticSociety of Bengal, that carriage of suspension bridgeerected in Kernnon, alone cost about 80 rupees per ton, oras much as the iron might have been made for upon thespot.

• because English mode of manufacturing iron has beenfound to be most profitable in England, it has beensupposed that similar process could answer in India.

• This process has also been styled 'scientific', but principlesof the mode of operation are still unknown and themanufactures are unable to produce at pleasure a certainresult.

• Quantities of the results produced depend upon theweather, and other causes as yet not explained, or beyondthe control of the workmen.

• We do not as yet even know what cast iron is; nor with anycertainty what its component parts are; nor in what itdiffers from steel, or the varieties of what are generallycalled carburets of iron.

• Such being the state of our present Knowledgeof this subject, it may be doubted if a carefulexamination of the principles of the longestablished, cheap, and simple mode ofmanufacture of the native of India, might notlead to improvements and modifications,which would be found to answer better, thanthe operose methods of the Englishmanufacture, which require much capital,costly building, Land, a considerable trade tomake them profitable.

• In England the fuel most generally used in smelting theimpure iron ores of the coal fields is coke.

• Ore after being first roasted to separate the volatileimpurities, as much as possible, is exposed to its actionin blast furnaces.

• Generally about forty-five feet in height, but varyingsometimes from thirty-six feet to even sixty feet.

• In middle, furnaces are about twelve feet in diameter,at top contracted to about four feet, at bottom, wherethe blast of air is introduced by pipes from powerfulblowing machines, the diameter is only about two feet.

• The pressure upon the air forced into the furnace isabout three pounds upon the square inch, and thequantity of air amounts generally to as much as 4,000cubic feet per minute.

• The cast iron as it forms, falls down into the bottom of thefurnace; which is always hot enough to maintain it in a state offusion; where it is protected from the action of the blast by acovering of fused slag which floats upon it.

• These furnaces are kept in action unremittingly, night and day,for several years together; the metal being allowed to flow outevery twelve hours in quantities of about six tons at a time.

• The material used in building the blast furnace is principally firebrick, and a pair of furnaces cost upwards of £1,800 sterling.

• The proportion of coal used in making a ton of cast iron, variesvery much, from three tons in Wales, to sometimes eight tonsin Derbyshire.

• But the use of heated air in blowing the furnaces has very muchincreased the quantity of the products of the blast furnace, andhas also diminished the expenditure of fuel, but the quality ofthe cast iron is said to be deteriorated.

• The estimated expense of making a ton of cast iron is about £3sterling.

• For converting cast iron into bar iron, the first processgenerally employed in England is called 'refining', andconsists in fusing about a ton of cast iron at once in flatopen furnaces about three feet square, where it isexposed for two hours or more to the action of astrong blast, by which it is supposed a portion of thecarbon it contains is burnt off.

• Much gas escapes from the surface of the metal duringthe operation, and a large quantity of black bubbly slagseparates, after which the metal when run out andallowed to cool, has a white silvery appearance, is fullof bubbles, is very brittle, and has acquired theproperty of hardening by being suddenly cooled. In'refining' about four or five hundredweight of coals isused to the ton cast iron, and the metal loses fromtwelve to seventeen per cent; of its weight.

• The 'refined' cast iron, now termed 'fine metal', is thenexposed in a reverberatory furnace, called 'puddlingfurnace’ to the action of the flame of a large coal fire, bywhich it is first partially melted, then falls into a coarsepowder; and on being stirred up and presented to theflame, becomes at last adhesive and tenacious.

• It is then formed into large balls, and after receiving a fewblows from a large hammer to consolidate it, is passedbetween rollers which squeeze out much of the impurities,and form it into 'mill bar iron'.

• This is however too impure for use, and it is necessary tocut the rough bars into pieces and to weld them togetherafresh, in a 'reheating furnace', and expose them toanother rolling, and even to repeat the operation a thirdtime, before good tough bar iron is produced.

• In the 'puddling furnace' about a ton of coals is expendedto each ton of 'fine metal', and in the 'reheating furnace',about 150 pounds more are expended; and in eachoperation a loss of about ten per cent takes place in theweight of metal operated upon.

• Upon an average about nine tons of coal are expendedin England in forming one ton of finished bar iron, andit is probable, that if the above processes wereattempted upon any smaller scale than that of theEnglish works, a still greater quantity would be used.Some of these works cost £27,000, and turn out 120tons of iron per week.

• The mode of smelting iron used by the natives of Indiaappears to be very much the same from the Himalayasdown to Cape Comorin.

• The material used for the native furnaces, is thecommon red potter’s clay of India, which carefullyselected, sufficient to fuse cast iron, but by mixing itwith sand, and by concentrating the heat in the centreof the furnace as much as possible by a projecting blastpipe, the reduction of the ore is effected before thefurnace has become much more than red hot; theoperation being completed in about a couple of hours

Josiah’s Adventure• Josiah Marshall heath resigned from the East India

company in 1825 to set up an Iron and Steel Works in India. In barest terms: a British firm in Calcutta, presumably, a house of agency, advanced him a loan; he spent four years in England gathering technical information and came back with equipments and workers to erect his works in 1830 at Porto Novo in Salem region. It was about a ton per day unit with 2 large and 2 small furnaces producing bar iron so produced received approbation even in England. Josiah ran out of money; the Government of east India company gave him Rs 1 lakh desired and 25 years exclusive right as was given by the British parliament to Boulton and Watt of England; but there was difficulty using charcoal as fuel- 12 unsuccessful trial runs were made. Again he was in financial troubles and the Porto Novo works virtually came to an end by the middle of the nineteenth century.

• The works did not terminate because the financier foreclosed on debts or due to risk because of technical difficulties; the works continued for 20 years, the expected life of the plant and equipments; other works came up in 1839 at Barker, Bengal, and another in 1855 at Raniganj-both undoubtedly based on coal.

• Around 1830, East India company not only financed an Iron and Steel Works, further they paid Josiah the highest complement of analogy with Boultan and Watt.

• James Watt was of an indigent family, an artisan instrument maker and an avid collaborator and supplier of researches of Joseph black in the Science of heat quantifies. Boultan was relatively petty entrepreneur-owner of a machine shop noted for precision jobs.

• Boultan and watt even as they struggled and innovated dreamt of the world as market for their steam-engine and the Birmingham works in the 18th century were famous as the Science School of Soho.

• James watt and Joseph Black became symbols of emulation for the mechanics and artisans flocking to the mechanics institute during the period when Josiah was in England surely Josiah must have been moved as he visited the iron works of England.

• There is a document dated 1841, authored by J. Campbell, titled ‘Public Consultations. Madras Records-Indian Iron & Steel Company of Porto Novo Weekly. This document contains story of Josiah.

• Why did Josiah venture into iron and steel works? Why did he chose Salem, and then port? Why did he choose charcoal? And Why did not the works grow into a movement despite apparent support?

• In the 19th century in the region of Salem there were indigenous ironsmiths producing bar iron, using charcoal, using furnaces built by them out of red potter’s clay and sand.

• The bar iron of these virtually cottage industries here cheaper than the cheapest bar iron imported from England; the worst in quality was equal to the quality of England. Indian iron was preferred by British for producing steel of good quality.

• Josiah must have compared and concluded that charcoal was for India the cheapest fuel.

• Josiah must have gone through the economics of the processes and concluded that the product from larger furnaces of England would be cheaper but the high transport cost reduced its competitive quality in the Indian market.

• He might have foreseen the prospect of reduced shipping cost by steam vessels touching India in 1821.

• The other answer-growth and dynamism.

• Readymade distribution channels and extant users, theinternal market to be taken over to generate theprofits, to create the fabrication works on Indian soil,to absorb the scattered iron smelters and blacksmithsof Salem into new form of industry-to create theLiebig’s and Lyon Plafair’s to scientifically theefficiencies of blast furnaces to improve upon them-tocreate on soils of India at the work at the Salem theScience School of Soho? Visionary? Yes!

• Had not Josiah faced bankruptcy and persisted in 12costly unsuccessful trial runs in his attempt to use theindigenously available charcoal and overcome thesedifficulties, perhaps through his doggedness ofpurpose, perhaps by employing “the indigenousspecies growing wild”-the first ever example ofindigenous RDD on process industry.

• His initiative did not multiply and grow, his visiondid not take on the hue of tangible reality.

• The postulated internal market was not seized, nordid the new mode of production take root.

• Had the times changed since 1825-undoubtly yes.Had the merchant distributors, descendant of theShreshthis not cooperated, did they take fright atthis new mode of industrial production seeking toorganize the scattered divided smelter into forms oforganization and knowledge which meant the endof their old age dominance as merchants over theartisans;

• did the smelters not came forth, or were theyshackled by their bondages to the merchantsdistributors and unable to break a hold thattradition had forged.

• And by same token was the supply of ore andcharcoal subject to hazards? The merchantsdistributors did not rise to challenge theEnglish competition by the only tried and truemeans-Advancement of production, thecreation of indigenous technology orinvention. The social distances were too greatunbridgeable to indigenously achieve this.

• It was less disturbing to retain theirdominance as merchant distributors and moreprofitable distributing the imported Englishsteel. For this involved only the extinction ofindigenous iron smelter of Salem of India

• In 1875 the Bengal iron company had come into beingto meet the needs of railways for componentsfrequently required-wars had confirmed their necessity

• However in 1881 the point had yet to be grasped, theIron Works was in financial trouble-lack of demand.

“The shareholders have asked the government.......orassist the present company with money or certainconcessions as the purchase of Government stores. It ispity that a new industry of this kind should be ruinedfor want of a little capital, and the government mightbe little more liberal in interpreting the phrase,‘development of the resources of the country”

• In 1882 the government took it over and seven yearslater sold it to Martin & Co., to become the Bengal Ironand Steel Co.

• By 1907 the issue was clear; permission wasgiven by the government for yet another steelplant, and that too under Indian ownership; warwas in the air.

• In 1910 the construction of the iron and steel waswell in advance. It was reported:

“The success of the undertaking will be of greatimportance to Bengal and to India. Thegovernment of India has recognized this fact in apractical manner by agreeing to purchaseannually from the company for a minimumperiod of 10 years, at least 20,000 tonnes of steelrail subject to government specifications beingcomplied with the prices comparing favourablywith the rates at which similar rails could bedelivered if imported into India”.

• And in 1912, Ratan J. Tata reported success:

“The company's big iron has secured a world wide reputation and repeated orders are coming on from Japan, where the products has found a large and unexpected market”.

The Sugar Refinery• Established at Aska, a small estate in Orissa not

far from GopaIpur on sea.

• In the 1840s a house of agency of Madras, its constituent partners, their London agents and a London importer with long contacts with the house of agency, invested their money to set up the Aska sugar refinery.

• The Aska refinery was built around the 'most-up-to-date machinery imported in the 1850s from the well known firm of Glasgow.

• The quality of the sugar was good, and yet "the Aska concern seemed perpetually in trouble” why?

• One learns that 'keeping down the native debts' was not working, the debt piled up.

• The money advanced ‘to a contractor to assist in the cultivation of cane' did not imply that the contractor would supply the jaggery to the Askaconcern for refining into white sugar.

• He sold the jaggery to others.

• Nor did the Madras Board of Revenue permit the sale of the land of the contractor-obviously a land owner-to realize the debts.

• What is noteworthy also is that the Aska unit was not an integrated one buying cane for crushing and processing.

• It was only a step in the processing chain, buying jaggery for refining into white sugar. Obviously without assured supplies, the Aska unit would have idle capacity and be ‘perpetually in trouble'.

• One may well ask: Why did not the land owning contractor not honour the contract by supplying jaggery? Who was the other buyer of jaggery? What compelled the landowner to break his contract and sell to another?

• Who was the other buyer? Sugar had been an item of export to Asian countries long before the British arrived-well established traditional channels already existed.

• The peasant would cultivate the cane, do bullock-powered crushing on the field and the juice was converted on the field or near it to gur or jaggery with baggasse as fuel.

• The jaggery was consumed locally, and the surplus sent on to a manufactory for processing into the khand, and from whence on to export through trade networks up to the port and on the ship thereon.

• The jaggery unit was perhaps owned by a richer peasant in Ryotwari areas, or by a zamindar or by the manufactory owner, a merchant/money-lender

• To the manufactory owner, and the merchant network the export of unrefined sugar by the British may have meant merely the substitution of one exporting community by another on whom the taboo of sea travel did not apply-there was no further basic change in internal relationships.

• But in the case of white sugar refinery, the case was different, not only did the product have greater commercial significance by virtue of its longer shelf-life, the refinery was jeopardizing the existence of the merchant-moneylender himself.

• The Madras Board of Revenue baulked at what should have been a reasonable request; the peasant had to pay his cash land tax, the merchant-moneylender was crucial for buying up the cash crops and supplying to the port merchants for export, and in the reverse for distribution of imports.

• Clearly the Board of Revenue would not be a party to the dismantling of this mercantile network.

• Nor would the merchant-moneylender be a party to his own extinction.

• Sugar to the peasant would be only one of the crops, with jaggery-making a seasonal side-line activity only.

• The merchant-moneylender boycott of his crops spelled the peasants extinction.

• The merchant-moneylender must certainly have exercised, or threatened this dire consequence bringing the break away peasant into line, compelling him to sell the jaggery to the merchant-moneylender, as observed.

• One of the options was to ensure through an attached sugarcane plantation.

• Under European ownership, or that of the refineries –and this was what appears to have been done around 1856 when a name to conjure with in the ‘Indian Planting world’ was inducted to operate the refinery.

• There were other solutions to be applied almost 80 years later. Imported integrated sugar factories owned by the higher echelons of the native merchant-money lending network, assisted by legislation banning gur and jaggery production of supply areas, and additional measures to ensure supplies from the peasant farmers.

• The indigenous manufactories in particular were to extinguish thereby, gur for obvious reasons was not easy to be rendered extinct.