"ESPARTO," like other commercial products, is amenable to the law of supply and demand; and thus, as the demand is, and is likely to continue in excess of the supply, its cost has enormously increased, the price it now commands in the market being nearly double that, at which I sold many thousand tons during the early years of its introduction. The Paper-manufacturers are thus again experiencing the same difficulty recognized by THE LORDS OF THE TREASURY, and by THE BOARD OF TRADE in 1854, and which more recently was considered of sufficient importance to induce the appointment of a SELECT COMMITTEE ordered by THE HOUSE OF COMMONS in 1861: "To inquire into the DUTIES OR PROHIBITIONS in FOREIGN COUNTRIES on the EXPORT OF RAGS used in the MANUFACTURE OF PAPER in the UNITED KINGDOM, and their effect upon that MANUFACTURE." The COMMITTEE REPORTED: "That the production of paper in this country is in excess of the supply of the material of which it is made, and the paper manufacture is in consequence dependent for a large portion of its supplies on foreign Rags, amounting to about 15,000 tons per annum, which is by estimation a fifth of the whole quantity of Rags used for the manufacture of white paper in this country, on nearly the whole of which heavy export duties are paid." Another paragraph of the COMMITTEE'S "REPORT" states: "That the Committee have directed their especial attention to inquiring as to the possibility of applying any _New Fibre_ as a substitute for the refuse material now in use for Paper-making purposes, and find that great efforts have been made to discover some material of this nature, but as yet with little success; and although they see no reason to doubt that Straw and other fibrous substances may form a supplementary part of the material for paper-making, the great comparative expense of chemically reducing these _Raw Fibres_ presents difficulties to their becoming a substitute for the refuse material now used." Since the above "REPORT" was published, the position of the Trade has materially altered. The export duties in some countries have been abolished, in others reduced; Rag material has increased in quantity and diminished in price; "the difficulties of chemically reducing _Raw Fibres_" no longer exist; and the "15,000 _tons_ of Rags" estimated by the "COMMITTEE" as the requirements of the Trade have been more than "substituted" by the 150,000 _tons of_ "ESPARTO" _and other Raw material_, now annually imported, while the development of the chemical trade keeping pace with the introduction of "RAW FIBRES" has materially facilitated their employment. Caustic soda, but little known in 1861, is now extensively manufactured, and Weldon's new process has greatly increased the power of production and diminished the cost of manufacturing bleaching powder; thus "the comparative expense of chemically reducing _Raw Fibres_" is no longer an obstacle to progress.