Hand spinning -- India; India -- Economic conditions; Manufactures -- India
The statistics of weavers show that they also were as numerous as the
spinners. In the Patna city and Behar district, the total number of
looms employed in the manufacture of chaddars and table cloths was 750,
and the value of the annual manufactures was Rs. 5,40,000 leaving a
profit of Rs. 81,400, deducting the value of thread. This gave a profit
of Rs. 108 for each loom worked by three persons or an income of Rs. 36
a year for each person. But the greater part of the cloth-weavers made
coarse cloth for country use to the value of Rs. 24,386,621 after
deducting the cost of thread. This gave a profit of Rs. 28 for each
loom.
In Shahabad weavers worked in cotton only. 7,025 houses of weavers
worked in cotton and had 7,950 looms. Each loom made an annual income of
Rs. 20-3/4 a year and each loom required the labour of a man and his
wife as well as one boy or girl. But as a family could not be supported
for less than Rs. 48 a year, Dr. Buchanan suspected that the income of
each loom given above was understated.
In the Bhagalpur district some worked in silk alone. A great many near
the town made Tasar fabrics of silk and cotton intermixed; 3,275 looms
were so employed that the annual profit of each weaver employed in the
mixed silk and cotton industry was calculated to be Rs. 46 besides what
the woman made.
For the weaving of cotton-cloth, there were 7,279 looms. Each loom
yielded a profit of Rs. 20 a year. But by another calculation, Dr.
Buchanan estimated it to be Rs. 32 a year.
In the Gorakhpur district there were 5,434 families of weavers
possessing 6,174 looms and each loom brought an income of Rs. 23-1/2.
Dr. Buchanan thought this was too low an estimate and believed that each
loom brought an income of Rs. 88 in the year.
In the Dungarpur district "Maldai" cloth was manufactured. It consisted
of silk warp and cotton woof. 4,000 looms were employed in this work
and it was said that each loom made Rs. 20 worth of cloth in a month,
which Dr. Buchanan considered too high an estimate. About 800 looms were
employed in making larger pieces in the form of Elachis.
In the Purniya district weavers were numerous.... In Eastern Mysore
cotton-weavers made cloth for home-use as silk weavers produced a strong
rich fabric. Workmen who made cloth with silk borders earned As. 6 a day
and those who made silk cloth earned As. 4.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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