Kyao-chau is the center of the cloth-making district. I inclose samples* and present prices of Kyao-chau cloth.

Sample No. 1 is made from the raw silk, while the others have had the fiber dressed and softened by boiling before weaving. HENRY B. MILLER,

NIUCHWANG, CHINA, June 22, 1903.

Consul.

COTTON CULTURE IN THE GERMAN COLONIES.

In order to meet the constantly growing demand for cotton in the German textile industries, the attempt has been made to grow cotton in the German African colonies, and according to the trials already made the success of this new undertaking seems almost assured. Cotton plantations have been established in Togo, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa, and German East Africa. A German syndicate also contemplates the culture of cotton in Asia Minor. In Togo the development of the cotton culture has been most successful, so much so that the second year's crop-that of 1902-was as large again as that of the first year, 50,000 pounds of cotton having been exported. The cost of producing 500 pounds of cotton, exclusive of business management and amortization, was 205.35 marks ($48.87), while the selling price realized was 343.50 marks ($78.75).

Great efforts are being made to further the cotton culture in the German colonies, and the most important cotton mills of Germany. have, after thorough trial, declared Togo cotton to be of excellent quality, and are indorsing the efforts of the German colonial cotton growers, hoping thereby to become independent of American cotton, especially as Germany manufactures at present about $200,000,000 worth of cotton goods yearly, giving employment in its cotton. industries of all kinds to over 1,000,000 workmen. It is claimed that America is unable to cover the world's demand for cotton, thereby causing cotton to become not a staple article of commerce, but one of speculation, and therefore greatly detrimental to the cotton-textile industry.

MAINZ, GERMANY, July 20, 1903.

WALTER SCHUMANN,

Consul.

*Samples are on file in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, where parties interested may see them.

ENCOURAGING COTTON PLANTING IN BRITISH WEST INDIES.

The cultivation of cotton is just now receiving considerable attention in Antigua. Montserrat has for a few years been raising a small quantity of high-grade cotton and is showing inclination to largely increase the acreage this year. The agricultural department of the West Indies and the Agricultural Society of Antigua have been making efforts to induce the planters of this island to put a part of their land in cotton. Several public meetings have been held, which I attended. The last meeting, at which the governor presided, was held on June 29. The Cotton Growers' Association of Manchester, England, has shipped, and they are on the way hither, a gin and press as a loan, free of charge, to the island. The Agricultural Society, with headquarters at Barbados, proposes to furnish another gin and an engine and to erect a building on land furnished by the government. In this "central factory," as it is called, they propose to receive all cotton and gin and bale it free of cost to the planter, excepting only the actual cost of labor, or they will remove the seed and bale the cotton for the seed, at the option of the plantIn addition to this the agents of the Royal Mail Steamship Company announce that they are instructed to receive all cotton raised in Antigua consigned to the Cotton Growers' Association at Manchester, England, and forward the same free of all charges for freight and handling. It is announced in the press that promises for the planting of about 400 acres to cotton this year were made at the recent meeting at Government House. Much of the seed is now in the ground and the balance will be planted during this month. W. R. ESTES,

ers.

ANTIGUA, BRITISH WEST INDIES, July 9, 1903.

Consul.

FRENCH COLONIAL COTTON PRODUCTION.

An association has recently been formed by a group of French merchants and spinners for the study and development of the culture of cotton in the French colonies, particularly in Africa. Reference is made in the prospectus to the efforts of the British Empire to encourage the growing of cotton in Egypt and India and to a German society for promoting the cultivation of cotton in Togoland. and other German colonies.

Southern Algeria is considered by a writer in the Dépêche Coloniale as deserving the attention of the French Colonial Cotton Growing Association. The oases created by the public works department of Tunis in southern Algeria by means of artesian wells have proved extremely fertile, and with palms and other trees to shelter the cotton from the winds would well serve the purpose of the association. In support of his suggestion, the writer quotes from a report made to the Tunisian department of agriculture to the effect that samples of cotton had been collected at El Oudiane, El Hamma, and Nefta, and that the better grades grown at Gabès had been valued by Havre brokers at $193 per metric ton for Peruvian ordinary t irregular. The cost of transport per metric ton is estimated at $19.30 from Tozeur to Gofza by cart, $6.18 from Gafza to Sfax by rail, and $4.83 from the latter port to Marseilles.

COBURG, GERMANY, July 14, 1903.

OLIVER J. D. HUGHES,

Consul-General.

JUTE CROP OF INDIA FOR 1903.

As about 60 per cent of the jute manufactures and nearly 15 per cent of the raw jute exported from India go to the United States, the following statistics, compiled from the "First forecast of the jute crop in Bengal, where most of the jute is raised for the season 1903," by the officiating director of the department of land records and agriculture, Bengal, are submitted. Returns have been received from 26 districts in Bengal, the area under jute in the remaining 21 districts being insignificant. About two-thirds of the crop is grown in eastern Bengal, while one-third comes from the northern districts. The present forecast contains figures for the area sown and the probable outturn of the crop, as estimated up to the middle of June.

The weekly weather and crop reports from the important jutegrowing districts show marked deficiency of rain in April and to some extent in May.

The collectors report deficiency of rain at the time of sowing from all the jute-growing districts except Murshidabad and Balasore, where areas under jute are comparatively unimportant.

Not less than 2,300,000 acres may be taken as the normal area under jute and 7,500,000 bales as the normal outturn.

The reports last year show that 2,200,000 acres were sown and the figures of exports and consumption show the crop to have been. not less than 5,800,000 bales.

The present season collectors report the area under jute as 2,019,ooo acres. It is undoubtedly the fact that a smaller area has been sown this year than last, owing to the want of rain at the time of No 277-036

sowing; but, having regard to the marked tendency to underestimate, it is safe to assume that the area under jute this year is not less than 2,100,000 acres. Notwithstanding the smaller area, the estimate for outturn given by district officers are, on the whole, more favorable than last year.

As the area sown this year is less than 10 per cent below the normal crop, it is believed the outturn will be 5,400,000 bales.

CALCUTTA, INDIA, July 2, 1903.

R. F. PATTERSON,
Consul-General.

CANADIAN BOUNTIES.

IRON AND STEEL BOUNTIES.

The policy of the Canadian Government in regard to the iron and steel duties was promulgated on July 7, 1903. Wire rods, which are not now made in Canada and are on the free list, will, when manufactured here, earn a bounty of $6 a ton on condition that they are sold to the steel-wire makers to undergo further finishing processes. The idea of this is to secure the establishment of a new industry in Canada. A bounty of $3 per ton will also be paid on large-sized steel plates and on structual iron when produced in Canada. At present these plates are not made here, and they enter at the low duty of 10 per cent, while structural iron is subject to a duty of 35 per cent. The reduction of the sliding scale of iron and steel bounties is postponed for one year.

In 1897 the Government granted the following bounties per ton:

On steel ingots..........

On puddled iron bars........

On the proportion of pig iron produced from Canadian ores...

On the proportion of pig iron produced from foreign ore.........

$3

3

3

2

In 1899, however, it was enacted that these bounties should be paid yearly in the following proportions and cease in 1907:

1902-3...

Per cent.

90

The effect of the suspension is that 90 per cent of the duties will be paid in 1903-4, as well as during the fiscal year which has just closed, and thereafter in the following proportions:

The announcement that the Government would grant a bounty of three-eighths of 1 cent per pound was made by Mr. Fielding in his budget speech. The resolutions are as follows:

The governor in council may authorize payment of the following bounties on the undermentioned articles manufactured in Canada from steel produced in Canada, from ingredients of which not less than 50 per cent of the weight thereof consists of pig iron made in Canada, viz:

On rolled, round wire rods, not over three-eighths of an inch in diameter, when sold to wire manufacturers for use in making wire in their own factories in Canada, a bounty of $6 per ton; on rolled angles, tees, channels, beams, joists, girders, or bridge building or structural rolled sections, and on other rolled shapes not round, oval, square, or flat, weighing not less than 35 pounds per lineal yard, and also on flat eye-bar blanks, when sold for consumption in Canada, a bounty of $3 per ton.

On rolled plates not less than 30 inches in width and not less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness, when sold for consumption in Canada for manufacturing purposes for which such plates are usually required, and not to include plates to be sheared into plates of less width, a bounty of $3 per ton.

The governor in council may make regulations to carry out the intentions of the foregoing section.

That chapter 8 of the statutes of 1899 be so amended as to provide that the bounties on steel and iron authorized by chapter 6 of the statutes of 1897 shall be continued until June 30, 1907, and that the rates of such bounties shall be as follows:

From July 1, 1903, to June 30, 1904, both inclusive, the bounties shall be 90 per cent of the amount fixed by the said chapter 6 of the statutes of 1897.

From July 1, 1904, to June 30, 1905, both inclusive, the bounties shall be 75 per cent of the amount fixed by the said chapter.

From July 1, 1905, to June 30, 1906, both inclusive, the bounties shall be 55 per cent of the amount fixed by the said chapter.

From July 1, 1906, to June 30, 1907, both inclusive, the bounties shall be 35 per cent of the amount fixed by the said chapter.

The Government has decided not to treat the Newfoundland ore as a domestic ore in regard to the duties payable, although the Dominion Iron and Steel Company made an application to that effect.

BINDER-TWINE BOUNTY.

Under date of February 26, 1903,* I reported that representatives of the eleven binder-twine and cordage factories in Canada had waited upon the ministers of customs and finance and asked for the imposition of a duty on binder twine, the reason assigned for this action being that the American manufacturers were able to obtain their manila fiber three-eighths of 1 cent per pound less than their Canadian competitors; consequently the former were able to undersell the latter in the Canadian market. As a result of this representation, the Dominion Government has come to the relief of

* Published in ADVANCE SHEETS No. 1591 (March 11, 1903).