412
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
Mr. D. CHADWICK, M.P., in opening the proceed-
ings, said:—Though not directly connected with the
silk trade, I have been led in various ways to feel an
interest in it, and for many years I have taken an
interest in the working of the Cotton Supply Asso-
ciation. In my communication with silk manufac-
turers, when the high price and short supply of silk
have been mentioned, I have inquired whether any
efforts were being made with regard to silk similar
to those made to obtain cotton; and the result has
been the proof that there was no united action having
for its object the increase of the supply of silk.
Without going into the question of the inadequacy
of the silk supply, I may say that the price of silk
alone indicates that there is something radically
wrong in regard to its production; otherwise we
should never find ourselves in the position of having
silk of some qualities 100 per cent. higher than it was
a few years ago. In 1860 the total weight of our
silk imports was 9,200,000 lbs.; in 1867 it was
5,800,000 lbs.; and in 1868 it was 6,800,000. The
prices of the various classes of silk have risen from
40 to considerably over 100 per cent. These few facts
are quite sufficient to justify inquiry by all engaged
in the different branches of the silk trade, with a
view to ascertaining whether some steps cannot be
taken to remedy the national loss occasioned by the
short supply of silk, due partly to the diseases of the
silkworm in European countries, and to warlike and
political disturbances in China and Japan. The short
supply and the high price have continued so long,
that it behoves those engaged in the trade and
interested in it in any way to see if a remedy can be
devised. The remedy we point out is—following in
the footsteps of the Cotton Supply Association. It
has been eminently successful, and no one connected
with it, except the secretary and the clerks in the
office, has received any remuneration; every one else
gives his services gratuitously. The members contri-
bute from one guinea upwards, according to the
interest they have in the cotton manufacture. The
Cotton Supply Association combines, as we trust the
Silk Supply Association will combine, all parties.
Every one interested in having an increased supply
will, we hope, become a member. That being the
object, we have endeavoured to put in the plainest
possible language the groundwork of the constitution
of the proposed Association. The statement of objects
has been carefully prepared, and I trust you will
approve of it without much alteration. Mr. Dickins
has had prepared the map exhibited on the wall,
showing the large portion of the world that is capable
of producing silk, and the small portion that is pro-
ducing it. This map shows how vast a field there is
for the labours of the Silk Supply Association. Where-
ever the mulberry-tree grows, there you can produce
silk. In a recent journey through the South of
France and Austria to the Lebanon, and as far as
Damascus, I saw silk reeled, spun, and woven in the
open air, by the same rude machinery which was used
2,000 years ago. I brought specimens of the silk
manufacture of Damascus with me. In Syria and
Egypt I passed through large districts in which silk
can be produced in great abundance. These things
led me to communicate with Mr. Dickins, who has
been the adviser in every step taken in all the
arrangements made so far. He has been largely
engaged in the silk manufacture, and having retired
from it, he is prepared to devote his time to the public
service in a matter in which he has taken so much
interest. I was led to communicate with Dr. Forbes
Watson, Professor Leoni Levi, and others interested,
and I had interviews with Mr. Ashburner, Collector
and Magistrate for Khandeish. He called my atten-
tion to a report he had made to the Government, in
which there was a remarkable expression as to the

capabilities of Khandeish for growing silk. Speaking
of the decline of the silk culture in India, he says
that the Hindoos are opposed to the culture of it on
religious grounds, and it is important, therefore, it
should be introduced among the Mussulman popula-
tion. As many of the operations are carried on in-
doons, the occupation is particularly suited to the
Mussulman population, whose women do not appear
in public. They are generally impoverished and
discontented, and this new branch of industry would
tend to restore them to prosperity. Could we have
a stronger claim upon the Government than an effort
which would produce so great a result? Mr. Ash-
burner said that the very smallest encouragement
through Government agents in Khandeish would
induce the people to rear the silkworm, and produce
a large supply of silk. He also spoke of several
other districts which only require encouragement to
a small extent to obtain a similar result. It behoves,
then, all engaged in the trade to spread information,
by which alone they may accomplish a very large
result.

Mr. DICKINS next said:—Mr. Chadwick will be
the founder of an Association of extreme importance
to the silk trade, for this movement is entirely due
to him. It is one of the greatest importance to the
silk industry. The trade had a hard battle to fight,
even under protection; and when the last crutch was
somewhat rudely removed from it, it had then a
harder battle still; but the main impediments to its
progress are the high price and the scarcity of raw
material. At present we get only a clumsily and
partially manufactured article in the raw silk that
comes from all countries except Italy and France.
Very many attempts have been made to improve the
quality of the silk. I have wasted several thousand
pounds in attempting to introduce silk-reeling into
this country, and I succeeded so far as to produce
silk equal to any from France, Italy, or any other
country; but my difficulties, and the difficulties of
others who made similar attempts, were with the raw
material—the cocoons. Sometimes they would come
in a tolerably perfect state, at others in a damaged and
inferior state, yet all costing the same price; and
the labour in this country was such a novelty that
what I attempted was too much for any individual
to accomplish. Attempts have been made in China
to improve the reeling of silk, and a gentleman of
great reputation as a silk-reeler is producing very
superior silk there; but he is keeping all his infor-
mation to himself, and is rigidly excluding any one
who could encroach on the benefits he is enjoying.
I think we may fairly conclude that any individual
efforts are only selfish and monopolizing in character.
This Association will take a broader, a more liberal,
and a more generous view of the whole thing: it will
not keep its information, but disseminate it through-
out the world—wherever the mulberry-tree grows
and silk may be produced. That is the essential and
important difference between what individual efforts
and that which a society by its aggregate efforts may
be able to accomplish. All the inferior silk produced
is due to defective reeling. The cocoons from every
country are about the same size in the thread, and
if an equal number of cocoons be continuously reeled
together you will obtain an even silk; but in China,
India, Persia, Asia Minor, and all countries except
France and Italy, so little care is given to the proper
number of cocoon threads being taken up and reeled
at one time, that the silk varies in size from eight or
ten to thirty or forty threads. If we can inform the
people of those countries how to reel the silk evenly,
the profitable result will in time follow. We must
also ascertain the best way of cultivating the mul-
berry, and disseminate that information everywhere;
we must also collect and diffuse information as to