INDIA AND THE EMPIRE.
[To THE EDITOR OP Tns " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—One would, I think, naturally gather from what you say towards the end of your article that there is more British capital in the cotton mill industry in India than Indian capital. The mills are largely confined to• the Bombay l'residency and the Central Provinces. In the cities of Bombay and Ahmedabad there are probably over a hundred mills altogether, and I am within the mark when I say that not one-tenth of this number are managed by British agents, tha remainder being managed by Indian agents. Any one who has been engaged in business in Bombay in recent years will, I feel sure, agree with me when I say that only a comparatively small amount of British capital is invested, and that the great bulk of the capital in the industry is Indian capital. I may incidentally add as a matter of interest in this connexion that the purchase and sale of shares in local industries in Bombay and Ahmedabad are entirely in the hands of Indian share-brokers. Up till a few months ago, at any rate, there was no European share-broker in either of these cities. That fact in itself, 1 think, indicates where the capital princi- pally comes from.—I am, Sir, &c., A. U. W.
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