§ MR. REESTo ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can give the House any information regarding the results attained by the experiments made at Cawnpore as to the relative merits of natural and synthetic indigos, the publication of which might be of advantage to the native industry and the natural dye.
§ (Answered by Mr. Secretary Morlcy) A full account of the experiments is given by Mr. C. Bergtheil, of the Bengal Agricultural Department, in the "Indian Trade Journal," of the 11th April, 1907. He reports that the experiments, so far as they went, were favourable to the natural indigo as a dye for woollen piece-goods, but that they required to be repeated and supplemented by other experiments before a definite judgment could be formed. It is understood that experiments will be carried out by the Agricultural Department of Bengal.