HC Deb 18 December 1908 vol 198 cc2240-1
MR. REES (Montgomery Boroughs)

To ask the Under-Secretary of State for India what steps, if any, has the Government of Bombay taken to encourage the new industry of the culture of the silk of the Tassar and other wild silks in the province of Gujarat, to which their attention has been called by the Secretary of State for India; and will he say if the Director of Agriculture in Bombay some time ago officially denied the existence of the Tassar worm in that province, which has been proved by the importation of the cocoons of that species into England and the manufacture of their silk into yarn, of which a specimen has been sent to Bombay.

(Answered by Mr. Buchanan.) The Bombay Government have reported that, having investigated the subject, they do not consider the prospects of establishing the industry to be such as would justify any action on their part at present. The Secretary of State is not aware that the Director of Agriculture, Bombay, has denied the existence of the Tassar worm in that province.