glish legal prohibitions. Lievin Bauwens was the prime
mover of the achievement. Expansion rapidly followed, and in 1892
Belgian spindles numbered nearly a million. Since then a decline has
set in. Ghent, with about 600,000 spindles, is the only really
important place: no other place has as many as 50,000. Holland
possesses about 417,000 spindles: the leading district is Twente and
the leading town Enschede; Twente contains also about 20,000
power-looms. Rotterdam is the chief cotton port; Amsterdam, always a
far-away second, has lost place still further of late.

_Spain and Portugal._--The greatness of Spain in the cotton industry
lies buried in the remote past, but of late she has awakened somewhat,
with the result that her spindles now number about 1,853,000.
Catalonia is the chief province where the industry is carried on, and
Barcelona surpasses all other centres. Portugal possesses nearly half
a million spindles (the bulk in Lisbon and Oporto), many of which have
appeared since 1894.

_The Rest of Europe_.--Of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece and
Macedonia no special mention need be made, nor of other parts where
the cotton industry may just exist. It may be mentioned here that
among the scattered rural populations of many parts of the continent,
even in such advanced countries as France and Germany, hand-looms are
still to be found in large numbers.

_India_.--The hand-cotton-industry has been carried on in India since
the earliest times, and for many years English fabrics were protected
against the all-cottons of India. Soon after the introduction of
spinning by rollers, English all-cottons began to rival the Indian in
quality as well as in cost. A large export trade to India has grown
up, but Indian hand-loom weavers still ply their craft. In 1851
power-spinning was started, and by 1876 there were in India 1,000,000
spindles. Since then they have nearly reached six millions and
importations of yarn have been significantly affected. The growth of
Indian power-spinning, which is almost entirely of the ring variety,
was attributed by some to the depreciation of the rupee after 1873,
but the fall in the value of the rupee was stopped in 1893 and the
competition continued. The real explanation, no doubt, is that at the
cost of Indian labour it is found cheaper to import machinery and coal
than to export or cease to grow cotton and import yarn.