DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22901#0265
CHAP. VI.]
SILK FACTORIES.
249
spinning and weaving by machinery remains to be
noted. Two silk factories had been at work for some
years but without any success despite European man-
agement. At last the owners of one of them, Messrs.
Sassoon and Co., engaged the services of a skilled
Parsi artisan, Pestanji Dosabhai Kapadia. He was a
native of Surat, and fully conversant with silk-weav-
ing by manual labour in all its variety of colours and
details. The rich " kinkobs " and other silk fabrics of
Surat have deservedly established their reputation for
colour, brilliancy, pattern, and glossiness, and though
it is a matter of regret that the industry is gradually
decaying for want of adequate support and patronage,
there are yet enough native weavers who can live
upon their products, and there is still room for hope
that the industry may revive. Meanwhile it is worthy
of note how the skill and enterprise of the Surat
Parsi engaged by the Sassoon Mills have altogether
altered the prospects of that factory for the better.
His ingenuity, derived from previous practical experi-
ence, has enabled the factory to turn out very hand-
some fabrics which sell freely in the bazaar at
a good profit. So great has been the success of this
mill that a rival concern managed by the respect-
able and enterprising Hindu firm of Messrs. Tapidas
Varjdas and Co. has amalgamated with it. This Parsi
manager has now shown the way to making silk
manufactories as successful in Bombay as cotton-mills.
SILK FACTORIES.
249
spinning and weaving by machinery remains to be
noted. Two silk factories had been at work for some
years but without any success despite European man-
agement. At last the owners of one of them, Messrs.
Sassoon and Co., engaged the services of a skilled
Parsi artisan, Pestanji Dosabhai Kapadia. He was a
native of Surat, and fully conversant with silk-weav-
ing by manual labour in all its variety of colours and
details. The rich " kinkobs " and other silk fabrics of
Surat have deservedly established their reputation for
colour, brilliancy, pattern, and glossiness, and though
it is a matter of regret that the industry is gradually
decaying for want of adequate support and patronage,
there are yet enough native weavers who can live
upon their products, and there is still room for hope
that the industry may revive. Meanwhile it is worthy
of note how the skill and enterprise of the Surat
Parsi engaged by the Sassoon Mills have altogether
altered the prospects of that factory for the better.
His ingenuity, derived from previous practical experi-
ence, has enabled the factory to turn out very hand-
some fabrics which sell freely in the bazaar at
a good profit. So great has been the success of this
mill that a rival concern managed by the respect-
able and enterprising Hindu firm of Messrs. Tapidas
Varjdas and Co. has amalgamated with it. This Parsi
manager has now shown the way to making silk
manufactories as successful in Bombay as cotton-mills.