The following results of the examination, by the A.I.K.B., of the yarn received from various provinces, last month, will be of much interest and instruction.
ANDHRA
The province has not come up to the expectations raised of it as the home of the finest spinning in India.
There were 429 packets received. 50 contain overtwisted and indifferently spun yarn.The hanks are very various in length, one being no less than 6 feet, and some being as short as 9 to 10 inches. These last, especially because they are not leased, will entail a lot of waste of time and yarn in the unwinding. Attempt seems to have been made in many cases of obtaining higher count of yarn from cotton of less calibre, and in no case does the yarn seem to have been sprayed. Here is a list of those who may be said to have passed "with honours". Yds. Count Quality
1. Sj. M. Paparao 666 55 Very good
2. " K. Suryanarayana 2660 49 '' ''
3. " M. Laxmi Narasimha 5700 47 Fair
4. " P. Kanakamma 2000 48 Good
5. " K. Ashwanathacharyulu 2000 41 Fair
The registers and labels are all right.
ASSAM
The quality would almost make up for the quantity, if it was not very little. Spraying would have added to the excellence. Honours:
1. Sj. Shivprasad Barna 2940 40 Good
AJMER
Better than the yarn received from other parts of Rajputana.
BOMBAY
The redeeming feature is that there are more women spinners than men, no less than four being Parsis. Some of the yarn is indifferent, whilst there are some specimen of properly spun, properly hanked and sprayed yarn too.
BIHAR
Bihar has failed to reach even tolerably near the mark, both in point of quantity and quality, Babu Rajendra Prasad tops the list, having sent 10,148 yards of 8 counts well-spun and well-hanked. But there is hardly a single good second to him.
BENGAL
Bengal has come out most creditably. 107 members of Khadi Pratishthan have sent yarn which uniformly shows the hand of the practised spinner.The hanks should be more uniform, leased, and the yarn sprayed.
A little lady of eighteen has won an easy first class first in all India. Her name is Shrimati Aparnadevi. She has sent 7,000 yards of beautifully twisted and even yarn of 76 counts.
The labels are perfect.
CENTRAL PROVINCESΓÇöHINDI
Not creditable on the whole. There are a few good specimens though:
1. Devi Subhadra Kumari 2000 30 Good
2. Umrao Singh Chauhan 2048 22 Fair
CENTRAL PROVINCESΓÇöMARATHI
Most of the yarn does not show a higher count than 20 but bears the mark of practised spinning.There is some yarn of lower count, but very well and evenly spun. The labels are indifferently done, so much so that it was impossible in case of some very good yarn, to find out the name of the spinner.
GUJARAT
First in point of quantity and shows uniformly practised spinning. Even Cutch and Kathiawar, proverbial for coarse spinning, have sent fine yarn. The palm has been carried away by Darbar Sahib Gopaldas Desai, Dhasa, who has sent 5,074 yards of good yarn of 45 counts (on an average). One of his hanks has yarn of 72 counts, another of 55 and the rest 40 and thereabouts. Some members of the Khadi Mandal have sent very good yarn ranging to 30 counts.
The registers and labels are perfect.
DELHI
Only 12 packets were received, only one of which contains well-spun yarn, but bears a label with illegible superscription.
KARNATAKA
Quantity small, quality good. All yarn unsprayed. The best spinners:
1. Sj. Shanker G. Golatgi 2040 38 Very good
2. " Dr. D. R. Hulialkar 2000 40 Fair
3. " Bhimrao Nagavi 2040 38 Good
MAHARASHTRA
Very indifferent on the whole. One or two places like Ratnagiri and Bhusawal show practised spinning. Mr. Dastane's yarn of 14 counts is good. The registers do not tally with the labels.
PUNJAB
Very little quantity, quality too except in three or four instances does no credit to the Punjab.
SIND
A sorry affair.
Little trace of practised spinning.
TAMILNAD
Yarn is of uniformly good quality. But for the quantity it easily competes with Bengal. Especially noteworthy is the yarn in fairly large quantity sent by the Vykom volunteers. fit is all uniformly good. Honours winners:
1. Sj. Minakshi Sundaram 2040 97 Good
2. " Shanmuga Sundaram Pillay 2520 80 "
The register is the best prepared in all India.
UNITED PROVINCES
Very little spun yarn, but there are some very good exceptions:
1. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 4051 23to40 Very good
2. Srimati Kamala Nehru 2548 17 to 22 Good
3. Sj. Shambhunath 2265 15 "
4. " Purushottamdas Tandon 2800 14 Fair
UTKAL
Indifferent on the whole, but as in U.P., there are some very good exceptions.
1. Sj. Vishwanath Parida 2000 30 Good
2. " Bikancharan Hota 2000 28 "
3. " Gopabandhu Chaudhri 2000 21 "
4. " Niranjan Patnayak 2223 19 "
5. " Mahomed Hanif 2000 16 "
BURMA, BERAR, KERALA
There was hardly any yarn to speak of.
Thus there is room for improvement everywhere. Uniformity of length of hanks should be secured at least for each province. It saves considerable after-expense.Under the sacrificial voluntary system in which everyone spins for love, we should be able to reach perfection, if the spinners bear in mind the detailed instructions issued by the A.I.K.B. from time to time. I tender my congratulations to the young lady (Aparna Devi) who stands first in the all-India list.
