s of central Asia and
Trans-Caucasia were used in 1900: her imports in the same year were
about 170,000 tons.

_Switzerland._--Swiss spindles advanced until the early "'seventies,"
but a decline followed. Details are:--

1830 400,000
1850 950,000
1876 1,854,000
1883 1,809,000
1898 1,704,000
1909 (estimated) 1,500,000

The falling off is occasioned mainly by (a) the developing
industrialism of the rest of Europe, notably Germany, and (b) the
diminishing importance of the natural advantage of water-power with
the improvement of steam-engines. Swiss yarns have been kept out of
continental markets in the interests of home spinning. Now fancy
cotton goods, laces and trimmings are the leading specialities of the
Swiss textile workers. About half the Swiss spindles are in the canton
of Zurich, between a quarter and a third in Glarus, about the same in
St Gall and 9% in Aargau. Figures show that the average size of the
Swiss mill is small. The average spindles to a mill were 22,000, and
very few mills held more than 50,000 spindles. Some 9000 of the
power-looms are in Zurich, some 4500 in Glarus and 4000 in St Gall.
Wald in the south-east of the canton of Zurich is an important centre
of the muslin manufacture.

_Austria._--Austria contains about 4,200,000 spindles and more yarn is
consumed than it produces, as on balance there is an excess of imports
of yarn. Bohemia, lower Austria, Tirol and Vorarlberg account for the
mass of Austrian spinning. The following details relating to these
districts recently are of interest:--

+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
| | | | Average |
| | Mills. | Spindles. | spindles |
| | | | to a mill.|
+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+
| Bohemia | 82 | 1,870,000 | 22,800 |
| Lower Austria | 23 | 460,000 | 20,000 |
| Tirol and Vorarlberg | 20 | 435,000 | 21,700 |
+-----------------------+--------+-----------+-----------+

Reichenberg and the surrounding district is the chief manufacturing
place: here are more than 80,000 looms, nearly a half of which are
hand-looms.

_Italy._-