Parsee magnates

"David Sassoon and the equally canny Parsee magnates up on Malabar Hill waited until the vanguard had painfully cut their wisdom teeth. The new mills were badly ventilated, with fire a chronic hazard. Native labour was casual and mostly too unskilled to handle even the old-fashioned machinery. Cleaning and ginning remained primitive, largely by hand and foot-rollers, while the yarn itself was unsuitable for the newly developed British looms. America found it easy to deliver better quality cotton more cheaply and faster. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, cargoes from Alabama would be unloading in England while Indian yarn was still puffing up the coast of Africa."

"The pattern was becoming all too clear to Elias. His brother would remain the suave Chairman, although increasingly absorbed in civic affairs and his social life. He was playing host to the Governor, local officials, the Parsee magnates and any native princes who happened to be visiting the Presidency. He was being canvassed to accept nomination to the Bombay Legislative Council. His two sons had private tutors and would doubtless follow him into the business after completing their education in England. He was still in his prime, full of vigour and affable, if a touch pompous. He had lost his hair which gave a more patrician look to the longish face, framed by an almost white imperial beard."