the contract may be cancelled and the goods be sent back to the raw silk 
dealer, or be bought with some deduction on the price settled in the pro- 
visional contract, or in some cases, as is often done, the sale may be executed 
after discarding the defective portion. 
The Inspection of Raw Silk 
The inspection of raw silk is chiefly carried on optically, but mechanical 
tests are often practised such as the following operations: 
(1) 50 skeins are taken out from each lot as samples for test. 
(2) 4 denier tests are taken from each skein for sizing test. 
(3) The number of breaks made in an hour should be counted for winding 
test. 
(4) Tenacity and elasticity are put in test. 
(5) The number of knots and knobs are examined. 
In order to aim at accuracy in the examination and quickness in the 
transactions, the Imperial Raw Silk Conditioning House, is generally requested 
to make a machine examination and the raw silk dealer presents the 
certificate of such examination received beforehand from the Conditioning 
House in dealing with the exporter, or asks the Conditioning House for the 
examination of the raw silk after the provisional contract has been made. 
Customs and Usages in Dealing 
Raw silk is usually sold by its net weight, but should it be observed to 
contain too much moisture, one-half of the whole of the goods is selected in 
the presence of both the exporter and the dealer, and sent over to the Con- 
ditioning House for conditioning. If the difference between the net and the 
conditioned weight be over 2 per cent., the dealing weight of the silk is deter- 
mined by deducting such difference. The weighing at the actual delivery of 
the goods is termed Kan-kan (weighing). All the tares (basket, calico bag, 
wrapper, etc.) must be deducted from the gross weight according to their 
materials, and for the cord used for making a book, a deduction of 0.75 kin 
per 100 kin shall be made, or if anything heavier, the actual weight shall be 
accounted for, any fraction below a quarter kin being cut off. A weighing 
charge of fifty sen per case is due to the weigher. 
In the dealings of raw silk, no credit is allowed, and the goods are always 
delivered against cash. There is another mode of buying raw silk called the 
“forward contract,” exchanged between the exporters and silk dealers. The 
quality of raw silk, its price, and the date of delivery are all specified in this 
contract, and the contractors are bound to follow the terms without any 
variation whatever on account of the current price of the goods at the time 
of delivery, but in most cases current price is used without being fixed. 
230 Je