PAST AND PRESENT FINANCIAL PROSPECTS OF TEA. 3 



and what the object there was is a mystery. I conceive, 

 however, there was a hazy idea that if 500 acres paid well, 

 1,000 would pay double, and that eventually even two or 

 three thousand acres would be put under Tea and make the 

 fortunate possessor a millionaire. In short, there were no 

 bounds, in fancy, to the size a garden might be made, and 

 thus loss No. 2 took place when absurdly large areas were 

 bought of the Government and large areas cultivated. 



The only fair rules for the sale of waste lands were those 

 of Lord Canning, which the Secretary of State at home, 

 who could know nothing of the subject, chose to modify and 

 upset. Instead of Rs. 2-8 per acre for all waste lands (by 

 no means a low price, when the cost of land in the Colonies 

 is considered) and that the applicant for the land (who had, 

 perhaps, spent months seeking for it) should have it, the 

 illiberal and unjust method of putting the land up to auction 

 with an upset price of Rs. 2-8 was adopted, the unfortunate 

 seeker, finder, and applicant, through whose labour the 

 land had been found, having no advantage over any other 

 bidder. The best, at least the most successful plan in those 

 days, though as unfair and illiberal as the Government 

 action, was to wait till some one, who was supposed to 

 know what good Tea land was, applied for a piece, and then 

 bid half an anna more than he did, and thus secure it. It 

 paid much better than hunting about for oneself, and it was 

 kind and considerate on the part of Government to devise 

 such a plan ! 



In those fever days, with the auction system, lands 

 almost always sold far above their value. The most absurd 

 prices, Rs. 10 and upwards per acre, were sometimes paid 

 for wild jungle lands. Tracts, which natives could have, 

 and in some cases did lease from Government for incon- 

 ceivably small sums, representing, say, at thirty years' 

 purchase, 4 annas per acre, were put up for auction with a 



