that, after allowing for the cost of cultivation and of ex- 

 tracting the fibre, the raw material might be sold at such a 

 price as to add considerably to the Imperial revenue. 



I have given my reasons for thinking that the develop- 

 ment of the fibre trade of India should, at all events, in 

 the first instance, be undertaken by the Government, and 

 not left to the enterprise of merchants ; and I am glad to 

 know that her Majesty's Secretary of State for India is of 

 the same opinion. We have to deal in the East with a 

 people entirely different from our own countrymen ; and I 

 would earnestly beg the English reader, who has not lived 

 in the East, to consider the arguments I have brought for- 

 ward in support of my position, before he forms an opinion 

 on this matter.* 



The great practical interest which the Indian Govern- 

 ment has taken in the preparation of rheea fibre, and the 

 readiness which it has always shewn to encourage the 

 development of the resources of the country, are sufficient 

 guarantee that it will not allow a matter of such importance 

 to remain unexamined ; and I am confident that experiment 

 will shew my hopes to be well grounded. 



The matter is one of exceptional interest, at a time when 

 the supply of the principal material hitherto in use for 

 paper-making is insufficient for the demand; and when 

 considerable anxiety prevails regarding the jutef trade, 

 which is apparently in a languishing condition. 



1 have devoted much time and thought to the subject of 

 this pamphlet, and should be very grateful for any sug- 

 gestions that may occur to the reader. I am convinced 

 that, sooner or later, the matter will be taken up by 

 English merchants in Indiar, and I am altogether of opinion 

 that it ' should ultimately be left in their hands. But it 



* Vide paragraph 33, Part I. 



t I would invite the reader's special attention to the portion of this 

 pamphlet (pp. 6975) in which!! have contrasted jute and the Calotropis 

 gigantea as fibre-yielding plants, &c. 



