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states, that with the exception of the tea tracts, the 

 lands at the disposal of Government in the districts 

 under his charge 'offer very little temptation for 

 the embarkation of British capital by reason of the 

 sparseness of the population, the difficulty of com- 

 munication, and the deadliness of the climate in 

 which they are situated/ 



In Bengal, except in the Soonderbuns, Assam, 

 Cachar, Arracan, Chittagong, and some Hill dis- 

 tricts, there is little or no land at the disposal of 

 Government. 



In Oude, of culturable waste land, there is said to 

 be 428,243 acres, but this amount it is stated will 

 be greatly diminished by grants to natives. On the 

 prospect held out by the remainder of these acres, 

 the Chief Commissioner thus remarks : ( The cost of 

 felling- the trees and grubbing* up the brushwood is 

 very heavy. Cultivators must be attracted by 

 liberal advances and very low rents ; and if sickness 

 breaks out, which it usually does in a newly cleared 

 tract, all will take to flight. It is a well known fact 

 that not one European grantee out of twenty has 

 succeeded. Those who have ultimately prospered 

 were heavy losers at first, or bought out the first 

 possessors who were ruined. This was Mr. Cooke's 

 case. The very largest settler in Goruckpoor was 

 ruined by clearing the forest too fast ; he cut down 

 the tall timber before he had made sufficient arrange- 

 ments for bringing the land under the plough, and 

 the consequence was, that an impenetrable brush- 



