91 



ness transactions of life. If I have done so cor- 

 rectly, there \vould appear to be three the mutual 

 valuation of seller and buyer, the valuation of the 

 seller, and the valuation of the buyer; and the 

 conditions of sales under each of these denominations, 

 which for our purpose may be considered essential, 

 are : for the^rstf, a market in which to negotiate 

 the transaction ; for the second, such a demand as 

 will guarantee to the seller a fair profit ; and for the 

 t hirdy such active competition as will ensure him 

 against loss.* 



Now the question "in regard to the thousands of 

 square miles of waste lands in India, is : Are any 

 one of these conditions found ? And I think I may 

 safely answer they are not. That there is no 

 market will not be disputed ;f that generally there 

 is no competition will not be denied ; and that the 

 demand is confined to the tea and coffee districts, if 

 not patent to all before, the cotton famine has satis- 

 factorily proved. If, then, these things be true, 

 and the condition of affairs is really as I have 

 sketched it, no further arguments, I should think, 

 are wanting to prove that circumstances are not 

 such as to render the present a favourable time for 



* I once saw a horse, certainly worth 10, sold at auction S ( 

 for five shillings. 



f By a market I mean a city, town, or place, where informa- 

 tion can be obtained by purchasers, from a Government Office, 

 agencies, or other sources, and where brokers, <&c., and other 

 appliances for determining the market value of the thing for 

 sale exist. 



