[ 22 ] 



Lord Majo named it the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Eevenue, and Commerce. The Secretary of State 

 objected to this, said that Revenue, and not Agricul- 

 ture, was the main object of the Department, and 

 ordered the name to be altered* to " Revenue, Agri- 

 culture, and Commerce." 



Lord Mayo selected as head of the Department, an 

 officer whom, from his own thoroughf knowledge of 

 the subject, he ascertained to be well versed in prac- 

 tical European agriculture, who had, for his own in- 

 formation and amusement, farmed in a small experi- 



* Extract paras. 3 and 4 of a despatch (No. 27 of tlie 3rd 

 August 1871) of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, to 

 His Excellency the Governor- General of India in Council. 



" 3. I consider, however, that the change that has been made in 

 the designation enjoined in paragraph 20 of my despatch of the 

 22nd September 1870, No. 61, by transposing the words Revenue 

 and Agriculture, is objectionable, as giving rise to the notion that 

 the revenue subjects, which are undoubtedly of the first import- 

 ance, are not so esteemed by the authorities in this country or in 

 India. Of such paramount importance are these subjects, that it 

 is obviously necessary that the officer appointed to the post of 

 Secretary in this Department should always be chosen on account 

 of his knowledge of the subjects connected with revenue, rather 

 than from any knowledge which he may possess of agricultural or 

 commercial matters. 



" 4. I must, therefore, direct you to revert to the title settled 

 by my despatch above alluded to, which, indeed, is the designation 

 most frequently made use of by your Excellency in Council in the 

 Resolution of the 6th of June." 



t Lord Mayo was probably the only Governor- General who has 

 farmed for a livelihood and made a living out of it. "When he 

 came of age (he was then Mr. Bourke), his father (whose elder 

 brother was still living) could not afford to make him any allow- 

 ance, but rented to him one of his farms to make what he could 

 out of it. This Lord Mayo farmed himself (" Many a day," he 

 used to say, " have I stood the livelong day in the market selling 

 my beasts,") and made enough out of it to enable him to attend 

 Parliament regularly from after Easter to the end of the Session. 



