31 



most liberal terms. Tea Gardens sprung up in 

 Upper Assam by dozens. Messrs. Martin and Sons 

 in Lower Assam (1854), and others in Central 

 Assam, followed in the same course. And finally, an 

 impulse was imparted to the new cultivation, which 

 has resulted in giving to a Province, heretofore 

 a penal Settlement, an importance second to none 

 in the British possessions in India. 



The quantity of land appropriated to the cultiva- 

 tion of tea by the latest returns (July 1862) 

 had reached the sum of 71,218 acres, 13,222 of 

 which are actually under cultivation, bearing an 

 estimated crop of 1,788,737 Ibs. of tea, and affording 

 employment to 16,611 daily laborers.* There are 

 now in Assam one hundred and sixty plantations, 

 owned by sixty Companies and individuals. Of 

 the Companies, five are joint-stock concerns, the 

 Assam, the Jorehat, the East India, and the Lower, 

 and the Central Assam; besides which there are 

 fifteen private Companies. And, if an idea be 

 required of the favor with which the public now 

 views India tea investments, it may be gathered 

 from the stubborn fact, that the shares of the 

 Company which, as before mentioned, were one e 

 sold in the Calcutta Market for less than one rupee, 



* Very numerous additional grants have been lately applied for 

 under th*> Resolution of the Government of India regarding 1 the sale 

 of waste lands (17th October 1861 ;) but none will be complied 

 with pending- receipt of the orders of the Bight Hou'ble the Secre- 

 tary of State . 



