83 



an anxious desire to protect the public from the 

 evils of a great monopoly, and a determination, 

 to preserve inviolate to the planters already esta- 

 blished, those pledges, on the good faith of which, 

 they had undertaken the cultivation. 



'As regards the Punjab/ wrote Earl Canning 

 in December 1860. ' the Lieutenant Governor 

 sent up a proposition in March last, to sell the 

 factories and plantations in the Kangra district, 

 but this has since been found to be an inexpe- 

 dient measure. The Governor General was at Kangra 

 shortly after the proposal was made, and was satis- 

 fied that the sale of this property to private per- 

 sons, would have a most injurious effect. It would 

 throw the supply of plants and seed into the hands 

 of the purchasers, who would probably conceive 

 it their interest to raise the price of these ; and 

 as the carriage of either seed or plants from the 

 Kamaon country (the nearest available source of 

 supply) is expensive and precarious, the cultivation. 

 in Kangra, which is no\v liberally encouraged by 

 the Government factory, and is just beginning to 

 be understood and undertaken by the Native Land- 

 holders, would be checked. The time at which 

 it may be advisable to dispose of it to private pur- 

 chasers will depend mainly on the progress which 

 private plantations may make/ 



' As regards the plantations proposed for sale in 



ic N. W. Provinces, the case is different. There 



