10.2 



which the people are accustomed, and to the care 

 of which they might easily be trained j' and this 

 statement, in conjunction with that of the Govern- 

 ment Superintendent of Cotton Experiments Mr. 

 Price, who visited Birmah in 1854,, that the ground 

 lying along both banks of the Irrawaddi, from 

 Prome up to Thyet Mew, is superb Cotton land, 

 the finest he had ever seen, may be taken, as suffi- 

 ciently conclusive. Mr. W. Muir the late able 

 Secretary to the Government of the K. W. 

 Provinces, and now Member of the Board of Reve- 

 nue, in 1849 estimated the area of Cotton cultiva- 

 tion likely to afford supplies for European Markets 

 at 829,753 acres, which he was of opinion was 

 capable of extension to 1,474,801 acres. In many 

 reports, moreover, I find it stated that, we re sufficient 

 inducement offered i.e. of course, were cotton culti- 

 vation more profitable than other crops the culti- 

 vation could be extended fifty, sixty, and even, a hun- 

 dred fold ; and there can be so little doubt of this, 

 that I think it merely waste of time to discuss the 

 point, especially as the fact has already been accept- 

 ed by the Manchester Chamber gf Commerce.* 



* At a meeting of the Board of directors of the Manchester 

 Chamber of Commerce, held on the 16th July 1862 the following- 

 resolutions were considered and adopted: 



1. In the present suspension of importation of cotton from 

 America, and with the prospect of a seriously diminished supply 

 from thenco for possibly years to come, this Board have thought 

 it their duty to examine and report on the sug-g-estion made 



