201 



ito our grants, by which hundreds of our cattle 

 perished. We have had lime-burners cut down our 

 finest timber for fuel for their kilns, because the 

 Government had reserved to itself and to the public 

 the right of taking limestone from lands, provided 

 the price for the privilege was paid to them.'* 



If then the intentions of the Indian Government 

 were pure and disinterested in this matter, and 

 this I think will not be questioned, it is abundantly 

 clear that the regulations for the disposal of waste 

 lands required most careful revision, and some 

 modification. This appears, moreover, to have been 

 for some time felt by the Government of India; 

 and, that attention was not earlier directed to the 

 subject, was probably attributable to the total 

 absence of settlers, or to circumstances, before 

 alluded to, which combined to keep the hands of 

 the supreme authorities ever full with matters 

 affecting the stability of the British rule, or having 

 for their object the consolidation of the Indian 

 Empire. The time, however, had now come for 

 seriously considering the question of waste lauds in 

 India. Tea cultivation in Assam, Cachar, and the 



* Letter from Lieut. -Colonel C. F. Thomas Joint Proprietor 

 and Sole Manager of East Hope Town and Arcadia Grants, to the 

 Superintendent Dehra Dhoon dated 10th October 1859. Blue Book 

 ICtli June 1862. In forwarding 1 the letter from which the above is 

 extracted to Government, the Superintendent made no comments, I 

 assume therefore that he was satisfied to allow judgement to go by 

 default; otherwise I should not have reprinted the passage. 



