32 TEA PLANTING IN 



others this system is condemned as tending to the mono- 

 poly of the tea country, the profits on which would find 

 their way into the pockets of wealthy absentee capitalists, 

 while a small staff of officials to work the speculation 

 would alone live in the tea districts ; whereas by placing 

 a limit on the grants the prize might be shared by per- 

 sons of moderate means, and a class of settlers thus 

 be formed, who, living on the spot, would improve 

 the condition of the natives of the soil, by spending 

 among them a considerable portion of the compe- 

 tence realized by their labour, thus connecting by ties 

 of interest a people hitherto kept in check by armed 

 force. 



These lots, again, ought not to be too limited or too 

 rigorously bound down by conditions, for unless suffi- 

 cient is granted to enable individuals to secure a good 

 income, who would be found anxious to merely gain 

 a subsistence in India, while the other colonies are open 

 to them ? 



It must be borne in mind, too, that property in India 

 is not quite so safe as in other British possessions, and 

 that, therefore, a larger profit will be expected to cover 

 the risk ; moreover, each settler is of so much impor- 

 tance that Government will not suffer by adopting every 

 possible means to facilitate his wishes or further his 

 prospects, at the same time moulding, as far as possible, 

 the self-interested views of individuals to the public 

 welfare. 



Major Lake, in his letter to the Punjaub Govern- 

 ment,* attaches such importance to peopling the Hima- 

 * See Delhi Gazette, 21st January, 1860, 



