Macaulay's Minute on Indigo PlantL 



On the whole, I should be inclined to recomm 

 no planter should be entitled, except, of cours 

 virtue of a special contract, to which the zeminda 

 should be a party, to distrain for any future advances. 



" With respect to advances already made, I would 

 leave him the remedy which he now possesses. I 

 must again repeat, however, that the question is one 

 in which the ryots appear to be very little interested. 

 The law of pounding is in an exceedingly unsettled 

 state all over India. And this want of certainty, 

 doubtless, leads to oppression and injustice every- 

 where. These evils do not, however, appear to be 

 peculiar to the indigo districts. At a proper time 

 it will be necessary for the Law Commission to take 

 up the whole subject. It is a subject on which it 

 will be impossible to legislate usefully without an 

 extensive inquiry into existing rights and customs. 



" The plan of rendering invalid all contracts for the 

 delivery of indigo which are not registered, seems to 

 me highly objectionable ; it would be either useless, 

 or in the highest degree vexatious. If the present 

 mode of registration should continue, the proceeding 

 would be a mere mockery. An agent employed by 

 the planter would attend, and would register with- 

 out inquiry, all the agreements of the planter with 

 all the ryots. There would be no examination ; 

 nobody would ask whether the peasant had made the 



