CHAPTER X. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY, AND 



OF THE IMPROVEMENTS REQUIRED IN 



INDIAN COTTON. 



Hand- Book to the Cotton Cultivation of each Pre- CHAP, 

 sidency ordered by the Government of India, 22nd 



July, 1861. In July 1861, the Governor General in Council 

 resolved, that one Gentleman should be appointed in each 

 of the Indian Presidencies to analyse the contents of the 

 various public records connected with the improvement 

 and extension of the cultivation of cotton in his particular 

 Province, and to publish the results in such a form as 

 might prove useful as a Guide or Hand-book to persons 

 interested in the subject. The compiler however was not 

 to be limited to the public records of his Presidency. Evi- 

 dence taken before Parliamentary Committees, Transactions of 

 Scientific Bodies, Books of Travels, Special Publications like 

 those of Dr. Forbes Royle, and indeed any work which referred 

 to the prospects of Cotton cultivation within the Province 

 for which the compilation was made, might be consulted 

 by the compiler, and the facts they contained be exhibited 

 with the other facts comprised in the public records. The 

 Local Officers of Land Revenue or Customs were also called 

 upon to supply official statistics of trade or cultivation, as 

 well as any other information which might be at their dis- 

 posal ; Maps were to be prepared by the Public Works 

 Department ; and in short no labour or means were to be 

 spared that were calculated to render each work a complete 

 Hand-book to the Cotton cultivation in each Presidency. 



