1845 49.] DR. WIGHT'S FOUR YEARS IN COIMBATORE. 83 



still be cultivated to meet the wants of the home consumer, CHAP, 

 and the same rental would be received by Government ; the L_ 



only difference being that more waste land would be taken 

 into cultivation to meet the foreign demand for American 

 Cotton of Indian growth. 



Court of Directors decide against the remission. 123 



The Court of Directors refused their consent to the proposed 

 remission. They considered it would be an obvious viola- oS atc ?he 

 tion of the general principle, which prescribes that the Directors / 

 assessment shall be regulated by the capability of the land, ^j^""- 

 without any reference to the particular description of pro- (1857) P , 

 duce which might be raised from it. Again, even supposing 

 that American Cotton could be cultivated with profit only 

 when half the rate of assessment was remitted ; and that 

 this profit would cease when the rate of assessment was 

 again raised to its original amount ; this fact would simply 

 prove that the remission was forcing a factitious cultivation, 

 which under ordinary circumstances could not be carried on. 

 However, it was the belief of the Directors that no such re- 

 duction was required in the province of Coimbatore ; for 

 the out-turn of American Cotton per acre was much 

 larger than that of Indian Cotton, and at the same time far 

 more valuable in the English market. The real difficulty 

 in the way of inducing the Ryots to extend the cultivation 

 of the American Cotton, was the want of a steady demand 

 for the article in the district in which it was grown. That 

 difficulty however was removed for the present by the per- 

 mission, which had been given to Dr. Wight, to purchase 

 American Cotton from the Ryots on account of Government 

 at remunerating prices. 



Failure of the purchase system as regarded Ame- 124 

 rican Cotton, 1848. Meantime however the purchases of 

 New Orleans Cotton effected by Dr. Wight were insignifi- rari. Re- 



p turn (1867) 



cant in the extreme. He was by no means sparing in his P- 181 



