184647.] MR. FINNIE'S FOUR YEARS IN TINNEVELLY. 119 



nual labour. He therefore requested that the purchase might CHAP. 

 be postponed. Dr. Wight seems to have been somewhat irri- __ ! _ 

 tated by this sudden change in the mind of Mr. Finnie. He Dr w . ht>g 

 stated that the purchase of the machinery had been fairly jJJJfVgJgl 

 completed ; and that without such machinery, it would be fun,' (issrj 

 impossible to complete the Court's order for six thousand P * 

 bales. He therefore urged that a house should be procured, 

 and that the cattle driving machinery should be fitted up at 

 once : that two large gins, of sixty saw wheels each, should 

 be worked by the cattle machinery at one end of the lint 

 room ; whilst three or four smaller gins, of twenty and ni. 

 twenty-five saws each, should be worked by coolies at the 

 other end of the room. The result was that the Madras 

 Government ordered the purchase money for the driving Ap'ri 



machinery to be paid. At the same time, Mr. Finnie was u/n' (i857> 

 called upon to state what he now intended to do with the P ' 

 machinery, and what arrangements he had made for 

 driving his gins by manual labour. His attention was 

 also drawn to a recent despatch from the Court of Di- 

 rectors, stating that the Manchester Association objected 

 to the use of hand gins. 



Mr. Finnie' s explanation of his apparent inconsis- 169 



tencies. Mr. Finnie's explanation of the causes which 



. . R ! r - Fin " 



led him to advise the purchase, may be given in a few "j^ s le 5J, er * 



words. The Ceylon machinery had been recommended to 

 him by both Dr. Wight and Mr. Petrie as early as February 

 1846 ; but being anxious to conduct his operations on the 

 most economical plan, he had not concurred in their views. 

 Subsequently, he had found greater difficulty than he had 

 anticipated in working the gins on the two Zemindaries by 

 manual labour ; and had consequently formed a poor opi- 

 nion of the physical ability of the people. At the same 

 time, whilst strongly opposed to the use of the gin, he felt 

 that it ought not to be rejected on insufficient data. Ae- 



(1857) p. 

 355. 



