184748.] MR. FINNIE'S FOUJR YEARS IN TINNEVELLY. 137 



nufactures, was all reserved to be mixed with the article CHAP. 



which the European merchant took for export. All that 1 



was necessary was, to assist the people with the simple means 

 which they themselves desired. Accordingly, Mr. Finnie 

 proposed to give them small hand threshers, both to sepa- 

 rate the dirt and trash from the seed Cotton, and to loosen 

 the staple on the seed so as to aid the churka. Also, to re- 

 medy their defective mode of packing, by erecting small 

 plain cheap presses in the villages ; so that the people, in- 

 stead of packing their Cotton in large loose bundles with their 

 feet, might press their Cotton properly in neat small bales, 

 say of 100 Ibs. or 120 Ibs., of which two would form a bul- 

 lock-load. 



Small hand Threshers and Presses sanctioned. 191 



The proposal that Government should set up a few small JJ a r ;, s T ] h e t l 

 hand threshers, and some cheap simple presses, in different J e u r n e ml 

 localities, was strongly supported by Mr. E. B. Thomas, ' (iffi) 

 the Collector of Tinnevelly. Accordingly it ultimately Sunutei of 

 received the sanction of the Madras Government ; the num- tion 27th 



July. 1848. 



ber of the different machines, as well as their local posi- Ibid P- 298 - 

 tions, being left to the discretion of Mr. Thomas in communi- 

 cation with Mr. Finnie. 



Mr. Thomas believed that Cotton was notadulte- 192 

 rated by design, and that good Cotton was often sent Mr Tho- 

 home. Mr. Thomas did not concur in Mr. Finnie's opinion, f s zld 

 that the inferior quality of the Cotton, and its dirty and pS! I R?- 

 adulterated state, were the result of deliberate design and " 

 system. Neither did he believe that all the best Cotton was 

 used in the country, nor that the worst only was exported, 

 nor that the European Agents on the coast bought only the 

 trash and refuse. On the contrary, he believed that all the 

 Agents were careful and rigorous in excluding bad and dirty 

 Cotton from their contracts, and that they made every effort 

 to secure a good article ; and for several years past he had 



