184952.] MR . LEES' CULTUBE IN TINNEVELLY. 197 



score of cost of cultivation, will be found noticed in Dr. CHAP. 



y 



Wight's final report, but a few additional particulars will " 



find a fitting place here. Mr. David Lees had originally 



J pers, Parl. 



proceeded to Southern India, under the sanction of the Man- **""*, 



( 18o7)p.ol y, 



Chester Commercial Association, to make experiments and 332 - 

 ascertain facts in connection with the cultivation of Ame- 

 rican Cotton. The success of those experiments subsequently 

 induced him to establish his nephew Mr. Arthur Lees in 

 Tinnevelly, as a Cotton planter and merchant; in order that 

 he might continue and extend the cultivation, and at the 

 same time purchase all the American Cotton that the 

 Ryots were disposed to cultivate upon his own improved 

 system. An obstacle however arose to his own cultivation 

 from the claims of the Chayroot Renters. These men paid a 

 considerable sum to Government for the right to dig up all 

 the Chayroot* produced in the Tinnevelly district, whether 

 on waste land, or on land occupied with dry cultivation. 

 This right had been farmed out from time immemorial ; and 

 accordingly in December 1850, nearly a whole year after the 

 commencement of the Cotton culture, the Chayroot renters 

 claimed the privilege of entering the fields under culture by 

 Mr. Lees, and of their digging up the Chayroots with a kind 

 of spear about a foot and a half long. Mr. Lees of course 

 resisted this claim, especially as the digging for the roots 

 was injurious to the cultivation of American Cotton. The 

 Chayroot renters then demanded compensation. The mat- 

 ter was brought to the notice of the Court of Directors by 

 the Manchester Commercial Association; and the Directors 

 instructed the Madras Government to relieve Mr. Lees from 

 any demand in excess of the regular assessment ; and on 

 the renewal of the Chayroot farms to restrict the renters to 

 the uncultivated lands. The Madras Government however had 

 already anticipated those orders, by cancelling the existing 



* A root from which a certain dye is extracted. 



