1849.] BEPAKTUEE OF ME. riNNIE. 163 



the expenses of the crop had been incurred. He there- 

 fore begged that the establishment might be kept up 

 for one season longer. By so doing all these disadvan-. 

 tages might be avoided ; the excellent and thoroughly 

 acclimated stock of seed would be preserved ; and some 

 arrangements might be made for others, such as the 

 Manchester Association, to continue the experiment on 

 their own account. The Governor in „.^ , ^^ 

 Council however decided that the Cotton Consuita- 

 Farm should be at once transferred to the j^JJe^?^ 

 Collector, who would carry out all that Pari.'Betnm 

 was necessary in consequence of the en- (issvj.p.ais. 

 gagements which Dr. Wight had made. 



Departure of Mr. Finnie from the Madras Presi- 237 

 denoy, — Such was the sweeping measure carried out 

 by Sir Henry Pottinger's Government in June, 1849. 

 We shall presently see that, as far as Dr. "Wight was 

 concerned, the measure was reversed by the Court of 

 Directors ; but the proceedings as regarded Mr. Finnie 

 were fully confirmed. The latter gentleman left the 

 Presidency in the following October, but before his 

 departure from Tinnevelly, he addressed a letter to Mi*. 

 Elton the Collector of the District, respecting the 

 directions which he had received from Government to 

 instruct the East Indian lads in the work- „ 

 ing of the gins, and concluding with a 

 general review or estimate of his own labours. 



Mr. Finnie's last letter, July, 1849 :— " The gins will 238 

 always remain idle after Government ceases to use 

 them." — Mr. Finnie reported that he should be happy 

 to instruct D^. Wight's East Indian lads jjj.~ pinnie-a 

 in the worimg of the gins, during the letter, i7th 

 fifteen or twenty days that were required paXEetu™ 

 to clean the seed Cotton on hand; but (1857), p. 394 

 that after that period the gins would never be at work, 

 as the Natives would never use them after Govern- 

 ment had retired from the experiment. So long, he 

 said, as the merchants continued to- buy dirty Cotton, 

 so long we must despair of all improvement. Even 

 the hopes which he had entertained the previous year, 

 that the people would take more care in cleaning and 



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