1849-52.] BE. 'WTGHT's TINAL COTTON BEPOUT. 179 



also suggested that, in suck case, the G-o- Pari. Return 

 vernment decision should be forwarded to ° ' ^' 

 the Manchester Association ; as he believed that the 

 Association would then be induced to establish Agen- 

 cies themselves for the purchase and growth of exotic 

 Cotton at several stations along the coast, and thus give 

 an impetus to the cultivation, which no amount of 

 Government patronage could supply. 



Authority for the purchases refused by the Madras 261 

 Government. — It is scarcely necessary to add that the 

 authority for the purchases was refused by Sir Henry 

 Pottinger's G-overnment. It was decided Minutes of 

 that the instructions of the Court of Direct- Sir Henry 

 ors did not authorize the Government to iTth^Sfayl 

 sanction any such engagement ; that it was i|52. Order 

 the duty of the Manchester jnanufacturers ment, ist ' 

 to send their own agents to the Cotton- pS^E^tum 

 growing districts, to make their own bar- (1857), pp. 

 gains with the cultivators. If the rate pro- ^^' ^^*" 

 posed was a fair one, it ought to be offered by the mer- 

 chants ; but as it was, the proposition seemed to be in 

 reality a suggestion that the Government should pur- 

 chase Cotton at any price, and then sell it to the manu- 

 facturers of Manchester at such a rate as was best 

 suited to their trading purposes. 



Completion of Dr. Wight's Report, May, 1852.— 262 

 About this time Dr. "Wight appears to have completed 

 the final Eeport which he had been called -pj. ^igjifg 

 upon to draw up by the Court of Directors. Report, 

 The Eeport is a long one, but the following M^figla!" 

 summary contains the whole of the facts Pari. Betum 

 and opinions set forth in the original docu- /■ ?■ • 



ment. This was deemed peculiarly necessary here ; for 

 though much that is stated has already appeared in 

 former paragraphs, it wUl be convenient for the reader 

 to have the whole of Dr. "Wight's matured results at 

 one view. It will be remarked that nothing is said of 

 the results of the season of 1849-50 when the irrigation 

 experiment was tried ; and indeed there is reason to 

 believe that the experiment proved a failure in Coimba- 



tore. 



N 2 



