64 HOLLAND: MICA DEPOSITS OF INDIA. 



of the villages of tJtkiir, Podalakur and Chaganum, were put up to 

 auction, of which only the one in Otkur, about 5 acres in extent, was 

 purchased in October 1888 for Rs. 75 per annum. 



Subsequently, in April 1889, Mr. Lonsdale of Bangalore applied for 

 and obtained the lease of 10 acres in Podalakur (which at the auction- 

 sale of September 1888 did not find bidders) at an annual rental of 

 Rs. 250. The lease was subsequently cancelled on the application of 

 the party that he was satisfied of the non-existence of mica in the 

 piece of land taken up by him. 



In 1890 there were two applications, one from Mr. Sargent for the 

 piece of land given up by Mr. Lonsdale in Podalakur, and the other 

 from a native of the district for three blocks of land, one in each of 

 the villages of Sydapuram, Chaganum .and Utkur, aggregating 10 acres. 

 They were granted to the applicants at an average yearly rental of 

 Rs. 50 per acre. The mine which was sold in 1888 for Rs. 75 per annum 

 having yielded good mica, and the lessor being credited with having 

 made large profits, there was undue competition for it when the term 

 of lease expired in November 1890. It was put up to auction and 

 fetched so much as Rs. 3,005 as yearly rental. This was followed by a 

 very large number of applications by speculators for strips of land 

 selected by them from surface indications, and it was thought best to 

 auction them. They were sold in February 1891, and were purchased 

 at high prices. Soon after purchasers found that they could get no 

 mica of marketable value from the land, and all of them, with one 

 exception, applied for cancelment of their leases, on which they had 

 already paid considerable sums. 



After such a number of failures applications for rights to mine 

 mica became very rare, but Mr. Sargent continued work at Inikurti 

 with such marked success that interest in the industry revived again, 

 and during the year 1898 the Government of Madras granted in this 

 district as many as 71 leases for mining mica, amounting to 2,442 

 acres, whilst the sales from Government lands now bring in some 

 Rs. 35,000 in royalty annually. 

 ( 54 ) 



