Tea m the District of Kangra. 83 
will realize in this country 10 anas, or 1s. 3d., per pound* ; 
and as a maund of raw leaves yields about 23 lb. of tea, the 
manufacturer might easily pay the cultivator eight rupees 
per maund on raw leaves, delivered at the factory, and at 
this rate reserve a broad margin of profit to himself. With 
Such an inducement, natives would, I think, willingly under- 
take tea cultivation; as with good management they might 
realize from 80 rupees to 90 rupees per acre; and paid thus. 
liberally, cultivators, even in the most distant regions, might. 
deliver their leaves at the factories with considerable protit 
to themselves, though manual labour be employed in their 
transmission. But as the tea plant does not yield a return 
until the third year, and as, in the interval, the capital of the 
cultivators is thus locked up, it would, in order to induce 
them to enter readily on the cultivation with the assurance 
of security to their property so invested, be necessary to 
guarantee to them that all good leaves would be purchased 
_at the above rate at the factories for a period of time ; and 
this guarantee might, in the Kohistan of the Punjaub, with 
safety, be given for at least eight or ten years, either by 
Government, or by any party working the factories. In ad- 
dition, all waste and unappropriated lands, when cultivated 
with tea, might be given free of rent for three years, and to 
_ the extent of from 20 to 30 acres to each individual desirous of 
doing so; and seeds and plants to cover them issued gratis. 
As a further inducement rewards, as in the opium factories, 
might be given to the first parties delivering leaves in the 
greatest quantity, and in the best condition, and on the fol- 
lowing scale :-— : 
1st. To the first party who delivers 100 maunds of raw 
leaves in good condition, 500 rupees. 
2d. To the first party who delivers 50 maunds, 250 ru- 
pees. 
* At the last sales in Kumaon and Deyrah, the finer kinds of teas realized from 
6s. 10d. to 9s. 10d. per pound, but these are fancy prices, and cannot be main- 
tained when the teas are produced in quantity. In England the finer kinds of 
Kumaon teas were pronounced by the London brokers to be worth from 2s. 6d. 
‘to 3s. 6d. per pound. The average given by me, viz., 1s. 3d., is, therefore, a low 
one, 
F2 
