INDIGO. 



75 



sioii of indie;©, by way of advances to the manu- i^^tter to 



. , Bengal, 



lacturers in the year 1812 (to be shipped in lo Apriiisu. 

 1812-13) shoold be limited to twenty lacks of 

 sicca rupees, which sum is to be continued in 

 future seasons, until a further view of the subject 

 shall render a revision of the amount advisable. 



21 . It is expedient that your attention should be 

 directed to the encouragement of the native grow- 

 ers of indigo, being proprietors of factories, by 

 issuing advances to them in common with Euro- 

 pean manufacturers, taking care that the security 

 be sufficiently respectable ; as we fully concur in 

 the opinion of our Board of Trade, expressed in 

 their minute of the 28th October 1796, that the 

 cultivation of indigo cannot be considered as de- 

 cidedly established in Bengal, until the natives 

 shall chiefly manufacture it of a quality fit for the 

 Europe market. 



24. Upon a general view of the present appear- 

 ance of the state of the indigo trade, we concur in 

 your decision, that it is not advisable to establish 

 indigo factories upon our account in the territo- 

 ries under the authority of the Madras Govern- 

 ment ; for our apprehension, that the market in 

 Europe will be liable to be overstocked by the 

 Bengal produce, operates as more than a counter- 

 poise to the abstract principle which would other- 

 wise govern our decision, viz. that it is our duty 

 to promote new branches of trade in any of our 

 settlements to which the soil and climate may 

 appear favourable. 



