2 COTTON IN THE MA.DEAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. I. 



CHAP. I. 



1 Hand-book to the Cotton Cultivation of each Pre- 

 sidency ordered by the Government of India, 22nd 

 July, 1861. — In July, 1861, the Go vernor- General in 

 Council resolved, that one gentleman should be ap- 

 pointed in each of the Indian Presidencies to analyze 

 the contents of the various public records connected 

 with the improvement and extension of the cultivation 

 of Cotton in his particular Province, and to publish the 

 results in such a form as might prove useful as a Guide 

 or Hand-book to persons interested in the subject. 

 The compiler however was not to be limited to the 

 public records of his Presidency. Evidence taken be- 

 fore Parliamentary Committees, Transactions of Scien- 

 tific Bodies, Books of Travels, Special Publications like 

 those of Dr. Forbes Eoyle, and indeed any work which 

 referred to the prospects of Cotton cultivation within the 

 Province for which the compilation was made, might be 

 consulted by the compiler, and the facts they contained 

 be exhibited with the other facts comprised in the pub- 

 lic records. The Local Officers of Land Eevenue or 

 Customs were also called upon to supply official statis- 

 tics of trade or cultivation, as well as any other in- 

 formation which might be at their disposal; Maps 

 were to be prepared by the Public Works Department ; 

 and in short no labour or means were to be spared that 

 were calculated to render each work a complete Hand- 

 book to the Cotton cultivation in each Presidency. 

 Above all however it was declared to be essential that 

 the task should be completed with as little delay as 

 possible ; and upon this point the Supreme Government 

 remarked that " an imperfect compilation, which could 

 be available within the next six months, would be far 

 more useful than one which thoroughly exhausted the 

 subject, but which could not be published till a year 

 hence." 



2 Method pursued in drawing up the present Hand- 

 book to the Madras Presidency, 28th August. — By an 



