124 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [3RD SEASON. 



Agents on the coast bought only the trash and refuse. 

 On the contrary, he believed that all the Agents 

 were careful and rigorous in excluding bad and dirty 

 Cotton from their contracts, and that they made 

 every effort to secure a good article ; and for several 

 years past he had been at various times into all their 

 warehouses, and had seen very much good clean 

 Cotton, which he had heard had fetched good prices at 

 home. 



193 No market or Agency required in Tinnevelly.— At 



the same time Mr. Thomas stated that a good market 

 for Native Cotton already existed in Tinnevelly, and 

 that there was no occasion for creating a new market, 

 as Mr. Finnie seemed to argue. Cotton in Tinnevelly 

 found a ready sale, and the price varied but little from 

 year to year. Again, Mr. Thomas could not under- 

 stand what was meant by the " co-operation and or- 

 ganized system," which Mr. Finnie requested from the 

 home manufacturers and the Madras Government. If 

 an Agent for the purchase of all Cotton was intended, 

 such an arrangement should be left to the merchants 

 and manufacturers themselves ; but such an Agency, 

 with the advantage of competition superadded, already 

 existed at Tuticorin, where six Agents were already 

 established for the purchase of the best Cotton that 

 could be obtained. 



194 Cultivation of New Orleans Cotton, and improved 

 cleaning, the main points. — Mr. Thomas believed that 

 the results to be really attained were : — first, the cul- 

 tivation of the New Orleans and better kinds of Cot- 

 ton; and secondly, the exercise of greater care and 

 cleanliness in picking and packing. These results 

 could only be obtained by patient perseverance and 

 practical experiment amongst the people. So far as 

 cleaning the Cotton was concerned, Sir. Finnie was 

 profitably employed ; but Mr. Thomas considered that 

 larger sowings of better sorts of Cotton, and greater 

 attention to the cultivation of Cotton by Mr. Finnie 

 and others, would prove of much practical benefit. 



195 Mr. Finnie's design for a cheap Cotton Press. — Mr. 

 Finnie subsequently wrote a very long letter in further 



