150 COTTON IN THE MADRAS PRESIDENCY. [CHAP. T. 



Tweeddale had adopted the views of Mr. Finnie, or 

 else that Mr. Finnie had adopted the views of the 

 Marquis of Tweeddale. Accordingly his Lordship had 

 on more than one occasion expressed himself favourably 

 disposed towards the practical suggestions of the Ame- 

 rican Planter, rather than towards the theoretical views 

 of a scientific botanist like Dr. Wight. Shortly before 

 his Lordship's retirement from the Government of 

 Madras, he drew up several Minutes, in which he re- 

 corded his opinions at length. In the first place he 

 proposed the remission of one-fourth of the rent of all 

 Paras. 121, lands taken up for the cultivation of Ame- 

 123 - rican Cotton ; but this subject has already 



been narrated elsewhere. His more important pro- 

 Marquis of position was that the Government should 

 Tweeddaie's immediately relinquish all its Experimental 

 Se 1 pt U , t i847 d Farms and official agency for raising Cot- 

 Pari- Return ton. No fair conclusion, he said, could ever 

 ° ' p ' ' be drawn, until private capital and enterprise 

 were embarked in the trial ; and that would never take 

 place, so long as ^Government occupied itself with the 

 experiment. On ( the other hand, if one-half of the 

 amount that had heen expended, had been offered as a 

 bonus to private enterprise, — either in the form of 

 advances for the erection of gins and other machinery, 

 or in that of grants of land rent free for a specified 

 term, — he believed that the question would already 

 have been brought to an issue. Again, no fair con- 

 clusion could be drawn from a Government .Farm, 

 superintended by men who were not practical agricul- 

 turists, and who .consequently were not able to direct 

 the labour of those under them ; but who used Govern- 

 ment capital and Commissariat cattle, which the Native 

 cultivator could not command ; and who moreover had 

 no direct interest in the success of the experiment, nor 

 in the limitation of the expenditure. His Lordship did 

 not include Mr. Imnie in these remarks, as he believed 

 it to be a great advantage to Government, to be able to 

 command the services of a practical Cotton Planter. At 

 the same time he expressed an opinion similar to that 

 expressed by Mr. Imnie ; namely, that instead of at- 



