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1840, some of the land had been held by them as early as 1837. It is of course impossible to say what returns the grantees might have ultimately obtained from the lands, but it is pretty certain that their successors, who got them for a very small outlay, have realized nothing; indeed the grant villages have notoriously fewer inhabitants and less cultivation than ever, at the present time. Obviously in a thinly-populated country, one of the great aims of a settler must be to obtain cultivators; let us see what progress towards this object was made by the holders of these large and almost uninhabited tracts. In a letter forming part of the series under review, the grantees stated that." the clearances extend to 8,000 acres and upwards, and that they have settled a population of 4,200 souls" (memorial of grantees, appendix F, page 13.) To this paper is annexed an extract from an address by the Board of Revenue, dated September, 1839, in which the Board express their regret that "a heavy loss has been incurred by the grantees, as a large proportion of the cultivators thus hospitably entertained deserted as soon as more favorable seasons encouraged them to return to their former homes." In another address, the Grantees state that the difficulties which have interposed to prevent their obtaining any return from the lands are, first," the unhealthiness of the tracts which was the cause of the inhabitants of the Dhoon (sic) never settling on them;" second, the absence of available population for the purposes of cultivation; third, the extreme and firmly rooted prejudices against the place which were entertained by the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts; and " last, not least, the utter absence of experience and want of data to refer to." They proceed to say that about two thousand of their cultivators, after a period of deadly fevers, left the grants, others having meanwhile died.

*

Now there is nothing here that bears on the defence of the policy of the Court of Directors in enforcing the sale of these unfortunate farms; nor should any blame be inferred on the conduct of the grantees, further than this, that 40,000 acres (which is the extent of their holding admitted in the letter under notice) formed far too large a tract to be profitably worked, where there was not only no certainty of obtaining laborers, but every reason to believe they would not be obtainable. Taught by these results the home Government of that day resolved that no grant of more than four thousand acres should be given in future.

We have seen that the first three of the causes above enumerated are patent from the admission of the grantees them

*To the Political Agent. September, 1852.

selves. What was the nature of their error as to the advantages to be derived from the possession of the grants?

The terms of the warrant, as subsequently interpreted by the Honorable Court, contemplated the grant of land on a clearing lease for fifty years, to be open to fresh arrangements afterwards, and it was moreover ruled that covenanted officers could not hold them. But the leases were taken by a Company, most of whose members were covenanted and commissioned officers of the military and civil services; and under an impression (as appears from various passages of the above cited letters and memorials) that they, the grantees, were entitled to the use of the timber, not only to apply to the purposes of the grant, but to sell, and that they would reap the benefit to themselves, and their heirs or assigns for ever, of all the capital they might expend. They seem to have expected that Government would make canals wherever they might be required for the irrigation and drinking-water of the grants; and that the production of cereals and sugar would be sufficiently cheap, plentiful, and marketable to return them a reasonable profit.

*

It would serve no purpose to revive long-buried disputes in regard to some of these expectations, or to attempt to apportion the share of blame due, respectively to the grantees and the Home Government. It appears to us more important to point out the lessons gained by all this sad experience; so that while, on the one hand, Government should lay down such clear conditions, that no one can misunderstand them; on the other, future settlers may know what limits of possibility or expedience should bound their desires. PrudentÎy undertaken the settlement of the Doon may yet make it, in the language of the grantees, "the Garden of India."

The prospect it holds out to the settler is this. In a country 2,300 feet above the seal-evel, sheltered alike from the parching blasts of the Indian hot season, and the cutting cold of winter; abounding in water power, timber and lime, with the pleasant and healthful watering places of Mussoorie and Landour close at hand; abundance of forage for cattle, and no lack of game for sport; with a made road running down to the head of the Ganges Canal at Hurdwar, whence goods can be sent by water to Calcutta ; there are a few thousand acres of land to be settled. This land the Government offered on terins which it now appears were not understood; and the work is to do again. As far as in them lay the revenue authorities have been anxious to retrace their steps. It is believed that two thousand acres will be the largest grant made to any one concern in future, but that the maximum of grant rates will be fixed not at 75 rupees per 100 acres, but at the

* It has been already shewn that this is at least doubtful, as timber was not marketable in the Doon at the time.

average of the neighbouring estates, which is often much less than this, and certainly forms a fairer standard of appraisement. What the neighbouring estates have paid for years can be paid by a prudent grantee, when he has had time to bring a small handy grant into work; the three years free and the commencement from three annas (44d.) per acre to remain in force. Disputes about the timber will be very rare, as the forests have now been pretty sharply defined and separated from the cleared land. There is little or no land actually barren or unculturable in the Doon; the name is given to land covered with timber. Now inasmuch as this timber could not be cleared without great expense, and is moreover far more valuable than cereal produce (which latter can be procured with very little difficulty or expense from the Saharunpore district, twenty miles off) it is clearly desirable that the forests should be preserved, and cultivation duly confined to such places and such crops as will be profitable for a continuance.

Timber is something not easily obtained elsewhere, and growing very profitably in the Doon. It seems therefore the obvious interest of the state to retain the right to those tracts, which however might be farmed out for tolerably long periods to persons engaged in the timber trade, to plant, and to work on certain conditions; it would further be proper to respect the right of all existing zemindars and farmers to the timber that may be growing on their lands; and to give out in future nothing but culturable, that is, nearly cleared land on agriculturable leases. The probable nature of such leases has been glanced at before, but it may be asked what crops could be profitably grown, and by Europeans, on so small a piece of ground as 2,000 acres?

To answer this question it will be proper to compare the capabalities of the best Doon lands for producing each kind of crop, with the corresponding produce on the Trans-Siwalik plains. The subjoined table shews the comparison in the three great staples for Dehra and Saharunpore, two districts separated by only a low range of hills:

Sugar per acre. Rice per acre on maunds. Wheat

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[N. B. The Sugar produce is shewn in money value, the

rest in bazar maunds of 82 lbs. av.]

In other words, the productiveness of the soil in regard to the three commonest food crops is about one-half that of the nearest district in the plains. Now, when we add to this that labor is scarce, and that the subsistence of a European family absorbs a vast expenditure compared with that of natives, it will appear at a glance that the production of cereals is not likely to be remunerative to the settler. No doubt seed might be improved; and a higher style of farming might possibly be introduced, manure might be more used, and the deficiency of labor to some extent supplied by machinery; but after all, wheat is grown in abundance close by, and flour often sells as low as a maund for a rupee. Ten rupees an acre would not yield a fortune with that speed which colonists would no doubt desire.

But when we turn to Indigo, Coffee or Tea we find the case widely altered. Here are crops not produceable without enterprize and skill; requiring delicate and watchful treatment, rather than profuse and perpetual labour: and in all these respects offering positive advantage to Europeans. Five years ago, Mr. Mark Thornhill, the then superintendent, exerted himself most earnestly to stimulate the growth of tea by the native land-holders, offering them land on most advantageous terms, and similar conditions for the purchase of the raw leaf. None would undertake it, they simply shrank from the delay, and the small sum which would have to be locked up till a profit was made. At the same time Colonel Elwall (Retired List,) with another gentleman, took a few hundred acres of land at Hurbunswâla, as a farming speculation. It may be doubted whether either of them had ever before seen a tea-plant. The first year little or nothing was done; some three or four acres were planted, but probably no great skill or care was used, for half the plants died. In the four succeeding years, however, some hundred and thirty acres were filled in, and we understand that the crop for 1858 is estimated at ten thousand pounds av. We cannot speak with any degree of certainty as to the outlay; but we believe from common report that, with the present rate of ruling prices, a return of upwards of cent. per cent. may be fairly assumed. A visit to this plantation has enabled many persons to form an opinion on the subject of tea-growing; and although there are natural limits to politeness on one side and curiosity on the other, sufficient information would, doubtless, be afforded by the managing proprietor to any one duly introduced, such, that is, as to enable the visitor to understand the scene before him. He will find bushes of five years old being picked, and yield-ing three or four hundred pounds of tea per acre, which will sell on the spot for five shillings a pound; the seed plots with their young plants; the blinds of straw stretched over the

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seedlings to temper the rays of the summer sun until they are dug out and planted in the garden, and a certain amount of artificial irrigation applied during the hot months. These labors he will find performed by men, mostly from Oude and the eastern districts, on monthly wages of eight shillings, who are housed in the village, supplied with tools by the estate, and tended in sickness by the managing proprietor. No Chinamen are employed, in the small, but neat and inexpensive factory; the process of making the tea is successfully carried on by the Hindustanis attached to the concern, and the article sells at the prices averaged above. The whole expense of thus managing one hundred acres of tea garden may be estimated at £800 annually, besides the subsistence of the European manager, and the interest on the capital invested. In the first year the return is almost nil, and it is not till the fourth that it begins to exceed the outlay; but from that time all is plain sailing. The rough calculation given below represents what would be realized, under favorable circumstances, and with proper care and skill.

Expense per 100 acres.

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4th year.....

Four years interest on

Yield per 100 acres.
Nil.

.£800

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5,400

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(say) £1,000 at 10 p. ct. 400 Deduct profit

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[N. B.-This calculation is for one hundred acres in an equal state of forwardness: not planted piece-meal and gradually, as was done at Harbunswála. It is quite conjectural, and is higher than would be realized in practice.]

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Now a profit of even half of £5,400, leaves a handsome subsistence for a European family for their first four years of struggling; but we must remember that thereafter the yearly account is, for extraordinary luck and management, represented by a gain of £7,500 on an expenditure of £900, or upwards of six thousand a year on one hundred acres. Company with a joint stock of £5,000 could work an estate of far more than five times this extent, because in fact the expense would not increase proportionably to the extension of land. With reference to Indigo and Coffee, statistics are less accessible, and it is not easy to say more than this, viz.: that these articles grow well in the Doon. But there can be little doubt that, if Government will give grants of one to two thousand acres to an European proprietary on a moderate rent and a perpetual settlement, and if the settlers will lay themselves out to procure laborers, will support them from their

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