The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-17 00:00:00

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LOXDON, FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 1865.

In considering the internal prosperity of our vast
Indian dominions, two departments of cultivation
especially attract attention—the tea and cotton
plantations. Cotton has, we know, been for many
years one of the regular products of India, and the
country has great capabilities in that way which
have unfortunately not been made the most of.

The extent of the country is so large that the
greatest variety of climate exists, and the slopes of
the Himalayas offer every inducement to the ener-
getic capitalist as well as to the jaded Calcutta
official. These opportunities have been eagerly
seized by the tea planters, and the effect of the
extended cultivation will be felt ultimately in this
country, as well as in its influence on the commer-
cial prosperity of India itself. Sir ROBERT MONT-
GOMERY, in closing his career as Lieutenant-
Governor of the Punjab, has drawn up a minute on
the tea cultivation of the Western Himalayas. The
account which he thus gives after actual personal
inspection is most satisfactory, and the prosperity
induced by such causes is doubly gratifying, because
it belongs to no fever of temporary speculation, nor
is the plenty of that nature which precedes scarcity,
tending to natural reaction. The development of a
thriving trade is a source of continuous and increas-
ing strength to a nation, and when the commodity
produced is in such universal demand as tea, there
is little fear or prospect of an excessive supply.
Like other articles of general use the cheaper it can
be crown the larger will be the demand, since new
classes will use it, and large numbers will at least
double their demand when the price is lowered. A
faint idea of what may be done when the cultivation
is further developed may be gathered from the fact
that in parts of the Himalaya districts tea can
already be profitably sold at eighteenpence a pound.
If we can get rid of our burdensome tea duties by
the time the cost of production has been diminished
to one-half the present price, as it naturally will be,
what a boon we shall have here for our poorer
classes! Our temperance societies should hail the
prospect with delight, since the teapot, as we all
know, is in the lower ranks a formidable antagonist
to the gin palace ; and, if less popular with labour-
ing men than the more substantial glass of beer, the
weary and jaded sedentary worker finds in " the
cup that cheers but not inebriates" advantages that
are all its own. We are s
desirable state of things, but British
way yet from this
t India is cer-
tainly at present on the road
feel the advantages of it over to it,
and
before we
here sanguine men
look forward to an immense extension 'of Angelo._
Indian commerce throughout Central Africa. The
Chinese, who of course do a vast trade in that
direction, will find dangerous rivals in the liinialava
cultivators. Cakes of tea, wtich China exports in
large quantities westward, are charged by one
Indian company at half-a-crown a cake, while in
Kashmir they are priced at six shillings. This
shows what a field is open for enterprise, and a very
large proportion of the Millions of our own Indian
subjects will eagerly avail themselves of the reduced
price of tea to bring into common use that which
"v have heretofore considered an unattainable
Tea is not an article to go out of fashion,
as we may easily find by tracing the history of its

luxury.