838
HISTORY OK INDIA.
[Book II.
A.D. 107(J
Plans for increasing revenue.
Progress of the Com- pany in Bengal.
Fort of R.je Giiur, Ginoee —Daniell's Oriental .'nnnal.
previously passed, and ordered the commanders of ships consigned to the Coro- niandel coast, " to take in as many large stones at Johanna (one of the Comoro
Isles; as they could stow, to be iLsed f<jr the building of the fort, tiiat it might be placed in a .sufficient state of defence again.st any enerny."
Meanwhile the subject of revenue was still uppermost in the minds of the court, and they never omitted an occasion of inculcating the necessity of increasing it, and proposing plans for this purpose. Among these the first which suggested itself was a house tax, with a view to which a siu-vey was to be made of all the houses at Madras, both in the Portuguese and black towns. In anticipation of the discontent which this tax, and a duty imposed on articles of consumption, would produce, the authorities were instructed to explain that "those who lived under the English protection must contriljute to the charges by which that protection was maintained." There were two other plans of increasing the revenue, for which less apology was required. The one was to obtain authority from the King of Golconda to establish a mint at Madras, similar to the one which had already, by the authority of the English monarch, been established at Bombay ; the other was to institute a bank, not, however, in the full sense of the term, but merely to receive deposits for a limited time, and to an amoimt not exceeding in all £100,000. The inducement to depositors was the payment of interest at the rate of not more than six per cent. ; and the object of the Company was not merely to procure the means of purchasing goods at the cheapest rates, but to form a stock which would enable the agency and its dependencies to counterbalance the influence of the Dutch. Consider- ing the very humble scale of the proposed bank, it is difficult to understand how so much should have been expected from it.
The progress of the Company's trade in Bengal was at this period consider- able. The principal factory was still Hooghly, to which several others — Bala- sore, Cossimbazar, Dacca, Malda, and Patna — were subordinate. In the season 1 674<-75 the whole amount of stock, principally bullion, sent to the eastern coast of India was £202,000. Of this, £65,000 was destined for Bengal. It seems to have been suspected that it would prove insufficient, and accordingly the factors were authorized to increase it by taking up £20,000 at interest. The invest- ment purchased was to consist chiefly of silks and taffetas of a fine quality,
