Thomason as his Secretary drafted the Regulation XIV of that year, which was a complete customs reform, striking off shackles from trade and limiting the dutiable articles to a very small number, the chief article being the salt made in the Native States. Thomason himself, as Lieutenant-Governor, tended the measure with fatherly care. The year after his death, 1854, Mr. M. Hickie, the best witness, thus testified: —
'The lamented Lieutenant-Governor evinced for the Customs Department a solicitude which had never been equally shown before, and gave it his support to the last.'
As a coping stone to all his proceedings, Thomason established a Statistical Department, and periodically published state papers of general interest, in the hope of informing public opinion in respect to his measures. Indeed, he gave an impulse to statistical science in northern India, stronger than anything previously known.
The impression which his personality and policy together might make upon some critical observers from the outside, may be illustrated by two quotations from the diaries of Sir Charles Napier in 1849 and in 1850. On November 4th, Sir Charles, then Commander-in- Chief, writes at Agra: —
'Received here by the Lieutenant-Governor Thomason with a kindness of manner which marks this very distinguished member of the Civil Service. Of him I have heard and seen enough to convince me that he is one of the very few I have
