Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/485

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 469 suitable. I conceive that the granting of a lease of from ten to twenty years, according to the nature of the mines, with their disposal by the competition of a public sale, would be the surest and most equitable means of determining and se- curing the amount of the revenue of the state, and of reconciling public and private interests. Sub- ordinate regulations will readily occur, and need not be detailed. Mining adventure, by the plan proposed, would have ample scope ; and the aboli- tion of the exclusive trade would soon give the ex- citement to individual enterprise, which insures prosperity and wealth. From the abundance of the lands of" Banca, and the injurious system pur- sued, of supplying the miners at exorbitant rates with food and necessaries from abroad, they are at present excluding those which contain tin ores, of little or no value. When the activity of mining industry is set at liberty by being freed from the shackles which now fetter it, the lands will acquire value from the demands of the mines ; and, as in other situations of much less promise, we shall see agricultural industry thrive, and towns and villages rise in the midst of the mining districts. The lands should be gradually sold for a quit rent, on the principles laid down in another part of this work, to facilitate the progress of so desirable an eveilt. When it is considered that, 7^ years ago, under an luilavourable system, and when there was