Remonstrantie 6.1.2

6.1.2

I know by experience that some wealthy banians of Agra maintain agents in Golconda with two objects in particular, to buy diamonds and spices, which their people in Masulipatam send to us [i.e. to Agra]; and this year they bought 300 maunds (15,000 lb.) of cloves at 11 pagodas per maund (of 25 lb.), and transported them to Agra, as well as proportionate quantities of nutmeg, mace, tin, and other goods. The result is not merely to bring down a good market by 10 to 20 per cent., but to stop our sales altogether, because we have no agents in Golconda or Burhanpur to warn us of the despatch of such quantities of goods, and to make arrangements accordingly. We cannot rely on such news as we occasionally get from the letters of Hindus or Moslems, because of the risk that they might deliberately cheat us by such devices, and cause us to sell too cheap; a single merchant has much difficulty in dealing with such emergencies, and often neglects such warnings, to the Honourable Company's serious loss. Now it may be the case that our Chiefs at Masulipatam have given no warning to the Honourable General that not even a quarter of the spices and other goods are consumed locally; otherwise His Honour's zeal to secure the utmost profit for our foster-mother, the Company, would have prevented this loss; or, if this proposal should be doubted or criticised, the certain profit might be proved with uncertain loss for the Company by experiment within two years in the following way.