On this day, Lyon Prager, a Jewish merchant who was in India for the diamond trade and other businesses, submitted from Calcutta to Lord Cornwallis, the then Governor-General of Fort William, a letter stating that he had been appointed inspector and purchaser of drugs by the Court of Directors of East India Company in London.

“I find myself honoured with an appointment to be their Inspector and Purchaser of Drugs. I should be wanting in
gratitude if I did not embrace every opportunity within the small compass of my abilities of rendering service...,” Prager wrote.

He requested that the Governor-General and Council give him directions on the amount they intend to invest in drugs every season. Prager had convinced the East India Company directors in London that drugs would be a profitable business.

But this appointment faced a lot of resistance in Calcutta. The Board of Trade raised a number of objections to it, including to the provision that the inspector and the purchaser were the same person. Finally, Prager submitted his resignation on January 29, 1788. He continued as inspector of indigo.

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