rJo, 2(1921) REMARKS ON CANNING I4I 



The people are apt to be delicate in physique and liable to 

 malarial and other tropical diseases: while 'sickness' is not 

 always the real reason for absence, it is much too frequently 

 a genuine cause. Hence the provision or proximity of medical 

 treatment is highly desirable, both as a matter of humanity and of. 

 business. 



Miscellaneous. 



234. Taxes and duties. — The income-tax at about 6^4 per cent on 

 net profits, and the land tax, are the only taxes outside the 

 municipal areas within which latter there are the usual rates and 

 professional taxes. Hence if a cannery is built, as recommended, 

 outside of large municipal towns (Calicut, Tellicherry, Cannanore, 

 Mangalore), only income-tax and the moderate assessment due to 

 Government on the small area of land occupied, are leviable. 



Customs duties are leviable on imported goods, viz., on machi- 

 nery and on tin plate, solder, oils and other foreign material. For 

 small canneries the machinery required is neither large nor 

 expensive, and all necessary oils should be obtainable from local 

 sources; tin plate should shortly be produced within the country. 



Since all imported canned goods have to pay duty, locally 

 canned goods enjoy protection to that extent, as well as by the 

 expensiveness of labour in Great Britain, France, etc., and the 

 high cost of freight. 



235. By-products. — These are of two classes; one due to the 

 disposal of waste or non-cannable material, the other for the 

 utilization of unoccupied days, or periods such as the south-west 

 monsoon. 



A good deal of the fish obtained is useless for canning whether 

 from bad condition or unsuitable quality or class of fish when 

 bought en masse. Moreover there are guts and heads of all fish 

 canned or utilized, the shells of prawns, etc. These are all treated 

 by boiling and drying or simple drying, apart from the factory, or 

 stored in pits ; the product is a very good fertilizer readily saleable 

 and containing from 3 to 5 per cent nitrogen when dry. If the fish 

 are in good condition but unsuitable for canning they are salted 

 and dried in the usual Tanur yard fashion. The oil used for frying 

 finds a ready sale among boat owners for smearing and caulking 

 their boats. 



236. It is difficult to find work for unoccupied periods of perhaps 

 a few days at frequent intervals, or for the three months of the 



