474 FETCH : 



In 1897 the seed crop at Edangoda and Yatipawa was 

 11,500; these were planted in nurseries at Midellana, where 

 75 acres were clearcd for extensions. 



Meanwhile, in consequence of a communication from the 

 Colonial Office on the subject of rubber growing in Co3'lon, 

 plans were dra^n up for estabUshing Government rubber 

 plantations on a much larger scale. It was proposed to open 

 300 acres per annum in the Pasdun koralc for ten years, 

 making a total of 3,000 acres. This proposal aroused con- 

 siderable o])position, especially in the districts where planters 

 had been Ijuilding up a rubber industry for the past fourteen 

 years, and the current opinion was voiced by the Times of 

 Ceylon (Octol^er 14, 1897) as follows : — " We see that Sir. Lewis 

 recommends further and extended cultivation in the Pasdun 

 korale, and, if Government sanctions it, it is proposed to 

 reserve all the Government seed available for this purpose. 

 But we are inclined to ask, as most planters will, why should 

 Government go into a speculation in rubber cultivation, which 

 Mr. Eroun points out will cripple the finances of the Forest 

 Department at first, and which Mr. Lewis speaks of reaching 

 as largo an area as 3,000 acres in yearly plantings of 300 acres ? 

 This fine property is to be developed in one block, and is to 

 have a special superintendent, as the charge of it would be too 

 much for the Assistant Conservator of Forests. We can under- 

 stand this, but we cannot understand why the Government 

 should utilize the Forest Department and the JBotanical 

 IXipartment to become estate proprietors and compote with 

 private i)lanters in the new industry. It is going bej^ond the 

 functions of a Government altogether, and was never thought 

 of in the case of tea, or coffee, or cinchona. The experiments 

 of the Director of the Botanic Gardens in cinchona and tea, 

 and the provision of seed for encouraging those cultivations 

 when in their infancy, were most useful to planters, and Avill 

 Ix) gratefully remombercd by them, but apparently Mes.srs. 

 Hroun and Ixjwis are going to do something much more 

 ambitious than provide seed for planters, or discover the Ixist 

 localities for rubl)cr cultivation, or the best method of ex- 

 tacting the rublxT. such as we submit they should content 

 thcmsolves with." 



