December i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



399 



Fijians as do labour on plantations do not seem to 

 find favour as compared with natives imported from 

 other islands of the South Seas,— what the Queens- 

 landers call Kanakas. But the abuses and the risks 

 connected witli the recruiting of such labour has pro- 

 duced so strong and widespread a spirit of opposition 

 to what is denounced as a species of slave-traffic, 

 that this source cannot long be relied on. Some coolies 

 from India had been introduced and legislation had 

 been passed to secure regular supplies of Asiatic | 

 labourers. But the planters of Fiji do not seem to 

 take kindly to Kamaswamy, and if the two classes 

 cannot get on together, then we cannot but fear for 

 the extension and even the permanence of European 

 planting enterprize in Fiji. Seeing how entirely tlie 

 Interests of the planting entei-prize are dependent on 

 a sufficiency of labour, no members of the comnnuiity 

 should be more desirous than good, honest humane 

 planters, that the black sheep of their community, 

 who treat natives with wanton cruelty, should be 

 stringently dealt with. Our correspondent "A. J, S." 

 related some striking cases of offences by planters 

 and the signal punishment of the wrong-doers ; but 

 the last idea conveyod to our mind or entertained by 

 u-i was that the treatment of a supposed malingerer 

 by a series of mustard plasters while the tortured 

 wretch was tied up in a sack was the deed of a ci- 

 devant Ceylon planter employed by another ex Ccyhm 

 planter. "A. J. S." is mentioned to make up the trio 

 and leave the impression that for anything discredit- 

 able to the body of planters in Fiji, men are respon- 

 sible who were formerly in Ceylon and accustomed to 

 deal with labourers who came to the Ceylon plant- 

 ations llying from famine ! Is this a true bill ? 

 Planters in Ceylon as well as in Fiji will dis- 

 pute the correctness of the details. The series of 

 views sent us by our present correspondent might piss 

 for views of a Ceylon coffee estate but for the semi- 

 negro features and curly hair of the Kanaka l.%bouiers. 

 They are, no doubt, strong little fellows, but we cannot 

 but adhere to the convicton that if, in Fiji and the 

 tropical portions of Austialia agricultural eulerprize 

 is to prosper, dependence mist iiltiinately be plactd 

 oa the obtaining of plentiful and regular supplies of 

 lu'lian oooly labour. 



With reference to "A.J. S." — a planter formerly well- 

 known aud much respected in Ceylon, we feel it due 

 io him to quo'o what the present correspondent says 

 in an explauatorv note: — 



"I have to add in fairness to 'A. J. S.' that when 

 he nctuallj- wanted to advocate was not to be allowed 

 to thrash or be cruel to boys but to be allowed to 

 work them without cruelty. It is obvious that if the 

 naiural authority of the intelligent planter is stulti- 

 fied by the Government, removing his authority 

 under the impression that the removal strengthens the 

 influence of the Government, while it actually weakens 

 the Government, there'is nothing left to the planter 

 but the employment of brute force. It is futile at 

 this time of day to advocate being allowed to place 

 a finger on a labourer." 



On which we have to remark that the less brute 

 force is resorted to the better. But certainly planters 

 are often sorely tempted 7wl to let patience have her 

 perfect work ; for instance when a surprise visit reveals 

 a gang sleeping while they expect to be paid as if 

 workin,'. All who fight the battle of life, however, 

 have need of pafient forbearance as well as of ppr- 

 sev ring hard work, in order to ensure success. A large 

 proportion of Tamil coolies are but over-grown children 

 with deficient moral sense aud needing to be taught 

 the first principles of rectitude. As far as the gov- 

 ernment and the administration of justice go, they are 

 as well protected here as in Fiji ; but rightly ad- 

 nmietered by sensible men, the law does not leave the 



planters' rights unprotected or justify the conolusion 

 too common amongst young magistrates, that in all 

 cases coming before a court the planter must necess- 

 arily be considered the offender. 



KOSLANDA IN U7A (CEYLON) AS A SCENE 

 OP TEA CULTIVATION. 



So long as coffee continues to yield fair returns in 

 Haputale aud other portions of Uva, of course it 

 will be the part of wisdom to cherish and nourish 

 the old staple. But in Uva, as in other districts 

 of the mountain aud hill regions of Ceylon, tea is at- 

 tracting attention ; and we have the strongest possible 

 belief that by resort to proper modes aud seasons of 

 pruning the plant can be profitably grown over 

 most portions of the Principality. Tea, it is true, 

 will flourish in climates where the rainfall verges on 

 300 inches per annum, but it also gi-ows and yields 

 well where the annual rainfall is considerably be- 

 low 100 inches. In some parts of Assam, tea is 

 grown with a rainfall of only 70 inches. When, there- 

 fore, our correspondent who writes from Koslanda, (see 

 page 410), in the south-eastern corner of Haputale, asks 

 whethera rainfall of over 90 inches, well distributed, 

 willn ot suit tea, we can have no hesitation in answer- 

 ing iu the affirmative. Altitude makes all the dif- 

 ference in the world, for the beautiful but deadly 

 "terai" which stretches away to the salt-lagoons 

 of Hambantota is, next to the country Inland from 

 Mannar, about the most arid and deadly region in 

 Ceylnn. When the road which runs in almost a 

 straight line from the foot of the hills near P>ose- 

 bury to the town and harbour (?) of Saltopolis was 

 in course of construction, a pang of coolies equal to 

 a score were attacked by malarious fever at noon 

 of one day aud were all dead by 2 p. m. of the day 

 following. This case and similar ones, apart from 

 the impossibility of converting Hambantota into a 

 safe harbour at a cost which can be looked at, or 

 of making it a healthy town by means of " all the 

 king's money and all the king's men," form con- 

 clusive answers to advocates of the seductive but 

 utterly wild scheme of a railway from Hambantota 

 to Uva. If the object of those who asked for this 

 unattainable phantom, bom of mirage, had been 

 to weaken their own cause by a division of forces, 

 when the real, substantial, feasible railway was 

 sanctioned to within 25 miles of their beautiful and 

 conveniently central Pass of Haputale, that object 

 could not have been better served, unless Indeed 

 by the coarse and senseless abuse poured upon 

 those who consistently adhered to the complete 

 scheme of a railway into Uva through country 

 as salubrious as it is fair and .fertile, liven if the 

 coffee of Uva ceases to be what it once was, we firmly 

 believe that the success of tea will more than 

 justify the local Government in keeping faith \yith 

 the planters by completing the Uva extension into 

 Uva. When the fulfilment of a distinct and sacred 

 pledge is explicitly and finally refused, then will it 

 be time enough to ask us to advocate the formation 

 of a line where the physical obstacles may be slight, 

 but which would involve holocausts of human victims 

 to the fever demon. But we huld our confidence 

 that Sir Arthur , Gordon will not long be Governor 

 of Ceylon until he presses on Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment the sanction of the remainim,' section of the 



