Dec. I, 1886.} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



423 



INDUSTBIES IN MYSOEE. 



(From our Bangalore Gorreapondent.) 

 The tanuiug of skins for leather is an industry which 

 is carried on pretty briskly at Bangalore. There are 

 upwards of i30 large tanneries at work, all owned by 

 natives and worked solely by them. Dressed skins from 

 B angalore have always maintained a good reputation ; 

 the export trade in these are soo'^j large quantities 

 being shipped via Madras to London, various places 

 on the Continent, to America, besides bemg sent up 

 to Northern India. The principal tanning material 

 used is the bark of the Cassia Anriciilata, which grows 

 abundantly in some of the districts of the Mysore 

 Province. The Government levies a license fee of 

 about 8 annas per cent, and in the district of Toom- 

 koor alone the fees so levied amounted in one year to 

 R20,000. All the bark is brought into Bangalore, but 

 much of it is pas sed on to parts in the Madras Pre- 

 sidency where ta nneries exist. 



The raius this year all throughout the Mysore Pro- 

 vince have been seasonable and plentiful. The staple 

 crops of the country have grown well and the vield 

 will be a bumper one in many parts. Eaggi, though the 

 new crop is not in ther market yet, is now being sold 

 at 40 measures per rupee, and jola at 25. It is a 

 curious thing, however, to note that the old gowdas 

 and ryots do not like the bumper crops, alleging that 

 a very good season is alway followed by a bad year. 



The Mysore Government maintains a stud breeding 

 farm at K'uigal, about 30 miles from Bangalore, for 

 the purpose of supplying remounts to the Silladar 

 Cavalry, which latter is about 2,000 sabres strong. 

 There are 11 stallions at the farm: 3 Australian and 

 8 Arabs ; a thorough-bred English stallion is now on 

 the way out. The total area of the stud farm is 

 257 acres, on which good crops of grass, oats and maje 

 are raised. Australian and Oawnpore oat seeds are used 

 and are found to do very well. E.xperiments with 

 .silos and ensilage making are carried on. and as far 

 as the experiments have gone, the slow filling of silos 

 seems to be the best method for preserving fodder. 

 The stock mares are principally Australian, and stud 

 bi-ed, and it has been found that there is a smaller 

 percentage of deaths among the foals of the former 

 than of any other class. 



JAVA BUDGET AND PLANTING. 



Amstebdam, Oct. 27th. — The most important 

 event of the past week has been the intro- 

 duction of the Bill for Government assistance to the 

 Sugar cultivators in Java. The Minister proposes to 

 authorise the Governor-General to make an agreement 

 with the sugar planters, working under Government 

 contracts, by which delay of payment is granted of the 

 excise duty due during 1887, providing that planters 

 pay interest on the outstanding amount at the rate of 

 six per cent per annum. Regardmg free cultivation, the 

 Governor-General may assist sugar manufacturers by 

 granting advances on the crop of 1888 not exceeding the 

 rate ot one and a half guilder per 100 kilos at an m''-' r- 

 est of six per cent per annum, and under a guarantee 

 that the Government advance shall have precedence of 

 any other claim with which the undertaking might be 

 charged, and in the event of suspension the total Gov- 

 ernment ad Vii nee to be paid immediately. In introduc- 

 ing the Bill the Minister pointed out that the measure 

 is only temporary, being proposed with the intent of as- 

 sisting the sugar cultivators during the present diiBcult 

 times, aii<l as soon as an improvement sets in the ad- 

 vanced capital is to be refunded. For this reason a de- 

 crease of the fiscal burden is not included in the scheme, 

 neither a reduction of the Government's railway tariff, 

 wWch would only afford a trifling benefit. The Minister 

 concludes by stating that the proposed measures will in- 

 volve a temporary loss to the Government revenue, ob- 

 tained from the sugar cultivation, which will be re- 

 covered when mare favourable times set in. The maint- 

 enance of the sugar industry in Java being a matter of 

 general interest, the Government urges an early con- 

 sideration of the Bill. A revision of the regulation of 

 the laud rents iu Netherlands India is in progress, 



and in connection therewith a revision of the export 

 duty on sugar will be necesary. 



The report on the Java Budget of the sections of 

 the States General has been published. Some members 

 expressed satisfaction ac the fact that the Minister pro- 

 posed to improve the financial position of the colonies. 

 On the other hand, several members criticise the policy 

 of the Government, which does not comply with the 

 repeated complaints of those concerned in the Java 

 trade, and maintain that the high railway tariff, the ex- 

 port duty on coffee and sugar, whereas a fresh tax on 

 tobacco was put on, no decrease of the compulsory 

 labour was introduced, and the endeavours made for 

 an improvement of the military and naval forces would 

 prove to be insufiicieut. This opinion was opposed by 

 certain other members, who referred to the proposals 

 of the Government for the construction of railways and 

 the reorganization of the system of police in Eastern 

 Sumatra, which will certainly be for the welfare of the 

 population. Attention was directerl to the unsatisfact- 

 ory position of the Indian army and the reorganisation 

 of the navy ; the construction of a harbour for men-of- 

 war was advised. The opinions regarding the concen- 

 tration system in Acheen were divided. Many mem- 

 bers disapproved of it, but others believed that it would 

 lead to the pacification of Acheen. The renewal of the 

 concession for steam navigation in Netherlands India 

 was also a matter of consideration. Many members 

 were against the existing monopoly, which is not to 

 the interest of trade in the Archipelago, and advised to 

 grant the concession to a Netherlands Company. A 

 contract should be closed with one of the existing com- 

 panies working the line between Holland and Java. 

 Several members preferred the publication of the terms 

 for the new contract and to invite tenders, a private 

 agreement involving numerous difficulties. The idea 

 of the Minister about the construction and working of 

 the Government railroads was not joined, and some 

 members advised to sell the same to private companies, 

 while others opposed both the Government's regulation 

 and the sale of the radroads. 



In the month ef May several commercial firms iu this 

 city forwarded a petition to the Minister for the Colonies 

 to bold at least eight Government auctions of cinchona 

 bark during the year instead of two, and to announce 

 the dates of the auctions in the States Gazette and the 

 Java Gazette in December of every year. Information 

 has been received now that the Minister will comply 

 with the request of the petitioners, and make a trial 

 during the years 1887 and 1888, which will doubtless 

 lead to a more favourable compfititiou of this market 

 with other foreign markets. — L. ^ C. Express, Oct. 29th, 



THE POSITION OF CEYLON PLANTING 

 PRODUCTS. 



In criticism of certain correspondence which 

 appeared in the local papers about two months 

 ago, an esteemed correspondent now in England 

 has sent us a communication which is evidently 

 the outcome of the deliberations of not a few 

 capitalists and proprietors interested in Ceylon. 

 We accordingly give prominence to the views ex- 

 pressed : — 



" We noticed more than one corres^jondent re- 

 cently writing a few words of warning as to the 

 danger of haste in the abandonment, or com- 

 parative abandonment, of one of your most important 

 items of planting enterprize, Cinchona. One corre- 

 spondent pointed out very forcibly how inadvisable it 

 is to prematurely abandon this form of cultivation. 

 According to him, many of your planters, owing to 

 the low prices for the bark now obtainable in the 

 European markets, are neglecting the further planting 

 of the tree. The writer and others at home are at one 

 with that gentleman in the view he expressed, feeling 

 that there is every reason to hope that some day or 

 other the demand for quinine, as its use becomes ex- 



