August i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



97 



Evidently then what Indian tea muet stand 

 or fall bj is the supply of labour. There is any 

 extent of land obtainable under the most favor- 

 able conditions of soil and climate, but this is in 

 districts where unfortunately not only is the popul- 

 ation scanty, but ihe very condition of soil, climate, 

 and ample available area which favor tea also render 

 the people averse to and independent of labour. VVhere 

 this last is not the case, the other conditions are absent. 

 In (he Chittagong hill tracts, for instance, there is 

 abundance of local labour except at the time of the 

 rice harvest. Chota Nagpore again is the source 

 wlience most of the Assam labour has hitherto been 

 sujiphed. But then " the soil and climate of the 

 Lohardugga district ('hota Napore) are said not to 

 be suitable for tlie successful cultivation of tea ; but 

 this drawback is partly made up for by the relative 

 cheapness of land and labour," and the same applies 

 to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Thus Indian tea depends 

 upon thr facilities for importing labour to thu dist- 

 ricts where tea can be advantageously grown. To 

 speak first of Assam, as being the principal tea 

 growing district, we find that there was at the 

 end of 18?0-8I an imported labouring population of 

 187,300 souls in the tea gardens of Assam. Now, as 

 this class of labour is only under contract for a fixed 

 period (after which the coolies are free to take up lands 

 and become lazy Assamese), this population has to be 

 ted by constant immigration, to keep it up to its nreaent 

 strength, besides the increase required for extension of 

 tea culiivation. But we find that the supply is steadily 

 diminishing. The Assam report for 1880-81 gives a 

 statement, showing that the coolies imported to that 

 province for the last four years are as follows :— 



1877 ... ... 31,897 



1878 ... ... 43,061 



1S79 ... 24 712 



ISSO ... ... 15,913 



The Bengal report for the same year says that the 

 Bengal recruiting grounds are almost exhausted and 

 " that managers of gardens must for the future look 

 to upcountry labour to supply their requirements " It 

 13 there also stated that " IJengal has almost ceased 

 to be a field for the supply of colonial immigrants " 

 nevertheless no less than 1:2,185 coolies were found, 

 not only for the British colonies of Mauritius, Uemer- 

 ara, Trinidad, Jamaica, and St. Lucii, but also 

 for the French and Dutch colonies of Guadeloupe 

 and Suriuam. Now it would certainly seem as if the 

 Provinces of India had the first claim, and that 

 until this was satisfied coolie emigration beyond the 

 sea should be discouraged. 



But, until 1880, it was the coolie emigration to 

 Assam th.at was discouraged. At last, on the 6th of 

 April 18S0, a London association memorialized the 

 Government of India, praying that some measures 

 might be taiien to improve the position of the tea in- 

 dustry by removing the flisabilities imposed by the 

 -Assam Labour Act passed in 1873. This has now been 

 done by Act 1 of 1882, and the probable r.enlt will be 

 a greatly increased importation of coolies into Assam 

 from the N.-W. P., Oudh, and Behar, the provinces 

 which have hitherto supplied the colonies. Dariilincr 

 aud Julpigoree draw their labour from Nepaul but 

 It 13 obtniued with difficulty by the hitter, and 'those 

 gardens, too, will soon have to recruit upcountry. 

 Dacca, Chittagong, and Lahardu-ga can still depend 

 upon the local supply. On the whole it may reasonably 

 be supposed that the tea interest, with improved ar- 

 rangements, should now be able, under the neyv Act 

 to obtain an adequate supply of labour without ex- 

 cessive trouble and cost. Some of ih.i Calcutta firms 

 interested iu the supply of labour to the tea districts 

 have adopted a system of establishing depots aud ob- 

 taining contractors' licenses for their own special agents 

 which appears likely to produce marked results on 



the character of recruiting operations. Hitherto, the 

 gardens have either trusted to professional contractors 

 supplying coolies for a consideration, or else have sent 

 out garden sirdars to bring iu recruits from their 

 bomes. The former system was in every way un- • 

 satisfactory. The latter had this disadvantage, that 

 either more men had to be sent out than could well 

 be .spared to recruit each a few men, or else large sums 

 had to be entrusted to men for whose zeal and honesty 

 there could be no guarantee. Under the provisions 

 of the new Act for enforcement of the labourer's con- 

 tracts and prevention of desertion, and with the im- 

 proved arrangements for transit and the preservation 

 ot hea th the planter will now obtain the services of 

 a much larger percentage than heretofore of the gangs 

 that he imports at great expense, and the cost of 

 tlie individual coolies therefore will be less. So Ion.' 

 as labour can be imported at less than RICO per head 

 and kept up at a less average rate than nine rupees 

 per month per working hand, on gardens yielding 200 

 ■A -if^ 1"^'' '^"^ "f mature plant, so long, it is 

 said, will tea planting be a remunerative business. It 

 may be accepted that for some time to come the ex- 

 penees will be kept far below these figures 



ITHK NORTHERN TERRITORY OP SOUTH 



AUSTRALIA FOR TROPICAL 



PRODUCTS. 



(From the Special Reporter of the Adelaide Ohserver. 

 May 13th, 1882.) 



GOVERNMENT GABDENS : SCGAE, COFFEE, CINCHONA, TOBACCO, 



MAIZE, ARBOWBOOT, COTTON, INDIGO, PEANUTS, FEUIT, 



INTJlAEUBBEIi, GRASSES. 



The Director of the Palmerston gardens is Jlr. Holtze 

 and the reader ought to post himself up in the miracle 

 winch that gentleman and the soil he cultivates have 

 jointly yvrought. The garden is about foiu- miles from' 

 Fahnerston, verging on Fannie Bay, and it was estab- 

 hshed by the Government for "the express purpose of 

 raising plants ot commercial value and cUstributing them 

 over the country." The institution was originaUy started 

 upon the recommendation of Dr. Schomburgh, Director 

 ot the Adelaide Gardens, and ot aU the worthy botanist's 

 excellent suggestions none has proved more practicaUy 

 valuable than this. •' 



There was another garden once nearer Paknerston 

 The old enclosure is used as the police paddock now Eight 

 acres of it were cleared, and it sub.served priucipjilly the 

 lugbly important purpose of growing vegetables for the 

 officials. Ml-. Holtze succeeded its former director about 

 tour and a half years ago, and audaciously hinted that 

 to cultivate cabbage hearts was not the greatest ambi- 

 tion of the true gardener, or the most important oper- 

 ation for the country. So he cut down the supplies, and 

 put in various tropical trees and other plants, and then 

 suggested that a fairer trial would be given to the 

 average of the Northern Territory soU, if a different 

 plantation were obtained. He was allowed to get another 

 and he selected the present garden— then tliick jungle' 

 mostly, m the position indicated. He has been blamed 

 tor doing so ; the land is indifferent, the blame-givers 

 say. And he says so too, but significantly he pleads that 

 his selection is the best for experiments, iind that he is 

 now able to say to intending planters :— ■' You see, gen- 

 tlemen, I have grown canes so many feet high on this 

 indifferent ground ; on good land you ouglit to have 25 

 per cent, more of measureable success." And he has re- 

 peatedly urged that there should be another Government 

 garden upcountry— at Yam Creek, for hi^-tance- where 

 there is good soil. "What one failed in might be the 

 other's strong ground ot success. 



The area of the garden is thirty-two acres, and it was 

 cho.scn at a tune when crowds ot Chinamen came in from 

 the gold-fields, half -starving, to demand rations from the 

 Government. They were engaged (as iu a r.-licf work) at 

 Is. a day to clear the selection, and tli.v did— did it 

 " most horribly," Mr. Holtze assured me. by the 1st of 



