33° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[October i, 1882. 



the Sinhalese will be able to live comfortably and save 

 money to bring back with them to Ceylim. The ex- 

 periment is in many respects a very interesting one, and 

 no more favoirrable climate or land for making it, could 

 be presented than tropical Queensland. The Sinhalese 

 have been so accustomed to English colonists that they 

 will soon adapt themselves to their new, if temporary, 

 homes. Kind and considerate treatment mil, of course, 

 be necessary, and the Queenslanders will we have no 

 doubt consider the Sinhalese in many respects more 

 desirable servants than either South Sea Islanders or 

 Chinese. That the call for emigrants is locally popular 

 may be judged from the fact that Mr. CaulfeUd could 

 Bend 500, instead of 100 to his principal in Queens- 

 land in answer to the appeal made by advertisement 

 in our colimms. We om'selves have had a number of 

 letters of enquii-y on the subject from outstations. And 

 yet the Sinhalese have always been regarded as an ex- 

 tremely conservative stay-at-home people ! Perhaps the 

 present readiness to emigrate shews how the " hard 

 times" have told on the people, but it is also evidence 

 of the spread of intelligence and of a more manly in- 

 dependent sijiiit. The Australian colonies too have been 

 weU spoken of among hundi-eds and thousands of Sin- 

 halese through the long, pleasant and profitable business 

 done between Australian passengers and native dealers 

 and servants at Galle. Several Sinhalese have travelled 

 by mail-steamers from time to tune as servants, and six 

 Sinhale.-ie lads went as shepherds to Queensland last 

 year who perhaps have sent back news of then' comfort 

 and good ]>rospects which may have spread thi-ough the 

 native viUages and influenced the present movement. 

 Be tliat as it may, now that emigration has com- 

 menced on a scale of some importance, we must begin 

 to ask : is it not time for the Ceylon Government to 

 legislate with reference to the recruitment of its sub- 

 jects? It certainly behoves the local Government to 

 see that in the lengthened engagements made, the interests 

 of the Sinhalese are fuUy protected. We see it stated 

 that a young Eurasian overseer accompanies the Sinha- 

 lese (who go by next B. I. steamer to Cooktown) with 

 the view of settling down in the coimtiy permanently ; 

 but "it is not likely that all of the emigrants will care 

 to become permanent settlers and most will want to come 

 home after then- 2 J or 5 years' engagement. In the terms 

 as advertized by Mi-. CaulfeUd, the an-angement for passage 

 back is veiy fair. We quote a few paragraphs from 

 the advestisement which are considerate and liberal : — 

 "Wages : — £20 sterling pir annum, and house and 

 garden 242 square yards per adult, free ; no food, 

 no clothing. These latter can be supplied by employer 

 on a corrtsponding reduction of salary. — Passage and 

 food : — On a five (5) years' engagement passage will 

 be paid to and fro. On a two-and-a-hnlf (2^) year 

 engagement (laps.ige will be paid to and half from. 

 Employee, on renevvnl of engagement for 5 years after 

 complttion of fir^t (5) years, receives £25 per an- 

 Bum, wages. — Bonus of £6 Sterling : On completion 

 of five (5) years term and employee electing to renew 

 for a further period of five (5) years, he will be en- 

 titled to the above bonus of £G ; and passage on 

 c- rapletion of renewed term. — Bonus of £3 Sterling :— 

 Ou completion of two-and a-half (2^) years term and 

 e;r.pli..>ee electing to renew for a further portion of 

 two-aud-ahalf (2^) years he will be entitled to the 

 above £3, but has then no claim for passage money 

 on expiry of renewed term. — Accommodation ; — Same 

 as accustomed to on the Ceylon coffee estates.— In- 

 ductments : — 242 square yard* of bind to each aduli 

 man or woman for garden cultivation, the tame not 

 tn.nfferable without employer's saiiction. — Medical 

 atteiidHuce : Free. — Hobdays and Sundays : — Sun- 

 days, Government b'didays and Sinhalese holidays 

 •will be allowed. — Illness of emplo\ee : — During a pro- 

 longed or severe illness the employee will be entitled 

 to half salary aud food grsti , un doctor's certiticate. " 



There are other clauses equally considerate, and we are 

 told that the engagements made will come under the 

 Labor OrJiuance of Queensland ; but it is obriously 

 needful to see that the provisions of that ordinance 

 apply to the case of Sinhalese and equally that a cor- 

 responding ordinance — if not an intercolonial enactment — 

 be aiTanged for in Ceylon. 



We must not be understood as wishing to discourage 

 the present movement : we believe Ceylon and the Sin- 

 halese will greatly profit in many ways from a few 

 hundreds or even thousands of the people going forth 

 to see the world and to give of their industrial power 

 to the development of new enterprizes. Sugar cultiv- 

 ation is by no means light work, and the Kanakas, who 

 have hitherto been the mainstay of the Queensland planters, 

 and not available in proportion to the increasing demand for 

 cheap laboiu'. White men, even if they could toil in the field 

 under a tropical sun, are out of the question, for the idea of 

 eight hom-s work, eight boms play 

 eight hom's sleep, and eight hob a day, — 

 is incompatible i\ith the profitable cultivation of the 

 sugarcane. It remams to be seen how the Sinhalese 

 will answer. As carpenters and helpers about the factories, 

 they are siu'e to give satisfaction, but there may just 

 be a little doubt of theii' readiness to do field work ; 

 and yet we must remember that they labom- for long 

 horn's and under ti-ying cu'cumstances in tbeii' gardens 

 and paddy fields, and that one-halt then- objection to 

 employment on oiu' hill coffee plantations arises from 

 dislike to he associated with the immigi-ant Tamil coolies 

 on whom they have been accustomed to look down. We 

 are hopeful therefore that in Queensland Mr. Caulfeild's 

 selection of 100 Sinhalese will give satisfaction to theii* 

 employers, that they will prosper under then' engage- 

 ments and return in due season not only richer but 

 better men ready to promote the development of 

 agiicultural industry, where there is abundance of scope, 

 in their native land. 



SPRING VALLEY COFFEE COMPAJSTY, 

 LIMITED. 



Beport to be presented to the Seventeenth Ordinary 

 General Meetiug of the Company, on Thursday, the 3rd 

 day of August, 1882, at 1-30 p. m. 



The Balance Sheet now submitted to you shews the finan- 

 cial position of the Company ou 31st May, 1882; and the profit 

 and loss account gives the result of the season of 1880-81. 

 At the meetiug held in .July, IS^l, you were informed 

 that the crop then being gathered was Ukely to reach 

 6,700 cwt; but, as has been stated by circular in January 

 last the pickings fell away at the end of the season in a 

 manner for which yoiu: Directors were certainly not pre- 

 pared; and whether too sanguine an estimate had been at 

 first made on the spot, or the trees, suffer! ug from rea- 

 I)eated attacks of leaf-disease, failed in a larger measure 

 than in previous seasous to ripen the crop, the out-turn, 

 including inferior coffee sold in Cej-Iou, was from the two 

 poperties but 6.211 cwt. The amount realized from the 

 sale of this has been £21,211 3s. 7d., and it may here be 

 pointed out that this is within a few pounds of the sum 

 produced by the much .•tmaller crop of 1878-79, prices 

 haviug materially receded in the meantime. 



The expenditure of the year in Ceylon, wliich includes a 

 considerable outlay on buildings upon Spring Valley, has 

 been £17,485 15s. 7d., a large portion of wliich had been 

 incurred before the falling off in crop was ascertained. 

 The net result of the yea r's working is a profit of £2,399 

 76., and this added to the balance of Xl,544 16s. Id., 

 carried forward last year, gives £3,944 3s. Id., to the cre- 

 dit of revenue. In January last a dividend of 4s. per 

 share, or 2 per cent., ujion the Capital, was paid to you, 

 absorbing £1,600 of this credit balance. It is with much 

 disappointment that the Board ask you to con.sider that 

 payment as final for the cirrcnt year, leaving £2,344 3s. Id. 

 to be carried forward. They would wiUiugly recommend 

 a further distribution at ibis time, if the returns for 1881- 

 82 were likely to add materially to the balance in hand. 



