754 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April i, 1885. 



duty to tell the man who_ had sought my advice that, it 

 he had better not rely' on any Crown land, as, from 

 recent experience, it was ten to one that it would be 

 withdrawn from sale even at the last moment. 



Such a do-nothing policy is at the present time simply 

 ruinous to the general interests of the country, and I am 

 astonished that the recent Planters' Association meeting 

 should have so utterly overlooked so seriously important 

 a question, for I consider its speedy settlement of far 

 more consequence to the progress and prosperity of the 

 islaud than the disposal of any of the measures which they 

 criticized and condemned on that day. The necessity of 

 increased taxation and the principle to be applied in pay- 

 ing for reproductive works are no doubt in themselves 

 questions demanding expression of public opinion, but they 

 are of little importance when compared with the policy 

 which shuts out the capitalists, and stops the way which 

 lies so evidently open for a restoration at no distant date 

 to our former prosperous condition; at the very time when, 

 owing to the good prospects of Ceylon tea, both in quantity 

 and quality, and probably to the uncertainty of China being 

 again such a factor in the field, capitalists from India and 

 home are seeking to invest in our lands, the Government 

 shut them up ; and the result will be that, as we cannot 

 avail ourselves at the turning of the tide, the capital 

 will go elsewhere and benefit other countries, and we shall 

 have to dribble along till a change of Government briugs 

 us an administration which will look more to the develop- 

 ment of the country, and particularly of its rising and 

 most promising industry, than to carrying out crotchets 

 ■which are not only false in themselves, but are ruinous 

 in their tendencies. * * * 



Every day's delay in the settlement of the question of 

 the disposal of the waste lands suitable for tea growing 

 means not only hindering the development of the tea en- 

 terprise, but disgusting, and driving capitalists and planters 

 to other countries having stores of unused wealth in waste 

 forest lands. If the Government stick to the present 

 policy of locking up the whole (for it is practically so) of 

 the low lands of the islands on the erroneous . supposition 

 that they are preserving from diminution the rainfall of 

 the country, then the different Associations representing 

 public opinion must, if they wish to secure for Ceylon the 

 benefit of being next to India the largest exporter of 

 tea to the Loudon market, take immediate action and 

 address the Secretary of State to have the present policy 

 reversed; and, if it be necessary to effect that, let them 

 demand a change of Government and a rule of common 

 sense and not of crotchets which, however, pleasant to 

 the mind that has devised them, are matters of life and 

 death to the future of the colony, affecting all alike, both 

 European and Native, and preventing advantage being 

 taken of the long-looked for return of confidence in the 

 Inline of tin- island. 



Tin' theory (for it is nothing else) on which the Govern- 

 ment rest their defence "f their present policy "I obstruction 

 to the development of tea planting, viz., the conservation 

 of the rainfall (not of the forests) is utterly untenable 

 and would be ridiculous were not such grave issues at- 

 tendant on it. I could understand such a reason being 

 advanced for such action were Ceylon situated in Central 

 India with the sea a thousand miles away, but situated 

 as it is in the very teeth of both monsoons and the sea 

 breezes sweeping over it from side to side, it does not 

 surely need even the experience of long residence to tell 

 one that the rainfall can in no way be affected by the 

 deuudntiuu of the forests, especially in the lowcountry. 

 The rain clouds will be attracted by the highest hills, 

 whether there be any forest in the intervening country 

 or not, but there might be some need in reserving the 

 highest ranges and sources of streams. I know of places 

 within the 60-called reserve to which it would be a 

 godsend if the rainfall were diminished, but where I know 

 it never will diminish unless the hills can be flattened 

 down a bit. "Were the reserve made and sustained in 

 order to plant and grow timber for public purposes gen- 

 erally (for there is no timber within it worth conserving), 

 there would be more sense in such a theory than the 

 one put forward in defence of obstructiveuess; but there 

 is enough land and to spare to gratify both Mr. Vincent's 

 crotchets in that line and give employment to the capital 

 that is now seeking investment withiu the reserve, for it 



will not be turned off to utilize abandoned coffee lands so 

 long as there is better forest land available. It is no new 

 explanation of the real motives for locking up the 

 Crown lauds that the Government hope this policy may 

 induce the utilization of abandoned estates, but unfortun- 

 ately it is not new to know that capital will not be driven, 

 though it may, if judiciously worked, be led into a new 

 channel, even in what was in danger of being considered 

 a worn-out country. 



What we want now, and at once, is not a Forest Ordinance, 

 but the appointment of a special officer of lengthened 

 experience with a proper surveying staff, and full powers 

 to settle what lauds shall be reserved and what shall be 

 ■ surveyed and sold, exactly as was done with the ehena 

 lands, and which led to all the present lowcountry enter- 

 prize in tea planting. Such appointment should in no 

 I way be dependent on the Forests Ordinance, but rather 

 I should the latter be dependent on the results of the special 

 j officer's work-in fact, a Forests Ordinance made up 

 after the reserved lands had been defined, would be much 

 Tnore likely to stand the test of time than one put to- 

 gether now with such a chaotic jumbled-up basis to work 

 upon. "With regard to the special officer for this work, 

 all eyes will turn to Mr. Stoddart as the man above all 

 others who would deal with the question as it requires 

 to be dealt with, viz., quickly and finally, and who 

 would command the confidence of all, both governing and 

 governed, in the settlement of this most important and 

 most vitally interesting question. There is no time to be 

 lost; the hour has come, and the man is ready. "We should 

 ask the Government to make the appointment, and arrange 

 to put up from time to time such lands as the special 

 officer may select for sale. If this is done, capital will 

 be encouraged from both India and home, and the devel- 

 opment of the tea enterprize will progess. with rapid 

 strides, instead of languishing, as it does now and going 

 on at the present depressing and distressing snail's pace. 

 Taking the reseive and examining it even so far as 

 known to me personally, the groundlessness of the alarm 

 regarding rainfall, and 'the ueedlessness of the reservation 

 will be at once apparent, for there is more than enough 

 of land to satisfy legitimate demands and gratify all the 

 whims of the forester and administrator. To 'begin at 

 Hanwelhi and making en the south as far as the" Kalu- 

 ganga and Mope road the western boundary of Hie lands 

 suited for tea, and on the north as far as the railway 

 the road tuTj Weke the western boundry on that side, 

 there are all the lands to be settled 'enclosed within 

 tln.se lines, west, north, south; and another line from the 

 railway incline, across by lower Dolosbage and Yakdessa 

 to the Peak, and theuce to the Kaluganga at Ratna- 

 pura, an area of at least 8.111 square miles, or say 512,00(1 

 acres of land, of which at least. ..in -lenrth, including the 

 land already taken up, would be suitable for tea growing. 

 Say another fourth is left to gratify the cheuaing pro- 

 pensities of the natives, and the one half of the land 

 would still lie left to satisfy the crotchets respecting rain- 

 fall and allay any fears then.- may be of our loosing 

 some of our excessive moisture. Taking only the portion 

 lying between the Kelani river on the north and the 

 Kaluganga on the south, the road before-mentioned on 

 the west, and up to the Peak on the east, and you find 

 at least an area of 450 square miles or 288,000 acres, 

 out of which there are not yet 10,000 acres taken out for 

 tea cultivation, simply becau p it could not be got, and 

 surveys were put aside to satisfy the fancies of a man 

 whose only interest was to make a name for himself in 

 connection with forestry. 



Tb/iu with regard to the extensive tract south of the 

 Kaluganga from the Kalutara estates on the west, to 

 Hakwana on the east, and south to the Morowak Korale 

 and L'dagaina, there is no less than 1,000 square miles within 

 which the soil, rainfall and climate are suitable for tea- 

 growing, and out of that very large extent no more than 

 1,000 acres is ready to be advertised for sale. This pro- 

 portion or disproportion would be simply ridiculous were 

 it not so serious. Here, as in the tract north of the Kalu- 

 ganga, there is enough land and to spare to satisfy all 

 purposes, whether practical or theoretical, and hence the 

 wonder and the regret that the survey and the sale of 

 lands suitable for tea should be suspended. _ It would 

 appear that the interests of the tea enterprize are to 



