S28 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



CJONE 1, 1886, 



of births. Amongst the Europeaus, ou the other hand, 

 the death-rate is very considerably lower than the 

 birth-rate ; but so it is with our prolific Agulo-Saxons 

 :ill over the world. Jlay their bow abido in strength. 

 In commercial statistics one healthy sign may be 

 mentioned — the exports largely exceed the imports. The 

 most noticeable fact as regarding imports is the marked 

 falliug-oft in the item of hardware, which is owinff to 

 the fact that most of the machinery required on the 

 various estates had been imported previous to 1885. A 

 s-evere bloV has, by this mail, reached the coconut 

 planters, copra merchant.'^, anTl small traders, in the news 

 of the fall ol the price of copra by .£1 per ton. "Just 

 slices away our margin of profit," cried a .small trader 

 the other day. A ray of light, nevertheless, comes 

 brightly through the rack in the awakening of the 

 beche-de-mer indu.stiy. There is a magnificent harvest 

 of the sea, and some vessels visiting the outlying reefs 

 have done very well. A good price is obtained, and 

 there is a full demand. One Chinese merchant in 

 Levuka did in one year a business in this highly in- 

 teresting and surpassingly delicious Imine hoHchr for 

 the Celestials amounting to £20,000. There is a greater 

 demand tor our tea than the small production can as 

 yet overtake, though a fine new plantation is coming 

 into bearing at Masusu, AVainunu (Messrs, Mackiunon 

 & Barrett;. The Fiji tea, though well spoken of by 

 experts, is not enjoyed by every tea-drinker. " It is 

 far too good for that," say some of the knowing ones. 

 " The opinions of the public as to either tea, wine, 

 or anything else, are no test of excellence," asserted 

 a. mercantile gentleman, "and the taste of the generality 

 of consumers and that of connoisseurs and experts are 

 not alike." " Caviare to the general" is all very well 

 in its way; but one would think the io.r popii/i v/on\d 

 come nearer to the truth nevertheless. An industry 

 that may yet be indefinitely extended in Fiji is that 

 of fruit-preserving. Oranges boiled in sugar, bananas, 

 and pineapples canned 8an Franciscan-wise, and various 

 forms of candied peel, dried fruits, and preserves. These 

 things are possible to Fiji, where the sugar can be 

 produced as well as the, fruit at a cheaper r.ate than in 

 Australia or New Zealand. That there is a future for 

 Fiji in the matter of exports is evidently believed in by 

 the great steamship companies, which continue to run 

 their boats at a jiresent loss merely for the purpose of 

 securing the trade of the future. The Colonial Sug.ir 

 Eefining Company has very creditably given a bounty to 

 the uativeproduceis of sugarcane, from whom they have 

 received much material for their all-devouring mill- 

 rollers to opoiate upon ; and this boimty has been to 

 the amount of Xl.bOO. — Quicn^la/i/hr. 



TEADE AND COMMERCE OF CEYLOIT. 

 {Bi/ American Consul Jlorey.) 



IMrOETS. 



The nnporlb for the year ISW (including coal and 

 coke, 200,0110 tons, worth' Sl.iWl.OtiOl aggregated lo.j,Si71 

 tons, valued at $17,311^,740, and tlie duties thereon 

 amounted to Sl.OSt'l, 17H. Eight-tenths at leaiit of the 

 whole came from Great Britain or her colonies, and 

 although many of tho article;^ enumerated arc nioiu 

 cheap and abundant in tho United States than else- 

 where nothing is credited as coming from there, ex- 

 cept $311,000 worth of keroiieiie oil, wheroau SKS.yOO 

 worth of the same commodity are credited toBritibh 

 India, which country, of course, got it from America. 

 I trace, also, about another ,1?(i7,000 worth of American 

 goods, viz., salt beef and pork, clocks and watches, 

 plated ware, notions and tobacco as coming indirectly 

 from America, conscciueutly there wore about SIV.I.OIK) 

 worth of our products imported hero during the year. 

 The notions cnneistcd of mostly the following articles, 

 viz.: — .'V cotton-gin, a ricc-hullcr, stencil conibiiiations, 

 wharf and warehouse swivel trucks, coffcc-hnllers, 

 steel harli-fcucing, Marvin sales, rifles and revolvers, 

 saws and locks, canned goods and Bcwiug-machinos, 

 type-writers, &c. 



The principal dealers iu those articles say tlio 

 demand for them is incrcasiug. One leading firm has 

 the agency for the Walthani Watch ('ompany and 

 Seth Thomas' clocks and probably sells more of 

 those goods, ospooially tho watches, than any other 



firm here, as almost everyone now requiring a strong 

 and reliable timekeeper patronizies the American 

 article. 



I notice also that a few American carriages are 

 being imported privately, and railroad locomotive 

 head-lights for the Ceylon Government, likewise 

 some wood-working machinery lor tlie government 

 factory. 



EXPOETS. 



The exports were ].'!5,208 tons, valued at S13,-403.316, 

 or .^3,9811.424 less than the imports. If, however, we 

 add to tho exports at least S1,.JOO,()00 for coals sup. 

 l)lied to steamers, and therefore hciug practically " im- 

 ports re-exported," shall have exports, $1-5,000,000, and 

 a difference of less than S2,G0O,0OO in favor of imports. 

 How much of this difference may be m.iile up by the 

 value of precious stones it is hard to s.ay in these times 

 when large quantities of gems are being returned un- 

 sold from Europe ; it is probable, however, that the 

 account is balanced in that way. * 



There are no marked features in the export list es- 

 pecially distinguishing it from last years's except the 

 increased shipments of coppera to Europe and a cor- 

 responding falling oflf in the quantity sent to India; 

 besides an increase in coconut oil to the fnited States 

 and a diminished amount of plumbago to our country. 

 The export of coppera to Europe and kapook (tree 

 cotton) was alluded to incidentally in my last annual 

 report as a novelty, and I now observe that the ship- 

 ments of the latter commodity amounted to, in the 

 calendar year 1S84, 229,413 pounds, worth S21,82G. 



COMJIERCK. 



The navigation for the year inward and outwax-d, 

 amounted to 4,1*76 steamers and SJiiling vessels, reported 

 5,572,104 tons. Of this vast aggregate, 2,5i)8 members, 

 totaling 5,168,860 tons were steamers, and 2,378, regis- 

 tering 398,264 tons, were ."^ailing vessels. Great Britain 

 and her colonies' contribution to this immense fleet was 

 2,096 steamers, registering 4,048,986 torn, and 2,061 

 sailers, grossing 262.236 tons ; total, 4,157 steamers and 

 sailing vessels, aggregating 4,311,222 tons. 



The United States contributed, counting them 

 double, in and out, 18 sailing vessels, aggregating 

 12,210 tons, which is the largest showing in our favor 

 since the year 1863. 



The above numbers are taken from the re- 

 cords of the master attendants at the three prin- 

 cipal ports of the island, viz.. Colombo, Galle 

 and Jatfna, and they contain much tonnagt; calling at 

 Ceylon only for coals or ordrrs. The actual amount of 

 shipping, entering and clearing, at the several custom- 

 houses, and really participating in the carr\ ing trade 

 was.ibout 4,230 steamers and sailors, aggregatiug about, 

 3,350,000 tons. Nearly eight-tenths of the total ton- 

 nage first named above must be credited to Colombo, 

 which, therefore, m:iy now be regarded as one of the 

 chief maritime resorts of the world, and jtcrhaps the 

 largest in the Iiiilian seas. This conditijii is mostly 

 due to the opening of the Suez Canal and the building 

 of a break\^ater luxe, as. jirior to the former event, 

 the navigation of Colombo was comparatively insignifi- 

 cant, whereas now being in the direct track of steamers 

 bound from the Ked Sea to India, Burma and China 

 and vice versa, and possessing a safe and most acces- 

 sible harbor, besides being in telegraphic communication 

 with the whole civilized world, it now attracts and 

 offers superior faclities for coaling and comimiuicating 

 to all steamers cruising in those directions and to sail- 

 ing vcs.si'ls seeking for freights. 



French commerce in Ceylon ranks second to British, 

 the figures being 220 stcan^ers and 2 sailing vos.'iel.s, 

 aggregating 555,321 tons. A very large jiroportion of 

 this, however, represents steamers eugiiged trausport- 

 iug troops and stores to and from the l"ar East in the 

 prosecution of the Franco-Chinese war. Austro- 

 llungary comes next, her contribution being 67 steamers 

 and 2 sailers, aggregating 120,156 tons. Holland ranks 

 next, and Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain. Ivussia, 

 Arabia, Portugal, Japan, and Siam, so f.ir as steamers 

 .-ire concerned, cjme iu the order nauietl, while the 

 two nationalities represented by sailing ships only 

 wore the United States and Maldive Islands ; the only 



