171 



1904, the average crop represented an output of 38,476 kilos, 

 valued at Rs. 714,096, and selling at an average price of Rs. 17.95 

 per kilo. In 1905 the export of vanilla was valued at Rs. 282,876 

 with an average price of Rs. 5.87 per kilo. And the failure means 

 more than this, for planters were living on a scale commensurate 

 with their recent good fortune, and traders had been accorded 

 .credit on a similar scale. Credit ceased suddenly, and advances 

 on crops and on mortgage were called in, and no banking insti- 

 tution existed to help those planters who held valuable properties, 

 but lacked, for the moment, means to keep them in cultivation 

 or to supplement their resources by the introduction of new 

 products. At this juncture the Government, being supported on 

 the authority of the Secretary of State, by a credit with the Crown 

 Agents, was enabled, under the provisions of Ordnance No. 4 of 

 1904, to advance to approved planters, on the security of first 

 mortgage, sums not to exceed Rs. 100,000 in the aggregate. 

 These loans have saved many planters from bankruptcy, and 

 staved off the abandonment of cultivation on several valuable 

 properties. The amount actually lent at the close of 1905 was 

 Rs. 67,800, when the further operation of the Ordinance had to be 

 suspended. Although the vanilla crop for 1906 is again a failure 

 there has been a resolute effort on all sides to improve coco-nut 

 cultivation, and to develop new industries, especially rubber culti- 

 vation ; so the prospects for 1 907 are more generally hopeful than 

 for three years past. 



The quantity of vanilla cleared for London in 1903 was 22,566 

 kilos., valued at Rs. 137,185, the proportion of the crop and the 

 total value being much as in 1904. London is looked upon as the 

 better market when prices are good, but Paris sales are steadier 

 when demand is dull ; that conclusion is based on the fact that 

 there are regular monthly sales in London where parcels are 

 sometimes put up for forced sale; whereas in Paris there is no 

 open market, but the principal buyers, having standing contracts 

 with the wholesale consumers, are ready to buy at a figure which 

 is not subject to market fluctuations. As the price ruled uniform- 

 ly low during 1905, the proportion sent to London was no more 

 than 46 percent, of the total; in prosperous years the proportion 

 sent to London has been as high as two-thirds ; the exports of 

 vanilla to Paris included more than half the crop (24,757 kilos.) 

 valued at Rs. 136,462. 



The Report by the Curator of the Botanic Station for the year 

 1905 states that the rainfall during 1905 was unfortunately distri- 

 buted and the vanilla crop for 1906 will be considerably reduced. 

 The weather was very promising until the end of July, but the rain 

 fell abundantly in August and September, and the vanilla vines 

 put forth new growth instead of flowering. Orange and lime 

 trees should be planted on a much greater scale than they are at 

 present for exportation as fruits, and for the production of citrate 

 of lime. In short the climate of Seychelles is highly beneficial to 

 the growth of citrus trees, and better attention should be paid to 

 them. Citrate of lime is imported into the United Kingdom to the 



