No. 7 (1917) ADMINISTRATION REPORT, 1 91 7-18 I^j- 



Ramnad district appreciate the facilities and help given to them. Prior 

 to the beginning of the Rameswaram fishery at the end of February, I had 

 considerable misgiving as to the adequacy of the labour force available, as 

 the merchants who work the Ceylon fisheries desired to take the divers to 

 Ceylon at an early date. The men were themselves anxious to join our 

 fishery and eventually after protracted negotiation with the leading divers, 

 an arrangement was made whereby a larger number than was the case last 

 year, pledged themselves to work in the Government fishery. This satis- 

 factory outcome assured the success of the fishery from the beginning and 

 I now hope that the custom of taking part in the Rameswaram fishery 

 before going to Ceylon, has become an established one. It is however 

 only because the facilities we give are superior to those which obtain in 

 Ceylon. 



9. The Rameswaram fishery began on 27th February 191 8 and lasted 

 till 24th April 1918 when the Muhammadan divers held their Kahdiri 

 celebration in the camp prior to dispersing. The services of the motor 

 launches '■ Pearl " and " Leverett " and of the chartered steam tug " Eider " 

 were invaluable for towing the boats to and from the beds. Last year the 

 charter of the " Eider " cost Rs. 3,600 ; this year, by having the use of the 

 " Leverett " we were able to shorten the period of charter considerably so 

 that the bill for her use was reduced to Rs. 3,000 in spite of increase in the 

 rate of hire. The ■' Leverett " though small is very powerful for her size 

 and was able to tow at a fair speed as many as 36 boats in ordinary 

 weather. 



10. Acquisition of land sites. — In order to erect further permanent 

 buildings at the various chank centres in Ramnad district, a site for a 

 beche-de-mer factory, store and ofiice was acquired at Tirupalakudi, the 

 extent being 42-4 cents and the cost Rs, 289-1-6. The Government Order 

 sanctioning the acquisition is No. 137, Revenue, dated iSth January 1917. 

 In addition, by the sanction conveyed in G.O. No. 552, Revenue, dated 

 6th September 1917, G.O. No. 716, Revenue, dated 27th November 1917, 

 a small site of 4 cents was acquired for Rs. 2-4-0 at South Vedalai and 

 another of 74^ cents for PvS. 1 99-10-8 at Olakkuda, Rameswaram, 

 respectively. The former is fur the erection thereon of a chank godown, 

 the latter for a second set of divers' lines. 



11. Tirupalakudi. — At this centre work was hampered till late in the 

 season by strong winds which made the sea too muddy for effective opera- 

 tions. This section of the coast is the most unfavourably situated of any 

 in regard to this factor : only in exceptional seasons is the weather 

 sufficiently good to permit of large quantities of shells being fished, and 

 here as at Tuticorin, the weather was almost uniformly adverse throughout 



