70 Coffee Planting. 



and burning, accounts being squared when the 

 land is finally handed over ready for culture. 



In South India a more elaborate course is 

 usually followed, a contract being signed on 

 stamped paper in the presence of witnesses, and an 

 advance of part payment made at once in order to 

 render the agreement binding. There are indeed 

 several points to be attended to, to render these 

 agreements valid in law. It is, I believe, first 

 necessary to state the amount of work, next the 

 rate of remuneration, the date when work. is to be 

 commenced, w r hen it is to be finished, and finally the 

 amount of advance. The value of the stamp must 

 be proportionate to the amount of the advance, and 

 without an advance no contract of the kind is 

 binding, according to Indian law. These formali- 

 ties having been complied with, breach of con- 

 tract is criminal and punishable by imprisonment. 

 Notwithstanding all this elaborate procedure, how- 

 ever, I have not found the contractors in S. India 

 at all more punctilious as to the fulfilment of their 

 engagements than the Ceylon felling contractors 

 indeed, the contrary has been my experience. 

 Along the Malabar Coast, so-called native con- 

 tractors can be found ready to pledge themselves 

 to the performance of any sort of work, under any 

 penalty, always provided the amount of advance 

 proposed appear sufficient to compensate for any 



