20 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. I 



capital, and has held it ever since, though many rivals have 

 sprung up. Why the West Indies should still fail to attract 

 British capital is not altogether obvious, but probably it is on 

 account of the labour conditions ; the negro labourer is unsatis- 

 factory as regards regularity, and compared with the coolie 

 labourer of the eastern countries, is very expensive, costing Is. 

 or more a day, against 4>d. to 8d. for a coolie. At the same 

 time, it must be pointed out that the general cost of labour is 

 showing a decided tendency to level up, and it will probably 

 not be long before the very cheap countries, like Ceylon, have 

 to pay more for their labour, and this will have an equalising 

 effect. Already, Ceylon's new rival, the Federated Malay 

 States, in which rubber planting is going on very rapidly, is 

 having to pay 60/ more for her labour than Ceylon, though 

 she taps the same source in southern India, while at the same 

 time she has to allow the coolies to work only for an eight-hours 

 day, as against the ten-hours day of Ceylon. This is already 

 producing an effect in Ceylon, and it seems not unlikely that 

 the latter country may ultimately have to pay more for her 

 labour, or allow shorter hours of work, or both. At some future 

 time, therefore, when labour conditions become more even 

 throughout the tropics, it may be possible to get British capital 

 again to go in important quantity to the West Indies. 



Not only is capital required for the large enterprises, it is 

 also required, in small quantity it is true, for the small, and the 

 practically absolute lack of capital, even a few shillings, is the 

 great bar to progress in village or peasant agriculture. Even 

 as it is, in perhaps the majority of cases, the small crops growing 

 upon the land are mortgaged to money-lenders, who have 

 advanced small sums at a rate of interest from 40 % upwards. 

 Serious attempts to get over this difficulty are now being made 

 in many parts of the tropics, usually by the establishment of 

 Cooperative Credit Societies, upon the lines so successful in 

 Europe. It is found, however, that the villager does not take 

 altogether kindly to these organisations, which are something 

 new in his limited experience, and there seems a likelihood that 

 the Cooperative Seed Supply Stores, which are in operation in 

 Ceylon, will better meet the difficulty. We shall consider these 

 matters in detail in Part III, under the head of village agriculture. 



