CH. Ill] VILLAGE AGRICULTURE AND LOCAL MARKETS 159 



It collects produce from the villagers, and forwards it fortnightly 

 to Colombo, where it is sold by auction in the local market, 

 and realises better prices, even after the payment of all costs 

 of collection and transport, than it could have realised in 

 Vavuniya. 



The next question to be dealt with is the provision of a 

 market for any "export" produce that may be grown by the 

 villager, for it is obvious that he cannot export it himself, being 

 unable to wait so long for his monetary return, even if he could 

 export enough to be worth while. In the case of such products 

 as coconuts, he can sell them readily enough to the local travelling 

 middlemen, but in this way he gets a very small return, and 

 some more profitable system seems desirable, while in the case 

 of such a product as tea or rubber, there are no middlemen who 

 purchase such things. 



It has been suggested that the Government should subsidise 

 capitalists to open factories for the produce of the country, and 

 buy up at fixed prices, paid in cash, all produce grown in the 

 district by the villagers. This scheme is practically the Java 

 culture system over again, with the compulsion left out, and 

 would be liable to failure at starting, for the native would not 

 grow till he saw a certain market, while the factory owner 

 would not start till he saw a certainty of grist for the mill. 

 If such a scheme is put into operation, therefore, it should 

 be in a district where there are already planters growing the 

 particular crop to be dealt with, and their factories might then 

 be subsidised, if necessary, to buy the produce of the villagers. 



The villager in general turns out a poor grade of article, as 

 well as a poor yield, and the markets of the north do not want 

 poor grades. It follows therefore that the villager should be 

 encouraged chiefly in the cultivation of the products in which 

 he is able to turn out a good grade, such for instance as coco- 

 nuts, while other products should only be introduced as he 

 learns to handle them, unless they be such as rubber, in which 

 he can sell the milk to the factory, which can then work it up 

 into as good a grade of rubber as it prepares from its own milk. 

 He should not, so to speak, be turned loose on such a product 

 as cotton, which requires careful selection of the seed in every 



