i6 



total, i8f hours — and arrived in Colombo harbour at 

 7 a.m. on Friday, loth April; a very satisfactory per- 

 formance, especially as we were going direct east lor a 

 gieat part of the journey. 



Ceylon and Rubber Developments. 



About the time I first sailed to Ceylon — 1900 — few 

 people in the East seriously thought of rubber growing; 

 many of those who planted rubber trees did so for no 

 special reason, except that there might be something 

 ill the cultivation apart from the general usefulness of 

 Para trees as shade for cacao and for checking wash 

 along ravines and steep land generally. I have a vivid 

 recollection of one planter refusing an offer of several 

 thousand seeds in 1900; he considered them useless at 

 the time, and they were consequently thrown into the 

 river. That same friend acquired wisdom with age, and, 

 like many of his fellow planters who have since made 

 their little fortunes, may congratulate himself that no- 

 thing more serious befell him. At the same time I do 

 think that the average planter fully deserves the best of 

 luck; the planter's life is healthy, and to some extent 

 free. But it is no easy task to brtng a rubber estate in 

 the low country of Ceylon to a successful issue; in the 

 course of years every planter runs his fair share of risks 

 with diseases, and has many difficulties to overcome. 



Planters' and Rubber Growers' Association, 



I was surprised to find, on my arrival in Colombo, that 

 a little feeling has apparently been created among some 

 members of the planting community in consequence of 

 the attitude which the " Rubber Growers' Association " 

 has taken up on certain questions. The opinion was very 

 forcibly expressed that the " Rubber Growers' Associa- 

 tion " was interfering too much with questions which 

 might well be left to planters on the spot; that they 

 were, as a body, desirous of effecting economy in salaries 

 in the tropics; and that the general freedom and 

 privileges of rubber planters were being seriously 

 threatened. A section of the Press appeared to think that 

 the " R.G.A." had sacrificed its dignity by having a 

 public squabble. A small number of planters still ap- 

 pear to believe that rubber cultivation is more of a 



