19 



facility to natives and Europeans who wish to plant 

 land and settle down in the Colony. So long- as outside 

 capital is forthcoming there is perhaps not the same 

 necessity to offer financial assistance direct to the native 

 or European planters, especially as far as rubber is con- 

 cerned; the institution of agricultural banks and the 

 methods of the officials in Malaya should not, however, 

 be lost sight of, simply because agriculture has beed 

 in a plethoric state. The Government is not likely, how- 

 ever, to be troubled very much, by too many land appli- 

 cations; Colombo, at the time of my visit, was badly in 

 want of money. 



As far as Ceylon is concerned, the feeling is general 

 that further planting should be continued, only on a 

 moderate scale; assuming- that the present statistics for 

 the Colony are correct, I anticipate that the premier 

 Crown Colony will, before very many years are over, 

 be in possession of nearly 200,000 acres of land planted 

 with rubber trees. 



I was much amused at the view taken by one high 

 botanical official and advisor to the Home Government; 

 he regarded the business as horrible since it meant the 

 sacrifice of indigenous and endemic tropical plants to the 

 felling axe of the rubber planter. It will be remembered 

 that when the question was raised in the House of Com- 

 mons early during the present year, in reference to 

 Malaya, the responsible Minister explained that, as the 

 rubber-planting industry had been the means of getting 

 much-needed capital into the tropical country referred to, 

 no restriction on the forests in the area affected would 

 be advised. 



A Tour in the Kalutara District. 



The Kalutara district is among- one of the most in- 

 teresting in the whole of Ceylon to the rubber world. 



We made a tour through the principal estates, and had 

 a good opportunity of seeing what growth had been made 

 during recent times; we were also able to observe the 

 changes in methods adopted by the up-to-date planters 

 of that district. 

 In a Humber Car. 



Time was limited; it was, therefore, necessary to hire 



