.102 journal, r.a.s. (ceylon). [Vol. IX. 



public works, of means of communication which facilitate and 

 cheapen the operations of the diggers. We could only wish 

 that copper, tin, nickel, and other ores which have been so 

 positively written about as occurring in Ceylon, with gold, 

 which beyond question does exist, were found in quantities 

 sufficient to add appreciably to the revenue in the shape of 

 royalties. The one necessary qualification is, of course, that 

 the amount of the tax should be such as not to bear heavily on 

 an enterprise which is always toilsome and often precarious. 

 Taking the average value of plumbago at Ks. 10 per cwt., 

 the Customs figure, the present impost of 25 cents is, as 

 noticed above, only equivalent to a rate of per cent., 

 which certainly cannot be complained of as unduly onerous, 

 however justifiable complaints and remonstrances were 

 when 145., 16s., and even 305. per ton were exacted, or Rs. 10 

 between 1874 and 1877. The present rate has the merit of 

 being light, easily collected, and productive, for in the five 

 years ended 1884 an average export of nearly 12,000 tons per 

 annum, of an annual value of Rs. 2,400,000, yielded 

 royalty equal to a yearly average in round numbers of 

 Rs. 60,000. When the proceeds of digging licenses and 

 leases of Crown lands, and stamps on those leases are 

 added, the average may be raised to Rs. 65,000. The 

 maxima of quantities exported, total value, and total 

 revenue were reached in 1883 when the figures were :— 



Plumbago exported ... ... cwt. 262,774 



Value @ Rs. 10 per cwt. ... ... Rs. 2,627,737 



Total revenue \ Es * 65 > 694 1 ... „ 70,421 



I Leases & licenses 4,727 ) 



Wonderful contrasts these, even if we reduce the Customs 

 valuation by one-half, to an export of only 423 cwt. in 1839, 

 valued at only Rs. 490, or a little over Rs. 1 per cwt., 

 and yielding to the revenue of the Colony only Rs. 12*25, 

 a sum scarcely worthy of collection ! The totals for the 

 whole period of half a century of the export trade in 

 Ceylon plumbago are striking, viz. j— 



Quantity exported ... cwt. 3,526,000 



Value of this quantity ... Rs. 25,742,000 

 Contributions to revenue ... „ 841,000 



Crediting plumbago revenue with items brought to 

 account under stamps and other headings, the amount 



