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JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



difficulty to hammers and axes. Such masses are of course 

 proportionally difficult to grind for use in the manufacture 

 of crucibles and other articles, and do not realize the prices 

 paid for lumps which are soft as well as large. Dulness of 

 colour as well as hardness of texture, decrease the value of 

 plumbago, even where iron may not be present, brilliancy 

 of crystallization being generally an index of a correspond- 

 ingly good quality. 



In legislating for and discussing the subject in 1873, it 

 was announced by Governor Sir W. H. Gregory, that no 

 lands known or supposed to contain plumbago in quantity 

 should in future be sold, for the reason that a few rich men 

 might thus monopolize a pursuit, the benefits of which 

 Government properly wished to see diffused amongst the 

 population. Only leases, therefore, are generally granted, 

 on terms easy for the lessees and fair to the community, of 

 whom Government were the trustees. The Government 

 Agent of the Western Province is now, however, in favour 

 of selling plumbago lands in small lots. Instead of a system 

 exclusively of fees, which would have to be paid whether 

 the land taken up was productive or barren, the rules for 

 leases in force in the Western Province, but, strangely 

 enough, not in the Southern (the mines in the North- 

 Western Province being all on private lands), are embodied 

 in the following memorandum, which I owe to the courtesy 

 of the Hon. Mr. Saunders :— 



" When a person wishes to dig for plumbago in a Crown land, 

 he is required to make application in writing to the Government 

 Agent or Assistant Government Agent, who forwards the appli- 

 cation to the Mudaliyar of the district for report as to whether 

 the land is such as might be properly leased, and the applicant 

 a proper and fit person to be granted a lease. If the report be 

 satisfactory, the applicant is required to mark the boundaries of 

 the land he wishes for, by trenches and stones, in such a way as to 

 leave no doubt of the exact land selected. A lease bond is then 

 entered into on a stamp of Rs. 10. An extent of one acre only 

 is leased at one time, and only for one year ; but the lease is 

 extended from year to year if applied for by the lessee. 



"Instead of charging a fixed sum for [the, rent equivalent of] 

 an annual lease, it has been found better to take one-tenth of the 

 plumbago dug. 



