No. 31.— 1885.] 



PLUMBAGO. 



211 



ought to have been collected. No wonder if from 1869, 

 until the new system came into play, Government had 

 to confiscate considerable portions of the mineral, or 

 that Sir W. H. Gregory in closing the session for 1873 

 should have remarked : " The Plumbago Ordinance will, 

 I firmly believe, give a great impetus to mining enterprise 

 throughout the country, and put an end to the widespread 

 fraud and demoralization which the present system entails." 

 Fraud and demoralization were at once checked, but the 

 anticipated impetus to mining enterprise was only fully 

 given when the royalty was reduced from Rs. 10 per ton 

 to Rs. 5, in 1877. The criterion, I need scarcely say, is not 

 to be found in Blue Book returns of the number of mines 

 open or dormant, but in the figures of the Custom-house. 



In the Blue Book for 1884 the figures given for plumbago 

 mines are 81 in 1884 against 246 in 1883, in both cases 

 exclusive of mines in the Southern Province, whence returns 

 of mines seem not to have been sent, the details for 1884 

 giving 57 mines in the Western Province and 24 in the North- 

 western. I find, however, that in the Southern Province the 

 licenses to dig plumbago issued in 1883 were 74, falling to 10 

 in 1884. From the North- Western Province estimates are 

 given in the Blue Book, which are manifestly imperfect, 

 the figures for 1884 being 1,500 tons of mineral valued at 

 only Rs, 150,000. The addition of the mines open in the 

 Southern Province would doubtless bring the number 

 of plumbago mines at work in the year of reaction and 

 depression (1884) up to considerably over 100, a number 

 which will, probably, be doubled or trebled, should rumours 

 of and preparations for war give a fresh impetus to 

 the pursuit. Although no estimate of the number of mines in 

 the Southern Province is attempted, the Blue Book return 

 mentions : " Plumbago and iron mines ; gems and minerals 

 in small quantities are taken from rivulets and the surface 

 of the earth in numerous places ;" and the curious state- 

 ment follows : "Plumbago about 65 tons, valued at from 

 Rs. 20 to Rs. 100 per ton." We may safely assume that 

 the figures for quantity and value are equally inadequate. 

 Indeed, the Customs returns of revenue show that 753 

 tons were exported from Galle in 1884. It was natural 

 that the mineral should be valued at a low figure in 



