No. 31.— 1885.] 



PLUMBAGO. 



263 



There can be no doubt that the Customs valuation of Rs. 200 

 per ton for plumbago is, as Mr. Saunders states, too high, but 

 as the royalty is at a fixed rate, the over-valuation does not affect 

 exporters. As to the policy of leasing instead of selling lands, 

 so as to prevent monopoly, here is what Governor Sir W. H. 

 Gregory said in 1873 :— 



" With regard to the other proposal to sell the land, the reason 

 why we could not agree to that has been pointed out by an hon. 

 gentleman (the Government Agent. Central Province), who speaks 

 with some authority on this subject. I think that would be the 

 wrong course to pursue. We have tried it in one or two instances ; 

 we have had paddy rents sold to the cultivator. The sums thus 

 realized benefited the Colony for a time, but it was a short-sighted 

 and unjust policy against posterity to alienate a source of income 

 for all time in order to obtain food for the present. It is precisely 

 so in this case. We can't tell to what proportion this trade may 

 grow : capital will no doubt be attracted to it, machinery be em- 

 ployed once the trammels and restrictions are removed ; and 

 therefore to sell the plumbago land at once would be unwise as 

 regards the future of the Colony. Then, as regards the natives 

 themselves. What has fallen from my hon. and learned friend 

 (Mr. Ferdinands) is intimately borne out by all parties in the coun- 

 try. He says that the natives who understand the case are entirely 

 in favour of this measure, and extremely anxious that this Bill 

 should pass. There are those who would like the land put up for 

 sale; but they are the capitalists — the small digger infinitely prefers 

 taking out a license and working a pit himself ; in the one case 

 he realizes for himself the profit of the venture, whereas if all the 

 promising lots fall into the hands of rich people, he merely 

 becomes a workman at wages for them. Undoubtedly the sale 

 of plumbago lands, irrespective of the objections I urged before, 

 would be eminently distasteful to the bulk of the people, though 

 popular enough with the rich few." 



Appendix Ho. 16. 



The Dutch Name or Plumbago 

 being v ' pot-loot" (' pot-lead'), it would seem as if the Hollanders 

 must have recognized what is now the principal use of the mineral, 

 from their earliest acquaintance with it. I referred the philo- 

 logical question to Mr. Donald Ferguson, who replied as follows : — 

 " Yes ; pot in Dutch is the same as English. I find in the 

 Dutch-French dictionary I have (published 1768), that pot-loot 



