370 



The Supplement to the I'ropical Agriculturist 



THE ENEMY OF THRIFT IN CEYLON. 



Co opebative Banks Required to Supplant 

 the Chetty. 

 A letter signed "Outspoken" which appeared 

 in our daily " Ceylon Observer" of March 28th, 

 throws some light on the manner in which 

 the industrious cultivator in Ceylon is de- 



f>rived of the full benefit of his arduous 

 abours;howhe is compelled by circumstances 

 to borrow money to bring his crop to market 

 and how the puissant Chetty, being the only 

 source of supply available, battens on the vil- 

 lager's helplessness by extorting exorbitant 

 rates of interest. What is true of the tobacco 

 industry in Jaffna is no doubt equally the case 

 in other native agricultural industries in other 

 parts of the country. The wide scope which 

 exists for the Agricultural Society, with the 

 assistance of Government, to do something to 

 remedy this by spreading the system of Agri- 

 cultural Credit Banks and popularising them 

 among the masses, becomes more apparent the 

 more closely the methods in vogue and the exac- 

 tions of the Chetty are studied. Not a few may 

 be inclined to question the wisdom of suppor- 

 ting or encouraging any system which makes it 

 easy for a man to conduct business with bor- 

 rowed money. This idea, however, is based 

 on misconception. Credit is the foundation 

 of modern business methods. It appears to 

 have been in existence in Ceylon among the cul- 

 tivators for generations; and what is desirable 

 is not that the cultivator should be asked to 

 give up borrowing, but that a source of borrow- 

 ing should be put within his reach which would 

 enable him to obtain advances of money for 

 useful purposes at a reasonable rate of interest 

 and permit him at the close of the harvest of 

 his crops to enjoy a more substantial share of 

 the profits than the exorbitant charges of 

 the Chetty now allow. An Agricultural Credit 

 Bank — which is a Co-operative Society—would 

 do this. Such a bank is no philanthropic in- 

 stitution. It is conducted on strictly business 

 principles. It is co operative. Its keynote is 

 " self-help " while in its operations it is local, 

 members living within a small area and being 

 well-known to one another. There are one or 

 two such banks or societies already started in 

 Ceylon and the experience of the promoters of 

 these would be most valuable in the formation 

 of any scheme for the extension of the system 

 in the island. Credit Banks do not distribute 

 dividends, and, the expenses of management 

 being very small, money can be lent at a low 

 rate of interest. This is the main object 

 for which such Banks are formed. Money is 

 only lent for purposes of production or economy 

 and a borrower must state the purpose for 

 which he requires it and must undertake to 

 apply it to that particular purpose. A 

 credit Bank can only lend to its own 

 members ; and its success will largely 

 depend upon its admitting as members only 

 those twhose industry and honesty are be- 

 yond question. To every properly equipped 

 bank there should be attached a department 

 for receiving on deposit the savings of its mem- 

 bers. This is an important point. Little or 

 nothing is done* in Ceylon to ioster the habit 



of investment among the rural population — by 

 which we simply mean the habit of regularly 

 putting by a small portion of the family income, 

 not in a hole in the wall, but in the hands of 

 some person or institution who can be trusted 

 to keep it safe and to pay interest for its use. 

 In the cities and towns there are the Post Office 

 Savings Banks and in Colombo the Ceylon Sav- 

 ings Bank. The skilled workman who can 

 as a rule earn wages considerably in excess of 

 his needs has no excuse for not saving a little. 

 Alas, however, for the absence of the invest- 

 ment habit, our workmen are too often prone 

 to indulge in holidays to the extent of their 

 "surplus balances " and work only a sufficient 

 number of days to give them the money they 

 absolutely require for their immediate needs. 

 The cultivator or small landholder away in the 

 interior has very few resources ; and when he 

 makes a little extra profit, if he does not put it 

 into the improvement of bis land, he is inclined 

 to spend it thriftlessly and improvidently. 

 The village co-operative credit society, with its 

 elastic system of deposits and loans, would en- 

 able even the smallest cultivator to build up by 

 degrees a substantial reserve fund invested out- 

 side his holding, and therefore protected from 

 chances incidental to the agricultural industry. 

 One does not have to look far into the whole 

 question to realise that very little is bein ^ done 

 in this country to encourage thrift among the 

 masses. The grip of the money lender appears 

 to lie heavy on the shoulder of every workmen 

 in Colombo, and his trail is over the paddy 

 patch of the humblest cultivator. The exten- 

 sion of co-operative credit banks in the rural, 

 as well as in the urban districts would put a 

 stop to much of the heartless fleecing now car- 

 ried on by chetties, and would in time spread 

 those habits of thrift and industry among the 

 masses which would do so much to add to their 

 own comfort and well-being and render them 

 more prosperous in their business and indepen- 

 dent in their private life. 



NEW PROCESS FOR DRYING FRUIT. 



The Acting British Consul-General at Chicago 

 reports that a new method of drying fruic and 

 vegetables, adopted at Wankesha, near Wis- 

 consin, has proved a decided success. The 

 plant is set up in a fruit and vegetable produciug 

 district, and contracts are made with farmers 

 to plant a certain number of acres. The fruit 

 and vegetables are taken as they are picked, 

 and are dried by a new process, the length of 

 time required for the operation varying from six 

 to thirty hours. A plant to put out from 

 250,000 to 350,000 pounds of dried fruit and 

 vegetables a year would cost about £5,000 to 

 erect, and rather more than this amount would 

 be required annually for working expenses. 

 The United States military authorities have 

 tested samples of all the fruit and vegetables 

 dried, and have reported on them. In the case 

 of spinach, soup, greens, carrots, rhubarb, &c, 

 the cooked dry food cannot, it is said, be told 

 from the fresh ; in the case of others, such as 

 potatoes, the flavour is different, but palatable. 

 Parts of the process are patented, but the most 

 important particulars of the method are not 

 made public — Society oj Arts Journal, March U. 



