Jan. 1908.] 



59 



Miscellaneous. 



The Catalogue consisted of the following classes :— 

 Under Group I. 



I. Field Produce— cereals and other grains, pulses, oils and oilseeds. 

 II. Plantation and Garden Products— Sugar cane, tobacco, coconuts, etc. 



III. Vegetables and Fruits. 



IV. Dyes. 



V. Forest Products. 

 VI. Sugar, honey, etc. 

 VII. Dairy Products. 

 VIII. Essential Oils. 



IX. Fibres. 



X. Fodder. 

 XI. Manures. 



Under Group II came agricultural implements and machines such as water 

 lifts, oil-presses, husking and winnowing machines, cotton gins, sugar-mills, 

 ploughs, etc. 



Under Group III fell textile machines and fabrics, metal work including 

 jewellery, carving and inlaid work for which the State is so famous. 



Group IV comprised Live stock. 



Among the special exhibits sent in were a collection of improved sanitary 

 appliances from Messrs. Richardson «fc Cruddas of Bombay, Messrs. Burn & Co. of 

 Calcutta, and Messrs. Spencer & Co. of Bangalore. 



A separate section was devoted to the Educational exhibit which was under 

 the supervision of the Inspector-General of Education and housed in the Jubilee Hall. 



On the 5th October, the advertised date, the Exhibition was formally opened 

 by H.H. the Maharajah with great ceremony. The President read an able address ; 

 and from it I take the following passage, which appears to more or less correctly 

 represent the state of affairs in Ceylon : — 



" The endeavour made by a beneficent Government in the past to impart 

 instruction in Agriculture, and iutroduce improved methods of cultivation, failed to 

 achieve its object because such instruction did not reach the class chiefly engaged in 

 it, and even the small number that received instruction had to resort to other 

 employment for want of encouragement. But times have now changed. The 

 educated classes feel that) the learned professions are over-crowded, that education 

 has been carried out too much on literary lines, and that industrial and scientific 

 education has been neglected. The conviction that our agriculture is primitive in 

 many respects, that our artisans are handicapped in the race of life and unable to 

 stand the competition of better equipped nations, that the productive capacity of 

 our lauds is not what it once was, and that the struggle for existence is becoming 

 keener every day, has penetrated the more intelligent even among the masses. The 

 cost of living is steadily rising, and the requirements of the average Indian household 

 have also increased appreciably during the last two decades. Everywhere there is 

 pressing need for creating new sources of livelihood for an increasing number of the 

 literate classes. Therefore, there are indications of a desire on the part of the people 

 to receive with respect and attention, suggestions for improved methods of agri- 

 culture, and for the adoption of more effective appliances of manufacture. Even in 

 the matter of co-operation and promotion of mutual credit, sigus are more hopeful. 

 The time is, therefore come when, in the words which Your Highness used on a 

 memorable occasion, ' It is possible by an Exhibition to convey to the public 

 evidence of the condition and progress of local industries and to suggest to those 

 interested latent possibilities of improvement,' " 



