and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



195 



TEA VERSOS COCONUTS- 



Wilhelms Ruhe, 14th Feb. 



Dear Sir, — It is inconsistent on the part 

 of the upcountry planter to ask for a reduc- 

 tion in rail freight on rice, and in the same 

 breath to urge for the extension of the Rail- 

 way to Mannar. Especially does it 6eem the 

 more ungracious when we remember that the 

 tea and rubber industry is already subsidised at 

 the expense of the general community to 

 the tune of nearly a million rupees a year. 



I may be permitted to add that my father, 

 who imports from Calcutta 2,60 J bushels of 

 rice per mensem for our labourers, mostly 

 Sinhalese, stands to gain, like several other 

 natives, a good deal by the proposed reduc- 

 tion of rail freight, as every month 1,000 

 bushels are sent by rail to Kurunegala. 



Till a couple of years ago the upcountry 

 planters, like planters else >vhere, actually made 

 profits on the sale of rice to coolies. Now 

 • that profits are not possible owing to the 

 increase in the price of rice, they, instead of 

 increasing the wages of the poor underpaid 

 Tamil immigrant, desire a further subsidy of 

 R900,000 or nearly a million from the general 

 community. 



Is the existing subsidy justifiable ? Let me 

 quote Sir West Ridgeway (vide Final Beview 

 of Administration, page 15.) "Last year (1902) 

 the total value of exports of Ceylon produce 

 was R96, 771,467 to which tea contributed 

 R54,300,000 or only 56 per cent." .... 



J ' The value of tea exported has risen 

 about 6 per cent, during the years of my 

 administration. Compare with this the in- 

 creases in other directions. The produce of 

 the coconut palm, shipped to other coun- 

 tries, has increased 86 per cent., cinnamon 

 90 per cent., while plumbago has advanced over 

 200 per cent. It is specially gratifying to note 

 a marked increase in the value of the various 



articles produced from the coconut palm 



Again while the area under tea cultivation is 

 about 386,000, the area under coconut palm 

 cultivation is estimated to be at least 650,000 

 acres. (The Blue Book of 1906 however gives 

 the acreage under coconuts as 967,030). 



'■I have little doubt that, as our communi- 

 cations extend and improve, this industry will 

 make a still more rapid advance." 



Let us next turn to the Customs Report for 

 1906 page A 37— "Of the total value of Ceylon 

 produce exported, the products of the coconut 

 palm represent 21.2 per cent, and tea 56.7 per 



cent Plumbago. — The royalty recovered 



on plumbago amounted to Rl75,465, quantity ex- 

 ported being 701,845ewt. valued at R10, 457,490.'' 

 In 1906 63,000 gallons of arrack were exported, 

 yielding a Customs duty of R59,720, 



Now if there are any products, which can by 

 any stretch of the imagination be said to be 

 taxed, those are plumbago and arrack, which 

 of course is a product of the coconut palm. I 

 have shown in a previous letter beyond all fear 

 of contradiction that tea, if taxed, is only taxed 

 in the Pickwickian sense. 



Further it has become the fashion of late to 

 speak as if coconut planters do not contribute 

 to what is called the revenue. 



(1) From Mirigama to Jaffna native planters 

 make use of the railway for the despatch of rice, 

 copra, manure, etc. 



(2) Coconut planters will contribute gladly if 

 the Chilaw-Puttalam Railway, for which they 

 have been longing for years, is sanctioned. 



(3) Labourers on coconut estates, except in 

 a couple of provinces like the Eastern, eat 

 imported rice. 



(4) Through arrack Government has derived 

 millions annually, the figures for 1906 being 

 R4, 179, 962. 



(5) No coconut planter, I think, will object 

 to a tax on copra and so forth, provided 

 Government give to the coconut districts Hos- 

 pitals on similar conditions, as those so 

 generously lavished on tea rubber districts. 



Indeed for the only two hospitals in the 



coconut districts — Marawila and Panadura 



the people are indebted, in addition to the 

 one being built at Moratuwa and other prin- 

 cely benefactions to the De Soysa family. 



Now the value of the products of the coconut 

 palm cannot be gauged by exports alone ; the 

 latter does not represent more than one half at 

 the outset, for the local consumption is very 

 great. According to the Blue Book of 1906 the 

 crop of coconuts for the Island is estimated at 

 nearly one thousand six hundred million nuts, 

 and the produce of the coconut palm exported 

 is valued at R23,000.000. Perhaps the former 

 is too sanguine ; let us take the crop to be 

 1,000,000,000 which I think is lair, men oi 

 the latter, half represents R23,000,000 and the 

 other at R40 a thousand (a moderate estimate) 

 R20,000,000 coconuts for eating (cur- 

 ries), coconut oil for lights and culinary pur- 

 poses etc. which brings the total to 



R43,000,000. 



