and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Nov., 1910, 471 



COTTON GROWING IN CEYLON. 



IMPORTANT DESPATCHES. 



An Expert Wanted; but British Cotton-Growing 

 Association Lukewarm. 



Papers relating to form Sessional Paper 

 XXXVlIIof 1910 to hand today. They includes— 



(1.) Circular of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Vol. III., No. 18, July, 1906, by J C Mee and 

 J C Willis. (2) Despatch from Governor Mc- 

 Callum to Lord Crewe of January '29, 1909, for- 

 warding Mr McOall's report and proposing to give 

 him an honorarium, R300,for his valuable memo- 

 randum. [Enclosure in No. 2. is Mr J Stewart J 

 McCall's report of December 29, 1908.] (3.) 

 Despatch from Lord Crewe to Governor Mc- 

 Callum, of March 4, 1909, an acknowledgment 

 approving the honorarium and stating that 

 the report had been sent to the British Cotton 

 Growing Association. (4,) Lord Crewe to Gover- 

 nor McCallum, December 17, 1909, transmitting 

 letters December 8, from the British Cotton 

 Growing Association suggesting that Professor 

 Dunstan inquire into the possibilities of cotton 

 growing in the northern district. — December 

 17, to the British Cotton Growing Association 

 partly accepting the suggestion. (5.) Governor 

 McCallum, to Lord Crewe, January IS, 1910, 

 forwarding copy of a report by the Acting 

 Director of the Botanic Gardens on the subject, 

 for the information of the British Cotton Grow- 

 ing Association ; the cost of land is stated to 

 be R15 per acre only for a freehold title, the 

 expenses attendant on cultivation in Ceylon 

 being higher than they are in Southern India. 



(6,) Lord Crewe, to Governor McCallum, March 

 4, 1910, transmitting 



Letter from the British Cotton Growing 

 Association : — 

 (To the Under Secretary of State.) 

 15, Cross street, Manchester, Feb. 25th, 1910. 

 Sir, — I beg to refer again to your letter of 

 Feb. 11, No. 3,645, in reference to the prospects 

 of cotton cultivation in Ceylon, and which 1 have 

 already acknowledged in my letter of Feb. 17th. 



2. My Council are naturally most anxious to 

 help in any way they can in developing cotton 

 growing in Ceylon, even though the possible re- 

 sults may not be very large. We cannot afford 

 to despise any field, however small, and especi- 

 ally so if it is capable of producing cotton of 

 good quality, as seems to be the case in Ceylon. 



3. As far as one can judge, it does not seem 

 as if there was much prospect of white planters 

 taking up the cultivation of cotton on any large 

 scale, and if that be the case, the future would 

 seem to lie in developing cotton growing as a 

 native industry, and generally speaking, from 

 our experience, there is more to be hoped from 

 cotton growing on tho basis of a native culti- 

 vation, rather than from plantations managed 

 by Europeans, and where the native is employed 

 merely as a hireling. 



4. It would seen that belore one could ex- 

 press any decided opinion on the above, that 

 we require much further information as to the 



possibility of establishing varieties with a long 

 staple, on a sound basis, and to do this it is pro- 

 bable that some sort of seed farms, under Euro- 

 pean supervision, would be required. 



5. As regards the difficulty as to the provi- 

 sion of ginning and baling facilities in Colombo, 

 it is most unfortunate that the firm who were 

 acting for us have experienced financial diffi- 

 culties, but I am glad to inform you that we are 

 making arrangements for the taking back of the 

 plant which we supplied, from that firm, and 

 are trying to arrange for it to be worked either 

 by the Agricultural Society or by some other 

 persons. Further than that I do not see what 

 assistance we can render, but I should be glad 

 if you would inform the Governor that wherever 

 we can reasonably help the industry, we shall be 

 most happy to do so. 



J. Arthur Hutton, 

 Chairman. 



(7) Lord Crewe, to Governor McCallum, July 

 29, 1910, transmiting a 



Letter from Professor Dunstan, 

 (To the Uider Secretary of State.) 



South Kensington, London, S. W., 

 July 13th, 1910. 

 Sir, — In accordance with the request of the 

 British Cotton Growing Association conveyed 

 in your letter of December 17, 1909, I took the 

 opportunity of inquiring into the present con- 

 dition of cotton cultivation and experiment 

 during my recent visit to Ceylon, 



2. It is clear that little cotton of the kind 

 required for Lancashire is likely to be produced 

 in Ceylon in the near future. On the other 

 hand, I am informed on good authority that in 

 the north of the Island, as well as in Knrune- 

 gala and in several other regions, there are 

 openings for cotton growing, including trials 

 as a catch crop with young coconuts, which 

 would probably be taken advantage of if a 

 certain market at fair prices could be assured, 

 and if facilities for ginning were available. This 

 is the opinion of several competent observers, 

 including Dr. Fernando of Colombo, who has 

 taken a great interest in the subject. 



3. I need not now discuss in detail the ar- 

 rangements which might be made by the British 

 Cotton Growing Association to re-establish the 

 cotton ginnery in Colombo and to establish a 

 buying agency, since I understand that the 

 facts of the case have been reported to the As- 

 sociation by the Secretary of the Ceylon Agricul- 

 tural Society (Mr Drieberg), who has been 

 active in making inquiries on this subject, and 

 who had several conferances with me respec- 

 ting the situation. 



4. The re-establishment of this ginnery in 

 Colombo and the establishment of a buying 

 agency would no doubt do much to encourage 

 cotton growers within easy reach of the capital, 

 and considering the outlay which has been made 

 upon it, some arrangement for future working 

 of the ginnery with an enterprising local firm, 

 if not with the Agricultural Society, is very 

 desirable. 



