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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



latter should have been also sold away. Con- 

 sidering that the crop of 1908 is now being 

 gathered, the outlook is, indeed, very gloomy 

 in regard to the chewing tobacco which is the 

 kind grown in the greater part or the Jaffna 

 District. Unless some means are adopted to 

 relieve the present state of depression which has 

 brought on a deadlock, as it were, the con- 

 sequence will be disastrous to the interests of 

 this District. 



(6) Th-* cultivation of smoking tobacco in 

 the Province has also suffered owing to the 

 introduction here of tobacco from Dumbara, 

 Batticaloa and other places, valued at about 

 11150,000, for the manufacture of cigars. 

 The cigar trade which is confined within the 

 limits of this Island is not also in a flourish- 

 ing condition, though there is a temporary 

 demand here for smoking tobacco. Owing to 

 this state of affairs the traders are not in a 

 position to meet the demands of the cigar 

 rollers to increase their wages corresponding to 

 the increase in the cost of living. Thie recently 

 occasioned a strike which continued for some 

 months to the great misery of the strikers and 

 Joss and inconvenience of traders. 



(7) In the opinion of this Committee either 

 fresh markets should be found for Jaffna to- 

 bacco or some new industry should be intro- 

 duced to compensate for the loss caused by the 

 present condition of the tobacco industry. It is 

 easier and safer to improve the existing industry 

 rather than to introduce new ones which would 

 involve greater risks and trouble, if not also ex- 

 penditure. Seeing, in the existing circums- 

 tances, the precarious condition of the tobacco 

 industry, the cultivators have now extended in 

 their gardens the cultivation of Cassava. But as 

 the whole quantity of this root raised here has 

 to be consumed in the District itself, its price 

 has now considerably gone down. There is not, 

 therefore, room or encouragement for further 

 extension of this cultivation. 



(8) It is the opinion of this Committee that 

 the improvement of the tobacco industry of this 

 Province cannot be effected without Govern- 

 ment initiative and aid. As pointed out above, 

 this has beon the opinion of able and exper- 

 ienced Government Agents who have succes- 

 sively administered the affairs of the Nor- 

 thern Province during the last one decade 

 or bo. These high and responsible officials 

 would not have ventured to invoke Govern- 

 ment aid for the improvement of tobacco 

 cultivation, had they not been compelled by the 

 exigencies of the situation to do so. Mr levers' 

 advocacy in his administration report for 1896 

 for the appointment of an expert to introduce 

 an improved method of growing and curing 

 tobacco, to avert, as he considered, an impend- 

 ing calamity to this industry, applies with ten- 

 fold force now — that calamity having already be- 

 fallen. His Excellency Sir Henry Blake promised 

 the appointment of a tobacco expert, though 

 he subsequently gave up the idea of appointing 

 one for the reason that Mr Kelway Bamber 

 would perform the duties of that expert. 



9. The Committee respectfully submits that 

 this is a case for the interference of Government 

 as the disaster that threatens, if it has not 

 already befallen, the tobacco industry of this 



Province, vitally affects the interests of a very 

 large number of His Majesty's loyal subjects in 

 this Island, who are noted for their perseverance 

 and industry. The Ceylon Government has 

 never failed to afford relief and assistance to 

 planters and agriculturists in this Island when 

 they have been actually in need of them. To 

 cite only one instance out of so many, the 

 Committee would point out the vote of Rl00,000 

 made last year for the destruction of the 

 coconut trees that fell during the cyclone 

 in Batticaloa, which, if allowed to remain 

 undestroyed, would seriously affect the coco- 

 nut industry of that District. The sum now 

 required, to conduct experimental cultivation of 

 tobacco and introduce modern methods of curing 

 with a view to avert a great disaster to the 

 chief industry of this Province, is only R30.000. 

 Even if tho experiment fails, the Government 

 can well afford to lose it, as the amount is not 

 large and as it would be spent on a noble venture 

 in the interest of a large number of His Maje- 

 sty's loyal subjects. But this cannot be said if 

 it is carried on by private individuals. 



10. The experimental cultivation proposed by 

 the Government Agent, is, in the opinion of this 

 Committee, the only means by which the de- 

 pression in the trade could be gradually re- 

 moved. Though this would not have the effect 

 of affording immediate relief to the chewing to- 

 bacco industry, yet as the Government Agent 

 rightly observes in his valuable memorandum, 

 " in the further future a remedy may be found 

 in diverting from chewing tobacco the capital, 

 labour and land at present used in its culti- 

 vation and by applying them to the cultivation of 

 smoking tobacco.'' — A. Sapapathy, Secretary. 

 Jaffna, 9th May, 1908. 



BATTICALOA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 



We are very glad to note that the Agent in 

 charge of the Eastern Province, Mr. H R 

 Freeman has been holding a Committee meeting 

 ofthe local (Branch) Agricultural Society, "pre- 

 saging a rivival" — as the Batticaloa paper "The 

 Lamp" says, in appealing for the widest interest 

 to be shown, by all the Vanniars and many of 

 the village farmers. As to an experimental 

 garden, we read : — 



" The very place which we previously tried to 

 secure is now likely to come to the Society 

 through the kindness of the Government Agent 

 and if things turn out, as we hope they will, 

 there will at any rate be land for us to use asan ex- 

 perimental garden, loaned to us by Government. 

 The advantage of this should be evident to all. 

 Again in the matter of paddy cultivation there 

 are many things which require to bo seen to and 

 investigated by such an authority as this : 

 amongst these are the introduction of new kinds 

 of seed paddy, the determining of the amount 

 and kind of manure required for the various 

 soils, the introduction of better implements, and 

 above all the establishment of an agricultural 

 bank to relieve those who have not sufficient 

 capital to make paddy cultivation profitable. All 

 this is the legitimate business of the Society. 

 There is one other thing we desire to see done 

 and that is the holding of an Agri-Horticultural 

 Exhibition." 



