and Magazine of the Ceylon A gricultural Society. 



387 



Ceylon product is finding its way rapidly into 

 new countries and I fancy that with an export 

 a few years hence of say 30,000,000 lb. I should 

 not think manufacturers in Ceylon have very 

 much or anything to fear from this great 

 Southern Cross bogie. Judging from what 

 white labour cost me in Australia as compared 

 with Ceylon, we need have no fear at all. We 

 can put it in Colombo for less than \A per lb., 

 and in some cases, as low as 2£ cents, so that if 

 they can put it in Sydney at double that with 

 nuts as cheap as ours, they should have a 

 look in ; but a local consumption of 1,000,000 

 lb. only, as at present, should certainly 

 not require very much fresh plant for the 

 Parramatta Factory to enable its owners to 

 supply the requirements of New South Wales 

 and other States. I suppose that as they have 

 protection just now, the promoters do not 

 contemplate such a contingency as an export 

 duty being imposed, in the event of there being 

 a change in the Government, on shipments to 

 New Zealand, etc. 



III. 



Sept. 4th. 



Dear Sir, — We must stick up for our local in- 

 dustry, now verging on 30,000,000 lb. per annum. 

 This year will, I think, reach 27,000,000 lb. (or 

 say 7,000,000 lb. over 1906), of which one manu- 

 facturer does about l-8th himself, viz., 25,000 

 cases of 130 lb nett each = 3,250,000 lb. I only 

 wish it were going to a better market. 



It seems they (at Parramatta, New South 

 Wales) are at present employing 100 workmen 

 (white) and are actually turning out 15 cases per 

 diem, or 5 tons per week, while the manufacturer 

 here (above alluded to) is cutting 50,000 to 60,000 

 nuts and turning out 140 to 150 cases per diem. 

 If they export to the United States, New Zealand, 

 &C, then the Government will be sure to put on 

 an Export Tax. We can lay it down in Colombo 

 at 3 cents per lb. Can they do that ? No. 



It appears to me they have forgotten the cloth 

 in cutting out their coat, i.e., the demand ; for, 

 as you know, all Australia does not take moro 

 than 1,200,000 lb. per annum just now (it was 

 1,021,083 lb. in 1906). As I wrote today, it 

 is to be hoped they do not muzzle the ox ; but 

 if they do not, and their 100 workers eat as much 

 of it per head as our people do, their outturn of 

 nut in pounds per nut desiccated will be very 

 poor ; and, besides, it seems they eat it raw. 



If what they say is true, their nuts and labour 

 must cost less than ours — and if so, their suc- 

 cess is assured ; but from my experience they 

 will want a much greater demand than there is 

 at present, even if they supply "all Australia." 



They tell us a lot, but not one word as to size 

 and cost of nuts, small as compared with ours, 

 and average rate of wages, including super- 

 vision ; this must be high, with only 15 cases 

 per diem — and that, too, by 100 workmen ! 



They lay stress on their nuts, while taking a 

 month to get to Parramatta, being worked up 

 " fresher " than ours, which we have to keep al- 

 ways exactly the same time before working, i.e., 

 for " maturing " or what they call the "set," 



Since writing yesterday I find, on looking at 

 the cutting from the Age, that they employ 100 



people daily ; and putting that at 5s per day, in- 

 cluding supervision, &c, it comes to 3Jd cts. 

 or say ... ... ... 19*50 



per lb. on the 5 ton or90-case weekly out- 

 put; and putting nuts at, say, 3 - 70 cts per 

 nut with 3 nuts to the 1 lb., desiccated 

 nut ... ... ...= H'10 



Packages same as ours ... .... 1*50 



making a total cost per lb. of ... 31*10 



100 people to turn out 15 cases per diem is a "bit 

 thick." They would probably eat a good lot of 

 tho 15 cases, and it does not do to muzzle the ox 

 either here or in Australia ; besides they seem 

 to like it raw there. — Yours faithfully, 



DESICCATOR. 



THE RESULTS OF MANURING TEA 

 WBTH MUSTARD MEAL, 



have been so successful, says the Indian Planters' 

 Gazette, that it behoves planters to give an ap- 

 plication of this a trial on all old and backward 

 parts of their gardens. Exhaustive experiments 

 have been conducted by the Scientific Officer 

 attached to the Indian Tea Association which 

 leave no manner of doubt as to the recuperative 

 qualities of mustard seed meal judiciously ap- 

 plied.— M. Mail, Sept. 9. 



WASTE OF COCONUT HUSKS. 



In Dutch East Indies and Singapore. 

 The Registrar of Imports and Exports at 

 Singapore (Mr. A. Stuart) states that enormous 

 quantities of coconut husks are thrown aside 

 after extracting the kernel and thousands of 

 tons lie rotting in such places as the Natunas 

 and Anambas Islands, as well as in other parts 

 of the Dutch Indies and even in the Malay 

 Peninsula, owing to the absence of machinery 

 to deal with t§je fibre. 



Oil-cake. 



Mr. Stuart thinks the United Kingdom 

 should provide a fair market for the oil-cake— 

 the refuse of copra after extraction of the oil — 

 which finds its way to the Continent in large 

 quantities. — Board of Trade Journal, Aug. 27. 



CINCHONA AND TEA EN JAVA. 



Mr. F L Upjohn of the Upjohn Co., New 

 York, who recently returned from a tour 

 round the world, states in the Pharmaceu- 

 tical Era that the idea prevalent in some 

 quarters that the cinchona trees in Java 

 are being rooted up to make room for tea 

 plants is entirely erroneous. " While tea culture 

 in Java is undoubtedly on the increase," he 

 says, " it does not conflict with the production 

 of cinchona, but rather with that of coffee, 

 which is a dying industry in Java. Coffee is 

 really a thing of the past in the island, as the 

 growing of tea has proved to be cheaper and 

 more profitable. Cinchona is allowed to grow 

 from five to seven years before the bark is gath- 

 ered. Trees are at their best at about seven 

 years. Then they are rooted up, and the bark 

 stripped from the roots as well as from the 

 trunk and main branches of the tree.'' 



