and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



405 



Area. Production, lixports (lb.) 



acres. lb. By land. By sea. 



igO.J 526,611 209,041. 8S8 679,616 204,123.723 



1904 524,472 221,565,631 744,352 211,395,940 



1905 528,004 221,712,407 760,256 210,793,1156 

 19(16 529,246 241,403,510 942,256 235,815,09; 

 1907 536,652 248,020,39S 865,648 235,422,376 



Tho export trade is practically confined to 

 three ports, Calcutta shipping 73'9 por cent, 

 Chittagong 18 - 9 per cent (almost entirely to tho 

 United Kingdom), and Madras 6 '2 per cent. 

 Five years ago Calcutta claimed 83 per cent of 

 the total. The coast shipments were in the 

 last two years : — 



1906-07 1907-OJ 

 lb. lb. 

 1'roni Bengal 3,298,495 3,3*0,385 



„ Eastern Bengal & Assam 1,185,327 854,117 

 The recorded exports of green tea by sea and 

 by land during the last three years were : — 



lb. 



1905- 06 .. 2,183,910 



1906- 07 • . 2,034,384 



1907- 08 . . 1,806,031 



A customs duty, known as tho Tea Cess, at 

 the rate of a quarter of a pie per pound, has 

 been levied since the 1st April, 1903, on all 

 Indian tea exported. The collections realised 

 are paid to a Committee constituted to receive 

 and expend the proceeds of this cess on mea- 

 sures for promoting the sale and consumption of 

 Indian tea. The collections since the institution 

 of the cess have been as follows : — 



K. £ 



1903- 04 .. .. 2,86,915 ^19,128 



1904- 05 .. .. 3,04,317 „ 2 .,288 

 19C5-06 .. .. 3,20.353 „ 21,357 



1906- 07 .. .. 3,17,554 „ 21,170 



1907- 08 .. .. 3,02,^33 „ 20,189 



BRITISH NEW GUINEA AS A PLAN- 

 TING COUNTRY. 



RCOM FOR RUBBER : FULL 

 INFORMATION. 

 We direct attention to the admirable se- 

 ries of il Notes ' ; with which Mr. Wallace R. 

 Westland (son of tho well-known Ceylon 

 veteran, Mr. James Westland), has favoured us 

 for publication. Mr. W. H. Westland has 

 been long enough a planting pioneer on the 

 Papuan Coast to enable his information to be 

 regarded as both trustworthy and most useful 

 to any capitalist looking for "fresh fields and 

 pastures new " in the direction of New Guinea. 

 He details the drawbacks very faithfully ; 

 but he is equally clear as to the attractions 

 and advantages. Cheap land, finest soil, good 

 climate and a considerate Government are 

 bound to tell ; while the drawbacks which 

 circle chiefly round the labour and absence of 

 roads, &c., may be gradually modified and 

 improved. Meantime, let each one interested, 

 study Mr. Westland's very full and interest- 

 ing notes. 



PLANTING IN NEW GUINEA. 



(By an ex-Ceylon Planter,) 

 Kanosia, Mann Mann, Papua, Aug. 2nd. 

 The following notes on this Island may be of 

 interest to you and others in Ceylon who are on 

 the look out for rivals to the rubber planting 

 industry. It must be understood, however, that 



the views set forth are purely personal and may 

 require modification as fuller knowledge and 

 more experience are acquired : — 



To begin with, Papua is reached from Ceylon 

 via Singapore and Thursday Island or by way 

 of Sydney to Brisbane where there is a choice 

 of routes — by the Solomon Islands to Samorai 

 and Port Moresby or to Cooktown — thence to 

 the two ports named. 



The latter is the better route, Port Moresby 

 being opposite to and about 48 hours 1 steam 

 from Cooktown. The passage either way is 

 made in comfortable boats, fitted with electric 

 light, refrigerator, etc. 



The Island, or rather British New Guinea, is 

 Hat on the coast, rising rapidly inland range 

 upon range to the main chain of mountains, the 

 highest peaks of which are a great many miles 

 from the sea and 13,000 feet above it. This gives 

 the visitor every temperature from the sharp 

 frosty air of Mt. Victoria to the steamy heat of 

 Samorai, and ensures a heavy and well distri- 

 buted rainfall. Indeed some of these ranges 

 must rival the famous Dolosbage where a week's 

 dry weather elicits a despairing wad from your 

 correspondent about the " Awful drought.'' 



The island appears to have 



TWO REGULAR MONSOONS 



— S.-E. and N.-W., the former being com- 

 paratively dry and the latter wet. No severe 

 gales have been known for years and but few 

 tiifling earthquakes. 



The means of communication between ports 

 are small mail steamers and a number of sailing 

 vessels of all descriptions from about 60 tone 

 downward. Places inland are very much worss 

 off, there being no roads. A few bridle paths, 

 (perhaps 50 miles in all) have been cut, but a 

 properly made and graded cart road does nos 

 exist. The villages are connected by the 

 ordinary jungle track, quite impassable for 

 horses and often very difficult for laden ment 

 The only means of getting any distance inland 

 is, therefore, 



BY RIVER 



— of which thore are many beautiful ones, most 

 of them navigable for whale boats for great 

 distances, some of them allowing the passage 

 of small steamers three days' steam up their 

 course. 



The East Coast— from Samorai to Port Mor- 

 esby — has the advantage of a barrier reef ; 

 inside it small boats can run up and down in 

 comparative safety. So much from the tourists' 

 point of view ; now 



FOR THE PLANTERS. 



The soil varies considerably, from the fat 

 black sandy loam in the river valleys and the 

 rich red basaltic soil of the low foot hills where 

 rank vegetation and heavy crops prove its ferti- 

 lity, to the poor wind-blown sandy coral ridges 

 where stunted grass fights seadrift for a living. 



The deep valleys in the mountain ranges 

 must contain some magnificent soil, far richer 

 than anything we can produce in Ceylon, to 

 judge by the deposits and colours of the rivers in 

 spate. All the old explorers are agreed that this 

 island contains some of the 



MOST FERTILE SOIL IN THE WORLD. 



The land is assumed to belong to the natives 

 and is purchased at low rates from them by 

 Government from time to time as opportunity 



