and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



m 



IMPORTATION OF COLOURED LABOUR 



is looked upon with the strongest disfavour by 

 the Australian Labour Party and it is difficult to 

 see where a cheap and efficient substitute for 

 the expensive white man carpenter can be 

 obtained. 



The present rate of wages for black and white 

 labour is absurdly high all round. Fancy a new 

 country, endeavouring to attract capital, hang- 

 ing this millstone around the capitalists' neck 

 When competition or skill enhances the value 

 of the labour, let wages rise by all means, but why 

 start from this pinnacle— the highest in sight ? 



The exclusion of cheaper labour is surely an 

 unfortunate policy, as this can never be a satisfac- 

 tory white man's country, i.e., a country where 

 he can do manual work alongside of, and retain 

 the respect, of his black helpers. 



THE NATURAL MARKET FOR THE PRODUCE 



of British New Guinea is, of course, Australia; but 

 as yet the Customs in that Protectionist country 

 do not favour markedly its tirst-born colony. 



If the Commonwealth insist on framing laws 

 which keep alien labour out of this country and 

 thus raising cost of production, it is only 

 reasonable to hope that it will allow that 

 country some concession which will enable it to 

 compete successfully with other countries where 

 such handicaps do not exist. At present when 

 New Guinea produce, say maize, is mentioned 

 in Australia, the cry is: "grown with black 

 labour" — and its doom is sealed. 



There are many products, coffee, cacao, coco- 

 nuts, rubber, to mention a few which do not 

 appear to be extensively cultivated in Australia? 

 These would grow to perfection here. Why not 

 make this Australia's tropical garden where 

 such products as require a large number of 

 labourers per acre could grow, enter the Common- 

 wealth free of duty and compete with other 

 countries whose produce pays a heavy tax ? 



The cost of living, if luxuries are eschewed, 

 is not high. Fresh vegetables can be had if suffi- 

 cient energy be put into gardening in suitable 

 soil. In the Central Division at sea level there 

 are gardens, where beans, carrots, turnips, beet 

 root, etc., grow well; while on the hills, limes 

 oranges, papayas, etc., come to perfection. 



Most people have "no time" or don't care and 

 prefer to struggle along with tinned apologies 

 for these necessaries. If one or two good China- 

 men were allowed to start a market garden, 

 they would make a great difference to those 

 near them. 



Fowls are practically unknown and fresh 

 beef one hears of but seldom sees. Good 

 mutton is sometimes to be had in port, but 

 more often than not the tinned delicacy known 

 as " Bullemakow " is the pihce-de-resistance. 



Society away from towns — nil. The natives 

 have taken to 



cricket; and the astonishing spectacle 

 of a frizzy-haired Papuan, clothed in a string, 

 wicket-keeping as if to the manner born, 

 is one that may be seen in almost every large 

 coastal village. 



SPORT. 



For the sportsman there are strange and 

 beautiful fish on the reefs where you look over 

 the side into '20 feet of water to see the bottom 

 as clearly as if a yard away. In the estuaries the 



White TorreK Strait pigeon roosts on the man- 

 groves and gives the most sporting of hard 

 chances, or in the bush — where the pigeons and 

 doves call all day long — one may shoot a tiny 

 dove the size of a bulbul or a fat-crested goura, 

 weighing 10 or 1-2 pounds and tasting better 

 than the best turkey. Pig roam the country, 

 but are as shy and hard to find as deer. Those 

 here are much smaller than the Ceylon pig, but 

 seem as fierce and cunning when cornered as 

 the biggest grim grey boar. Wallabies of sorts 

 swarm in every acre of the lowcountry, while 

 one occasionally sees the track of some big 

 cassowary or hears his sonorous call. 



These notes are sketchy and incomplete and 

 have the additional disadvantage that they are 

 from the writer's point of view—necessarily a 

 limited horizon ; but the ideas embodied are the 

 result of much earnest discussion with those 

 whose long residence in and knowledge of the 

 country entitle them to speak with authority. 

 The 



DRAWBACKS TO THE INTENDING PLANTING 

 INVESTOR 



of capital are : — 



A Survey Department very much undermanned 

 and consequently in arrears of work. This means 

 doubtful boundaries until block surveys are 

 completed. 



Unsettled Labour Laws, which means that 

 the available labour is an unknown quantity. 

 High wages for all labour and high rates for 

 goods to and from the country. Absence of 

 roads, portending difficulties of land transport. 

 Insufficient postal arrangements and a market 

 of which the hospitality is, to say the best of 

 it, doubtful. Conversely the attractions, and they 

 are not small, are a title to land which is in- 

 disputable; generous land-laws; the finest soil 

 that heart could wish for, growing magnificent 

 timber. Soil that will grow any tropical pro- 

 duct he takes the trouble to cultivate, every 

 variety of climate and as healthy a new country 

 as one can hear of. With ordinary care and 

 temperate living, his health here will be as safe 

 as in any other rubber-growing part of the 

 tropics. 



One thing the intending planter can be sure 

 of, the cordial assistance of every member of 

 the Government. From His Excellency the 

 Administrator down to the last-joined Cadet, 

 every officer appears to look upon the planter as 

 his especial protege, and no service, no incon. 

 venience, no discomfort is too great if by that 

 means he can forward the Planting Industry in 

 the slightest degree. 



I take this opportunity of offering my 

 most grateful thanks to those officers for their 

 many acts of kindness and courtesy and to 

 assure them that but for their assistance my 

 task would be a very different one and not the 

 pleasure it is. 



WALLACE R. WESTLAJND. 



PLANTING IN B. E. AFRICA. 



Wonderful Catch Crops of Cotton ; 

 Mr. 0. Tonks, Solicitor of Mombassa, after 

 paying a two months' visit to Ceylon, sailed by 

 the ss. " Herefordshire " today for home and 

 is returning to Mombassa again in February 

 or March. Mr. Tonks believes in the 



