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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Labour. 



What about labour ?— Ah, Here it behoves me 

 to be very careful. My own feeling is that Sumatra 

 with its 3-year indenture system has one of 

 the best labour forces going. The cost of each 

 cooly is approximately £i. 4s. Oil. but 1 believe 

 that the Javanese, at any rate on the estatos 

 1 visited, are freely re-indenturing themselves 

 for a further three years. Now thiDk for a 

 moment what this means as compared with un- 

 indentured labour or compared, say, with ordi- 

 nary labour or Sinhalese village labour. The 

 important thing to my mind is that with 

 indentured labour the Manager always knows 

 the available labour force for tapping, whereas 

 with the ordinary labour forces or a village com- 

 munity, you never know how many tappers 

 may be available. You may get too many or 

 too few, or none at all at times, and it is an 

 indisputable fact that regular and frequent tap- 

 ping gives th9 best yields. Tapping at inde- 

 finite periods can never give the best results. 

 As regards the E, M. S., I do not think the 

 labour question need alarm anyone, in spite of 

 the huge acreages opened up. Any number of 

 Javanese could be imported, and local Chinese 

 are available and are excellent tappers although 

 they are rather expensive, e.g., 45 to 55 dollar 

 cents against an all-round average of about 27 

 cents for Tamil labour. 



Tamil Labour. ' 

 There is some anxiety expressed as to the 

 rather sudden cessation of an influx of Tamil 

 labour— a serious matter when it is understood 

 that Tamil labour is the cheapest and most eco- 

 nomical, I hardly feel justified in expressing any 

 opinion as to the cause, owing to my short 

 duration in the F. M. S., but it is alleged by 

 many that the elimination of Sunday names by 

 the majority is to some measure responsible. 

 This, however, 1 would not consider the cause 

 of the great falling-off in arrivals. I should 

 be inclined to think that it is partly due to the 

 system of recruiting now in vogue, the law 

 being that no debts contracted between em- 

 ployer and employee, prior to arrival, car. be 

 recovered. It is possible that a system of Gov- 

 ernment allowing a fixed and limited sum to be 

 advanced to the cooly before arrival, over 

 and above the amount necessary to bring him 

 free to the country may have to be adopted ; 

 but this will open up a big question and would 

 probably lead to register legalised discharge 

 notes, bolting, and many other attendant 

 evils with which we in (Jeylon are only 

 too well conversant and which under • the 

 present system in the F.M.S. are unknown. 

 On every hand one hears of the strenuous 



EFFORTS BEING MADE TO REDUCE THE COST OF 

 RUBBER PER LB. 



f.o.b., also comparisons being made as to cost 

 of tapping ; but there is one point that seems to 

 have been lost sight of by Directors and others 

 alike— and that is, it is nonsense tying Superin- 

 tendents down to any particular cost for 

 tapping, as I feel that the maxim of rubber 

 estates should be tap — tap— tap !— and if a suffi- 

 cient Tamil labour force is not available, recruit 

 for all you are worth ; but in the meantime take 

 op Chinese, even at a much increased cost, and 



get quantity. What amazed me was that soma 

 estates rest their trees and tap at indifferent 

 periods rather than increase their cost of tap- 

 ping per lb. of rubber by taking on other 

 iabour. It may be found necessary at times to 

 rest the original tapping area, but why not tap 

 above this even if more expensive and if the latex 

 is rather less in quantity ? Surely rubber at any- 

 thing over 2s per lb. would amply repay the small 

 i nitial cost involved, let alone rubber at 6s ? 

 The sooner Directors and others recognise this, 

 the better for all concerned, although everyone 

 is in accord with the Directors that strict 

 economy even at 6s per lb is absolutely essential 

 even on estates making big profits. Generally 

 speaking, most of the estates appear to have suf- 

 ficient labour. One well-known dividend paying 

 Company could, however, 1 feel sure, make a 

 considerably bigger profit with more labour. 



Disease. 



What about disease ? — As you know, alarmist 

 reports have frequently been circulated in 

 Ceylon and elsewhere about white ants, but 

 little has been heard about other diseases. 



The White Ant Pest. 

 The white ant pest (Termes Gestroi) is dif- 

 ferent from the Ceylon white ant and need give 

 no cause for anxiety, as Managers are taking 

 all sorts of precautions. The ant exterminator 

 with sulphur and arsenic, although only lately 

 taken up, is likely to solve the difficulty, but 

 failing it doing what is claimed, the more ex- 

 pensive but effective method of clearing the 

 land. of all dead timber by burning it, will prac- 

 tically eradicate this pest. 



Fungus. 



The root fungus (fomes semitostus) is very 

 prevalent on all clearings, and attacks rubber 

 from 2 to 5 years old and may be compared 

 to the Rossillinia radicerperda so common in 

 Ceylon. Great attention is being paid to this 

 fungus disease and many Managers are eradica- 

 ting the disease by burning all dead wood and 

 cutting out stumps, a very expensive addition to 

 the initial cost of bringing rubber into bearing, 

 but effective in both eradicating white ants 

 and fomes semitostus. There is a difference 

 of opinion as to whether such an expensive 

 method is or is not justifiable, or whether 

 careful watching acd checking of the above 

 is not only more practicable, but economi- 

 cal. Whatever the opinion expressed there is 

 one thing to be said, that when once thoroughly 

 cleared of dead timber the work is finished 

 once and for all, and the future cost of checking 

 disease will be practically nil. The cost seems 

 to be anything from $20 to $45 per acre after 

 the first two years, much of the timber having 

 by then rotted. 



Branch Disease. 



The most important disease to my mind is 

 the branch disease, which I had an opportunity 

 of examining on one estate. The branches 

 appear to darken, with the underlying cambium 

 of a dark bruised colour. These branches die 

 back until they meet a fork, when they continue 

 an upward or downward course which quickly 

 kills the tree. The whole point seems to be as 

 to whether this disease is internal or external, 



