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The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



undergo a training Cor one year at some College 

 or place to be decided by the Committee, the 

 Committee paying hie tuition fees, boarding 

 fees and reasonable travelling exp'enses ; on his 

 obtaining a certificate of proficiency the officer 

 shall be offered an appointment under Govern- 

 ment at a salary to be fixed by the Com- 

 mittee, and such appointment to be for 

 three years. In the meantime the matter is 

 referred back to the Tobacco Sub-Com- 

 mittee for further consideration and report. 

 Mr. W. D. Gibbon at the meeting ex- 

 pressed surprise that R'27,500 was to be spent 

 on this experiment. All we can say is that 

 if it succeeds in assisting the industrious cul- 

 tivators of tobacco in the North and elsewhere 

 to improve the cultivation of their leaf and 

 restore a once flourishing native industry 

 to its pristine prosperity, the money will 

 have been well spent. In conclusion we can 

 only say that we sincerely hope that the ex- 

 periment will now be set on foot without un- 

 necessary delay and that the results will even- 

 tually prove satisfactory, Jamaica, after experi- 

 ment, succeeded in growing Sumatra tobacco 

 which sold for from 6/- to 7/- per lb. May 

 Ceylon be equally successful. Sir Henry Blake 

 was of opinion Ceylon could not grow a good 

 covering leaf like Sumatra : Mr. Gibbon re- 

 iterated this opinion, but the contemplated 

 experiment alone will definitely decide whe- 

 ther Ceylon can or cannot produce a satisfac- 

 tory covering leaf. 



Meeting of the Board of Agriculture. 



QUESTION OF ENGAGING AN EXPERT. 



The Acting Governors Views : Report 

 Referred Back to the Committee. 



A special meeting of the Board of Agriculture 

 was held at the Council Chamber on July 5th, 

 to consider the following resolutions of the 

 Tobacco Sub-Committee brought up by Mr R H 

 Lock at the annual meeting of the Society held 

 on June 8th : — 



1. That Government be requested to re-vote the sunt of 

 R7.200, or such larger sura as they may be disposed to grant, 

 in three equal instalments, in the Estimates for 910, 1911, 

 and 1912. The money to be placed at the disposal of the 

 Board of Agriculture for the payment of part of the 

 salary of a Tobacco Expert. 



2. That arrangements be made for allowing the sum of 

 K27.E00 appropriated for the purpose of carrying out 

 tobacco experiments, to be drawn upon during the period 

 October 1st, 1909— September 30th, 1912, or such longer 

 period as may be determined. 



3. That an officer be appointed locally on a salary of 

 R3,000, rising by instalments of R500 to R4.000 per annum, 

 and reasonable travelling expenses, who shall be called 

 the Tobacco Expert to the Ceylon Board of Agriculture. 



4. That the appointment be made for three years from 

 October 1, 1909 ; and that the officer appointed be re- 

 quired to refund the first year's expenditure made on 

 sa ary and travelling expenses in the event of failure to 

 serve for the full period, unless in the event of illness 

 reasonable sick leave being allowed. 



5. That the appointment be made by the President of 

 the Society on the recommendation of the Tobacco Com- 

 mittee, with the approval of the Board, and that the 

 officer be under the direct control of the Committee 

 through its Chairman, the Organising Vice-President of 

 the Society. 



6. That the expert spend the first year of his appoint- 

 ment in acquiring a knowledge of the methods of culti- 

 vating and curing tobacco employed in Ceylon, India, 

 and such other countries as the Committee mayldecide ; 



the second and I bird years lo lie spent in carrying out 

 experiments in the growing and curing of Tobacco at 

 the Experiment Station, Malta Iluppalama. The advice 

 of the expert would also be available to cultivators in 

 other parts of the Island. 



• 7. That the expert be required to pass an examination 

 in colloquial Tamil at the end of the first year's service. 



H. E. the Acting Governor, Sir Hugh Clifford, 

 k.c.m.o., presided and the others present were: 

 — The Hon. Messrs H L Crawford, c.m.g., 

 Bernard Senior, i.s.o., L W Booth, S C Obeye- 

 s^kere, A Kanagasabai, Sir S D Bandaranaika, 

 c.m.g., Messrs W D Gibbon, J Harward, R H 

 Lock, A N Galbraith, J I > Vanderstraaten, W A 

 de Silva, G W Sturgess, Tudor Rajapakse, Gate 

 Mudaliyar. Daniel Joseph, Dr. HM Fernando 

 and Mr. C Drieberg (Secretary.) 



The History of the Proposals. 

 Mr. R H Lock— called upon by the President 

 —said he would briefly trace the history of the 

 roposals to consider which that meeting had 

 een called, and he hoped that after his doing 

 so, they would agree with the proposals made 

 by the Sub-Committee. At a meeting of the 

 Society on May 4th, 1908, the following Com- 

 mittee, on the motion of Mr. Kanagasabai, was 

 appointed to consider what action, if any, the 

 Society should take in the improvement cf the 

 local tobacco industry, and to submit an esti- 

 mate of cost of such measures as it may re- 

 commend:— Dr. Willis, Mr. F H Price, Mr C J C 

 Mee, Mr. M Kelway Bamber, Mr. Edward 

 Cowan, Hon. Mr. A Kanagasabai and Mr. R H 

 Lock. After several meetings a good deal of 

 discussion, and a special visit by Mr. Drieberg 

 and Dr. Willis to the Jaffna Peninsula to 

 go into the question, the Sub-Committee 

 submitted its report at a meeting of the Society 

 on October 5th, when a resolution, proposed by 

 Mr Ferguson, was passed that a sum of R27,500 

 out of the balance estimated to be in the hands 

 of the Society be reserved for an experiment in 

 the growing and curing of tobacco for the 

 foreign market. That having been resolved, the 

 further business of the Committee was to con- 

 sider the details and to say how the expenditure 

 was to be carried out. He would briefly ex- 

 plain the reasons for the present resolution. 

 The Sub-Committee concluded that the only 

 way in which the tobacco industry could be 

 enlarged into a thoroughly paying business was 

 by adopting new methods of cultivation, 

 especially in the curing and manufacture of the 

 tobacco to suit the European and American 

 markets. The question arose as to whether new 

 markets could be got for the new produce. He 

 met two gentlemen, who were Directors of the 

 American Tobacco Co., and, although not 

 interested in the cigar tobacco business, they 

 expressed the opinion that in tobacco, as in other 

 produce, they must send large samples. They 

 would receive consideration and, if they were of 

 good quality, would have a ready sale. The 

 idea at first was to appoint a tobacco expert, 

 who had experience of planting and curing in 

 Sumatra, but the terms of the only available 

 expert were beyond the means of the Society 

 and the present alternative proposals were 

 made. There was a good deal to be said for the 

 latter as opposed to the other. The Committee, 

 therefore, suggested that the gentleman ap- 

 pointed should have previous knowledge of 



