172 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



H. E. the President— understood Dr. Fer- 

 nando to say that the man selected should have 

 had practical experience in tobacco planting an:l 

 managing labour. 

 Dr. Fernando — answered in the affirmative. 

 Tobacco in Jaffna and the Eastern 

 Province. 



Mr Daniel Joseph — heartily supported the 

 resolution. The tobacco industry in the Nor- 

 thern Province was a very important oue 

 and a large number of poor people depended 

 on it for their livelihood. In the Eastern Pro- 

 vince, too, tobacco was grown on a large scale, it 

 was therefore important that they should do 

 something to improve cultivation. He suggested 

 that the Agricultural Board should vote a sum 

 of money to seud out two intelligent educated, 

 ;iud well-conducted young men to study tobacco 

 g rowing and curing. After qualifying themselves 

 they could be sent out to the different Provinces 

 in the island to teach the people improved 

 methods of cultivation and curing. 



The Pearl of Great Price. 



Mr A N Galbraith — referring to the state- 

 ment that they could not get an expert from 

 Sumatra — asked what steps had been taken to 

 satisfy themselves to get an expert from there ? 

 He spoke with humility, not knowing the sub- 

 ject, but thought they could not get, anywhere 

 in Ceylon, a man who had practical experience of 

 scientific cultivation of tobacco. If there was 

 one such, why did he not come forward before ? 

 Of course they might find such a person, that 

 pearl of great price, who would show the intel- 

 ligence and enthusiasm required of an expert. 

 At the same time they could not tell their pearl 

 from the outside of the shell. On the other 

 hand they could be able to tell their pearl when 

 they took it from a well-known bank. They 

 should first of all know whether they could not 

 get such an expert, even if they offered a higher 

 salary than that contemplated, from outside 

 the Island. The present salary ottered, R3000 a 

 year — he did not know how the estimate was 

 arrived at — was very small; could they not offer 

 R6,000 or so ? He was presuming that the Su- 

 matra tobacco estates were something like the 

 Ceylon tea estates, and there must be some 

 young creepers in Java or Sumatra to whom 

 such a salary would be worth accepting. 

 Supposing such a man came on a three years' 

 appointment and was recognised as the Ceylon 

 Government Tobacco Expert, there would be 

 no difficulty for him to get a billet. Then 

 they had to consider the suitability of Maha 

 Illupallama for tobacco growing. He under- 

 stood from the report of Mr. E E Green that 

 the Society's tobacco cultivation experiments 

 at Maha lllupalama had to be given up owing to 

 the presence of the tobacco stem-borer. He 

 did not know if the pest had been got over. 



The System in Africa. 



Mr. Bernard Senior : — It appears to me 

 resolutions Nos. 3 and 4 are hardly finan- 

 cially sound. It is proposed to appoint a man 

 and pay him a salary before he has got the 

 special knowledge required. In the Colony 

 I served in, Africa, wo frequently had to got 



officers with special knowledge. Instead of 

 securing experts as is the custom here, the 

 system adopted there was to select some 

 youngster and send him to a College in 

 America or Canada, or wherever it might be, 

 to qualify himself in the particular branch of 

 work. la fact, I think we did exactly the 

 same as regards tobacco cultivation and 

 curing. Instead of paying him any salary we 

 paid his passage, tuition fees, College fees, and 

 boarding for one year. At the end of his period 

 at College he produced a certificate of proficiency 

 and then came back and was given an appoint- 

 ment for three years. Before he went out his 

 parents or guardians, or whoever was responsible 

 for him, signed an agreement that if he did not 

 become proficient within that time they would 

 refuud the money expended. In that way Gov- 

 ernment stood to lose nothing except a year's 

 time. At the same time they got the services 

 practically speaking of an expert. If we do not 

 safeguard ourselves we might appoint a man and 

 be saddled with him for three years. At the 

 end of his year's training in Sumatra he might 

 come back without proficient knowledge and 

 we will be saddled with a man who is useless for 

 three years. 



A Strange Suggestion. 



Mr VV A de Silva- — pointed out that a person 

 who qualified himself over tobacco cultivation 

 in Sumatra would be of no use in Ceylon, con- 

 ditions being different, enormous acreages being 

 opened there, and that was not possible in 

 Ceylon. He suggested that a person with ex- 

 perience of tobacco cultivation in the Island 

 should be sent to a place where inferior tobacco 

 was grown to bring his experience back to the 

 Island. They could not produce superior tobacco 

 and should, therefore, turn their attention to 

 cultivation in small areas. It was not possible 

 to get an expert on R3,000. He agreed with Mr 

 Senior in the views he had expressed. 



Dr. Fernando — enquired if any applications 

 had been received. 



Mr Lock — said one or two had been received 

 by the Secretary. 



The Hon. Mr S C Obeyesekere— said the 

 most practical and safest scheme was that fore- 

 shadowed by Mr Senior. Rather than jeopardise 

 R27,500 they should first see whether on a 

 small expenditure they could not train a man 

 to suit their requirements. 

 The Expert and hls Tamil Qualification. 



The Hon. Mr H L Crawford— referring to 

 the last resolution — thought it quite unnecessary 

 for the man who was to be sent out to Sumatra 

 to qualify himself in the Tamil language. Tamil 

 was not spoken in Sumatra. There seemed to 

 be a slight misunderstanding as to what type 

 of tobacco should be grown. The opinion of the 

 Committee was that competition with Sumatra 

 tobacco was out of the question. (Mr Gibbon : 

 Hear, hear.) Mr Senior had raised a very im- 

 portant point. Their duty would be to see 

 how the efficiency of the Superintendent would 

 be decided : how could they devise a test. 



Mr Bernard Senior: — There are training Col- 

 leges in America and Canada. That is where 

 tho youngsters from Africa aro sent to. 



