January, 1909.] 



m 



Miscellaneous 



tors had also competed for the awards for 

 the Vegetable Gardens and Transplanted 

 Paddy plots for which separate prizes were 

 given. 



In judging I had the kind' co-operation of 

 Mr. de Livera, Atapattu Mudaliyar, Matara, 

 and Mr. J. M. Wickramaratne, Proctor. The 

 awards included four cash prizes and two 

 certificates, and three special awards were 

 recommended for single specimens of capsi- 

 cum, snake gourd and tea. 



Capsicum, chillies, pumpkins, cucumbers, 

 melons, brinjals, kekiri, and bread-fruits 

 made a very good show. 



Of yams there were excellent collections , 

 sweet- potatoes and cassava being parti- 

 cularly good. 



Some good oranges and jak-fruifs were 

 also found among the exhibits. 



N. Wickramaratne, 



Agri. Instructor- 



RURAL AGRICULTURE IN CEYLON: 

 AND HOW IT MIGHT BE IMPROVED, 



The DLscussion. 



The reading of the paper on the above sub- 

 ject (given on page 569 of the Dec. issue) by 

 Mr. W. A. de Silva, before the meeting of the 

 Board of Agriculture on the 3rd December, 

 was followed by the following speeches — 



Dr. Willis and the Need 

 for Agricultural "Preliminaries" 

 Dr. Willis : — I think, Sir, it is a very 

 satisfactory sign of the times that the Soc- 

 iety is beginning to realise clearly that before 

 you can make progress in Agriculture you 

 have to make progress in the preliminaries 

 of agriculture. In Ceylon we have hardly 

 yet got through the preliminaries, and yet 

 we have been trying too much to attend to 

 the agricultural part. With regard to Euro- 

 pean planters they have passed, so to speak, 

 through the preliminaries ; but the native 

 cultivators have not, and it is consequently 

 almost idle to introduce new things amongst 

 the villagers, because they have not got the 

 necessary preliminary conditions to go on 

 with. The two principal things on which 

 the whole industry rests a.re 



finance and transport, 

 and unless we have sound conditions as 

 regards these it is hopeless to go ahead to 

 any serious extent and get the people to take 

 any great interest in growing things which 

 must be sold in outside markets. Consequent- 

 ly it is a very good thing to see that these 

 papers tend to increase generally the interest 

 taken in the question of the small co-opera- 

 tive systems for the supply of money. I use 

 the word in a broad sense. It may be in the 

 supplying of paddy seed, in manures, in sell- 



ing produce in Colombo. It may be anything 

 you like, but the central principle is co-opera" 

 tion amongst the poorer classes, to enable 

 them to carry out what would otherwise 

 require the capitalist to put through. In 

 this country I have been trying to induce 

 town Societies, who have, presumably, a 

 little money, to help their village brethren — 

 for whose benefit, after all, we were estab- 

 lished, —by starting co-operation for the sale 

 of produce and the supply of manures, and 

 so on. The ordinary villager has no money 

 at all, and consequently he cannot hope to 

 do anything beyond live from hand to 

 mouth. J think, therefore, it is very satis- 

 factory indeed to see the tendency which is 

 coming over the whole country to attend 

 to these preliminaries. Transport, thanks to 

 Government, is very well developed on the 

 whole in Ceylon and there are sufficient, 

 villagers along the branch roads and railways 

 to carry out any agricultural improvement 

 that is necessary. The essential weak point 

 of the whole Ceylon system of agriculture is 

 money. To raise the people to a higher 

 plane you must first of all attend to the 

 preliminaries of agriculture, and find them 

 money. This must be forthcoming before 

 you go ahead in agricultural matters strictly 

 so called. * (Hear, hear.) 



Government's Attitude, 

 H. E. the Governor : — Equally with Dr. 

 Willis I welcome the appearance of two 

 papers such as those under discussion. 

 Members may recollect that when I assumed 

 the administration of the Colony I hesitated, 

 as naturally I would do for some little time, 

 to give an expression of opinion regarding 

 the agricultural requirements of the Colony. 

 However, you gentlemen have seen, and the 

 community generally have seen, rather 

 lengthy references to loans to native agricul- 

 turists in the despatches which I sent to 

 the Secretary of State. The Secretary of 

 State has approved of the proposal that 

 funds shall be voted to assist agriculturists, 

 but he requires regulations on the subject 

 to be submitted to him. It is particularly 

 valuable to me as the Governor of the Colony 

 to have papers before me such as those which 

 have been read or taken as read, and J 

 may say I shall welcome any expression of 

 opinion and recommendation from those who 

 are qualified to write upon the subject and 

 advise how best agriculturists can be assisted 

 in such a manner that we do not pauperise 



* It may make matters clearer if we add the 

 following note. The preliminaries to agriculture are 

 land, climate, labour, transport, capital, drainage, 

 irrigation, tillage, education, and suitable crops! 

 The most important are land, capital, education 

 and transport, so far as Ceylon now is concerned 

 and until the villager has land available, transport 

 lacilities, and capital to work any improved 

 method or new crop, he cannot progress beyond 

 his present state. We called attention to this at 

 ths very first meeting of the Board.— Ed. 



