MinceLlaneous. 



70 



[January, 1909. 



thein more than these poor fellows already 

 are. We want to increase their self-respect 

 and at the same time deliver them from the 

 clutches of the money-lender. It was at a 

 •very early meeting of this Society that I 

 referred to the system of usury going on 

 in this colony. It was my endeavour to 

 grapple this ogre of usury, but when it 

 came to prospective legislation I found the 

 whole matter was rife with difficulty. It was 

 in consequence of this that I came to the 

 opinion that it was the Government them- 

 selves who must come to the assistance of 

 the people — train the people, educate the 

 people, help the people. As Mr. de Silva 

 has said, this must be done on strict business 

 principles. It must be done by co-operation 

 with the people, working with the people, 

 and the people themselves must do a great 

 deal to come to the state of perfection to 

 which Mr. de Silva points out now exists 

 in Denmark. We have of course a very up- 

 hill game to fight. Our Ceylonese cultivators, 

 unfortunately, are extremely apathetic 

 and have to be shown the value of labour. 

 I quite fall in with Mr. de Silva when he 

 says their efforts through the year should 

 not be devoted simply to the paddy patches, 

 but that they should go in for other means 

 of making a livelihood. It may yet be 

 found that by improving the state of agricul- 

 ture generally that the solution of the 

 food question is not to be found altogether 

 in the extension and development of rice 

 fields, but that other food products may 

 be raised such as Indian maize, which is 

 not received with that disfavour which it 

 once was. As I say, the members of the 

 Society and the Government, — everybody 

 concerned who takes an interest in agricul- 

 ture — have a weary, stiff problem before 

 them in order to bring this lesson home 

 to the people. For instance, Mr. de Silva 

 points out quite rightly the wretched yield 

 of rice per acre. What is that due to ? It 

 is due in a great measure because the people 

 will not transplant the paddy, except in 

 a few districts such as Kegalla and on the 

 South Coast, but will still insist on scatter- 

 ing the paddy broadcast and rearing it in 

 a way which gives small returns on a 

 wasteful expenditure of seed paddy. H. E. 

 then repeated that he would be only too 

 glad if communications such as he had re- 

 ferred to were sent to his Private Secretary. 



The Question op Burma Rice. 

 Mr. F. C. Roles : — Your Excellency, may 

 I be allowed to make a few remarks on 

 Mr. de Silva's paper? My attention has 

 just been directed to a reference in the 

 paper to the subject of Burma rice. That 

 is a subject of much and of growing 

 importance. I have had a few words with 

 Mr. de Silva and pointed out to him that 

 there is no prejudice amongst the labourers 

 against Burma rice. It is the raw product 

 only that they object to because of their 



method of boiling once in 21 hours. Steamed 

 rice has been imported from Rangoon, which 

 has been highly reported on by a number of 

 estate superintendents, kanganies and coolies. 

 The remarks regarding white Burma rice, 

 farther on in the same paragraph, has re- 

 ference to rice which has been imported, 

 here for many years. It is used for con- 

 fectionery and hoppers and not on estates, 

 and it is white Burma rice because the inner 

 skin has been removed ; that skin is left on 

 in cargo, or Loonzain rice, which is the kind 

 of rice required for consumption on estates. 

 By a second hulling the number of paddy 

 grains can be reduced to a minimum of 2 per 

 cent. If that paddy is steamed first and 

 hulled afterwards it is entirely acceptable to 

 the consumer. Now it is simply a question 

 of price and further efforts are being made, 

 as a sequel to the discussion of the subject in 

 Ceylon and in Rangoon and neighbourhood, 

 in steaming on a small scale. At the present 

 time there are small shipments in the off 

 season ; and considerably increased quantities 

 are expected in the coming season. (Hear, 

 hear.) 



An Egyptian Agriculturalist's Views. 



Mr. J. S. J. McCall :— Your Excellency, 

 gentlemen : Althouh a visitor, I would like 

 to say a few words in answer to this question 

 of loans to agriculturists, as we had the 

 very same problem in Egypt, where I 

 was Agricultural Lecturer for three years. 

 We could not get money to improve matters. 

 But, by the Government taking an interest 

 in the subject, we managed to get the leading 

 agriculturalists in the country — those who 

 had the money — to form among themselves 

 an Agricultural Society, and a large num- 

 ber to put money into this Society. The 

 Society purchased manures from the 

 manure firms, guaranteed their purity, distri- 

 buted them to the different villages, and sent 

 men who were qualified to deal with the 

 question of manuring to superintend the 

 application of the manures to the village fields. 

 At first the manures lay by the hundredweight 

 in the villages, and the villagers said : "We 

 will not touch them. We have been culti- 

 vating rice, wheat, barley and the different 

 crops of the country for centuries, and we 

 are not going to alter our methods " — in the 

 true Mohammedan style. The Society 

 replied : ' ' We will present to you these 

 manures. You may apply them to half 

 your fields, the other half do with as hitherto 

 in your methods and compare results. If 

 your crops suffer from the application of the 

 manures, we, as a Society, will guarantee 

 to compensate you, but if the crop benefits 

 over the price of the manure we will ex- 

 pect you to pay us the price of the manure." 

 That was the state four years ago, and the 

 result was that last year the Khediveal Agri- 

 cultural Society imported £175,000 sterling 

 of artificial manures, and could not supply 

 the natives quick enough. We absolutely 



