and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



589 



that trees are constantly coming into bearing 

 and that their produce should be extracted 

 instead of being left in the true. The ideal of 

 tapping seems to be that every quarter all the 

 trees that have then attained the minimum tap- 

 ping circumference, whatever it may be, 16 or 18 

 inches, should be at once handled instead of 

 being left idle, and that all the trees that have 

 matured up to that point should be taken regu- 

 larly as they come on. I should think that 

 when all the trees are in bearing, one cooly per 

 acre would be a perfectly safe maximum for 

 tapping purposes. I am, with the force men- 

 tioned above, getting 100 lb. an acre, but it is 

 only in its second year of bearing. 



The Cost of Production. 

 Is the cost of production of rubber being 

 reduced ? 



Well, 1 can't tell you that exactly. They are 

 always improving. 



Do you think it will over be put on tbe market 

 at 6d or 8d per pound?— I don't see later on why 

 it should not be put on at 9d. per pound. 



A Sufficient Labour Force. 

 Do you think the labour force sufficient in the 

 Straits ?— 1 do, but the system has, of course, 

 its apparent drawbacks. 



Freedom from Debt. 



Do you agree with Mr R VV Harrison that it 

 is a bad mistake to land the coolies on the 

 F.M.S. estates free of all debt ? 



No. I don't. I think it is a very good thing 

 as a general advertisement for the country. 

 The individual may feel it, perhaps; but as a 

 general advertisement for the country, 1 don't 

 think there could be a better scheme. I think 

 myself that speaking generally it is a splendid 

 war cry for all recruiting that the coolies are 

 landed without any debt. Obviously it must 

 be. I don't 6ee how it can be refuted. If 

 there is an impression broadcast in the villages 

 that a cooly when he comes over, whatever has 

 been spent on him. has nothing to repay, it 

 must have a good effect. The advertisement of 

 being able to come over free of debt seems to 

 me of enormous value to the country. 



Does not the fact of their being free from 

 debt give you less hold on them ? 



No. I don't think so. As far as I under- 

 stand it, the attitude of the Government is that 

 if a cooly has a debt, the only process of recovery 

 is a civil ono. You can't make a cooly stop 

 longer than he wishes; and if by bolting he can 

 evade a debt which is a burden to him, it seems 

 to me that he is likely to do so. He is less 

 likely to bolt if he has not got that burden. 



On Jugra Island. 

 The Jugra Island property is of course surroun- 

 ded by water. No spirit of any kind is allowed 

 on the place and therefore there are no attrac- 

 tions to coolies to enable them to squander their 

 money. During this year, up to date, over 

 R10,000 have been remitted to India from that 

 place alone, through our manager, who remits 

 all their savings, at the rate of exchange of the 

 day, without any cost to the cooly. Planters are 

 trying to get coolies as hard as ever they can and 



they are said to be coming in lots of 10, 15 and 

 •JO men. On Jugra Island, however, there have 

 been four shipments of 40, 75, 90, and 125. From 

 what I could find out there was no parallel in 

 any other property to anything of the kind. 1 

 attribute that directly to the fact that owing to 

 our insular position and die fact that our labour 

 is al! raw material from the Coast, the coolies 

 have not got into touch with the gin shops and 

 other inducements to spend money and they 

 remain at home. Their relations and friends see 

 the money coming over, they think it is a good 

 country to go to, and they go. 



The Estate Kaddi System. 



We supply all our stuff from the estate kaddi, 

 practically everything that the coolies require. 

 On paydays if they want things they cannot get 

 from the estate kaddi they are, up to a certain 

 number, allowed to go to Port Swettenham in 

 order to get what they want. 



Do you think the kaddi system a good one? 



Yes, a thoroughly good one. I am tne firmest 

 possible believer in direct financial arrange- 

 ments between the superintendent and each in- 

 dividual cooly. I don't believe in letting the 

 kangani have any financial power whatever over 

 the cooly and I believe in helping the cooly to 

 avoid chetties, shopkeepors, and all people who 

 live on his stupidity. That is the secret of pro- 

 per organisation and control. I don't say it is 

 possible in Ueylon, but I believe it is. 



The Health of the Coolies. 



How about the health of the coolies ? 



The health varies very much in different 

 places, but speaking generally one does not hear 

 so much about ill health as before. On our own 

 place, Jugra Island, for instance, the day that I 

 went into the hosDital I found three in the hos- 

 pital out of a labour force of something liko 

 1,700. I think that on the whole the conditions 

 are in favour of labour going over. 



Sanitation. 

 Have you done much in the way of sanitation':' 

 There is a movement on the part of Govern- 

 ment now to regulate sanitation pretty closely 

 in connection with this 



Ankylostomiasis. 



There is no doubt whatever that it is a move- 

 ment in the right direction because the anaemic 

 condition of the coolies, which is directly due 

 to anchylostomiasis, is very pronounced and 

 very common, especially when they come over 

 from the coast, but the Government must be 

 very careful how they get to work. They are 

 trying to introduce the latrine system but 

 there are difficulties in the way and they must 

 proceed cautiously. They must be careful, for 

 instance, not to run up against caste prejudice?. 

 White Ants. 



Mr. Carey then referred to the trouble caused 

 by white ants and fungus and said : — 



I don't think the white ants are a very serious 

 thing at all. I believe planters have the con- 

 trol of them on quite simple lines, entirely in 

 their own hands, but I don't think the subject 

 has beeu as carefully gone into as it should 

 have been during the last few years and con- 



