Oct. 1906.] 



321 



Edible Products. 



and traders had been accorded credit on a similar scale. Credit ceased suddenly, 

 and advances on crops and on mortage were called in, and no banking institution 

 existed to help those planters who held valuable properties, but lacked, for the 

 moment, means to keep them in cultivation or to supplement their resources 

 by the introduction of new products. At this juncture the Government, being 

 supported on the authority of the Secretary of State by a credit with the Crown 

 agents, was enabled, under the provisions of Ordinance No. 4 of 1904, to advance 

 to approved planters, on the security of first mortgage, sums not to exceed 

 Rs. 100,000 in the aggregate. These loans have saved many planters from bank- 

 ruptcy, and staved off the abandonment of cultivation on several valuable 

 properties. The amount actually lent at the close of 1905 was Rs. 67,800, when the 

 further operation of the Ordinance had to be suspended. Although the vanilla crop 

 for 1906 is again a failure, there has been a resolute effort on all sides to improve 

 coconut cultivation, and to develop new industries, especially rubber cultivation ; so 

 the prospects for 1907 are more generally hopeful than for three years past. 



A statement showing the value, quantity, and average price of Seychelles 

 vanilla for the last 11 years is attached : — 



Year. 



Quantity of 



Declared value of 



Average price per 



vanilla exported. 



vanilla. 



kilo, of vanilla. 





Kilos. 



Rupees. 



Rs. 



cts. 



1895 



4,553 



60,344 



13 



25 



1896 



31,227 



936,000 



29 



97 



1897 



30,691 



920,730 



30 



00 



1898 



25,177 



748,810 



29 



74 



1899 



41,835 



1,338,720 



32 



00 



1900 



17,569 



580,877 



33 



06 



1901 



71,899 



1,108,792 



15 



42 



1902 



60,862 



642,331 



10 



55 



1903 



59,784 



503.994 



8 



43 



1904 



41,072 



300,026 



7 



30 



1905 



48,208 



282,876 



5 



87 



The quantity of vanilla cleared for London in 1905 was 22,566 kilos., valued 

 at Rs, 137,185 ; the proportion of the crop and the total value being much as in 

 1904. London is looked upon as the better market when prices are good, but Paris 

 sales are steadier when demand is dull ; that conclusion is based on the fact 

 that there are regular monthly sales in London where parcels are sometimes put 

 up for forced sale ; whereas in Paris there is no open market, but the principal 

 buyers, having standing contracts with the wholesale consumers, are ready to 

 buy at a figure which is not subject to market fluctuations. As the price ruled 

 uniformly low during 1905, the proportion sent to London was no more than 46 per 

 cent, of the total ; in prosperous years the proportion sent to London has been as 

 high as two-thirds. The exports of vanilla to Paris included more than half the 

 crop (24,757 kilos.), valued at Rs. 136,462. 



The report by the Curator of the Botanic Station for the year 1905 states that 

 the rainfall duiing 1905 was unfortunately distributed and the vanilla crop, for 

 1906 will be considerably reduced. The weather was very promising until | the end 

 of July, but the rain fell abundantly in August and September, and the vanilla 

 vines put forth new growth instead of flowering. Orange and lime trees should 

 be planted on a much greater scale than they are at present for exportation as 

 fruits, and for the production of citrate of lime. In short, the climate of Seychelles 

 is highly benefical to the growth of citrus trees, and better attention should be 

 paid to them. Citrate of lime is imported into the United Kingdom to the amount 

 of 1,400 tons annually, and a Seychelles planter has succeeded in making a 

 sample o€ citrate containing 65 per cent, citric acid. The lime industries are 



