Gums, Resins, 



378 



[Nov. 1906. 



manufacturers impossible. Representations to the authorities were without effect, 

 and even claims made on them for losses which were proved to have been sustained 

 through their direct obstruction of the trade, in violation of our treaty rights, failed 

 to have effect, and it was with the utmost difficulty that business was carried on. 



The price of camphor on the local market— from being $70 or $80 in 1904— rose 

 to $118 per picul in January, 1905, and to $130 towards the close of the year, while 

 during the succeeding three months it was as high as $190. During this time the 

 contract price in the interior ruled from $60 to $100 per picul ; so that had no official 

 interference in the free manufacture of the article intervened, a very large business 

 would have resulted. Notwithstanding all this, however, the returns show a 

 wonderful development in the trade since the year 1902 when camphor first made its 

 appearance in the lists of local exports. 



CAMPHOR CULTIVATION 1<S SOUTH INDIA. 



Recognised as a Special Product. 



Mr. J. McKenzie, of Prospect estate, Nedivattam, having applied for remis- 

 sion of assessment on 60 acres of land which he proposed to plant with camphor in 

 Prospect estate, the Collector of the Nilgiris called for remarks from the Curator, 

 Government Gardens, Ootacamund, as to the prospect of its successful cultivation 

 in that district and the length of time for which the product would yield no return. 

 The latter having replied that the cultivation was worth encouraging, and that 

 it will not yield any return till the trees were five years old, the Collector recom- 

 mended that camphor be recognised as a special product, and that the cultivation 

 be exempted from assessment for five years. 



The Board having supported the Collector's recommendation, the Govern- 

 ment have directed that the camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora, P. Nees) may 

 be recognised as a special product, and that the assessment on lands newly planted 

 with that product in the Nilgiri plateau may be remitted for five complete years. 



