No. 55.— 1904.] 
ANNUAL REPORT. 
155 
rubber has since spread successfully throughout the Island and to 
India. I cannot help regretting that these gardens are not more 
largely visited by people from Colombo, and that the interest which 
attached to them in their early days has been allowed to die away. 
Others gardens with different climatic conditions have been estab- 
lished at Anuradhapura in 1883 and at Badulla in 1886, and now 
it is proposed to establish yet another garden under fresh conditions^ 
this time in the north at Jaffna, and this should prove of the utmost 
utility for experimental and other purposes, especially in connection 
with cotton cultivation as a possible industry for the north. The 
Director of the Botanical Gardens is at the present moment busy 
with experimental plots of cotton along the route of the Northern 
Railway. 
Another aspect, important in all scientific work, is the publication ■ 
of reports. It is not only necessary that scientific men should collect 
facts and state them clearly to contemporary business friends, to help 
the business men of the present day to utilize the knowledge gained, 
but it is even more necessary to place the results on record, so that 
they may be of use to future generations. The publications from 
Peradeniya, such as are being produced at the present day, are doing 
excellent work. 
But I must leave this interesting subject for other examples of 
scientific work in Ceylon. There is the Museum, for instance, a very 
youthful institution compared with the Botanical Gardens, founded 
as it was by Sir William Gregory in 1877. Its great importance is 
as a home for collections of specimens, other than Botanical, which 
should be preserved for future generations. We are fortunate to 
have retained in the Island the late Mr. Collett's collection of shells. 
A collection made locally should be kept locally. Unfortunately 
there are other local collections which have been dispersed, the most 
important of which, perhaps, is Gardener's collection of plants, though 
the transference of Mr. Carey's collections to the British Museum is 
an instance which touches us more nearly. The extension of the 
Museum is a subject which has been under contemplation by the 
Government for many years. When I first came and walked through 
the Museum I was told of the necessity for extension. I asked to 
see the papers on the subject, and was horrified at the enormous 
size of the file, which showed a mass of correspondence extending 
over many years ; but up to almost the other day nothing had been 
done. I do not say that very much has been done now, but the 
subject has been brought forward, and the Governor has appointed 
a small Committee consisting of Mr. Obeysekere, Dr. Willey, the 
Director of Public Works, Mr. Cameron, and myself to work among 
the old plans, and see if we cannot get out a feasible scheme by 
which the Museum may be enlarged. There are, so far as I can 
gather from the papers, two plans for additions to the Museum, neither 
of which seems to us quite suitable. One of the original plans was to 
repeat the present Museum building back to back with the present 
building and to connect the two blocks. But this would not only cost 
too much, but would provide far too much space for the collections 
which are likely to accrue for many years. In the result the Com- 
mittee will probably propose to extend the present building at the 
back, leaving a future generation, not of mankind, but of ofiicials 
merely, to complete the more ambitious plan. Personally I hope, hut 
cannot give any pledge, that this very desirable and necessary work 
