5° 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1889. 
money, and Mr. Streeter finds himself in 
possession of the gems for which he has 
paid the current market value. But in case 
Mr. Streeter's agent does not elect to make 
any offer, or in case the offer he makes for the 
gems is deemed unsatisfactory by the seller, they 
are handed over to the local authorities for 
auction sale, at which the agent has a right to 
bid like any other person. This then is the nature 
of the much-vaunted guaranteed monopoly. Mr. 
Streeter, no doubt in consideration for the sum paid 
for the concession, has a right to all gems he 
mines for himself, but has to pay for all other 
stones found in the ruby mine district, and pay 
too the highest current rate in the local market. 
Lest there should any doubt arise as to this reading 
of the term, monopoly here is an advertisement, one 
of a regular series, appearing in the Mandalay Herald 
of 27th April last, after the mining machinery had 
gone forward from Mandalay : — 
Auction Sale of Rubies. 
An auction sale of Rubies will be held at the Ruby Mart 
(Mandalay Treasury) on Saturday tlie 18tli May 1889, at 1 p.m. 
The stones which consists of rough stones from the Ruby 
Mines and stones rough and cut which have been confiscated 
under the Ruby Regulation, will bo put up to auction in 
114 separate lots, more or less, on which have been fixed 
upset prices aggregating about 1120,000. A duty of 30 per 
cent ad valorem, is payable on purchase. 
The sale will be conducted under the provisions of the 
Ruby Regulation, published in the Burma Gazette of the 
1st October 1887. 
A copy of the Ruby Regulation Rules, in English and 
Burmese, will be furnished to intending purchasers on applica- 
tion at the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Mandalay. 
By rule 14 a license is required to buy and sell rubies, 
and by rule 18, only the holder of such license can buy 
stones at the Ruby Mart. 
Such license will run for one year from the date of issue : 
the fee payable being R10. 
Applications for licenses should be made on a Court Fee 
Stamp of eight annas to the Deputy Commissioner, Mandalay, 
from whom all further information can be obtained. 
The rubies will be exhibited at the Treasury on Saturdays 
between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m. 
C. B. Cooke, Major, Deputy Commissioner. 
Mandalay, 16th April 1889. 
It will be here seen that the 114 separate lots of 
rubies exposed for sale are " rough stones from the 
ruby mines," and stones rough and cut which 
have been confiscated under the Euby Kegulation, and 
for the purchase of these gems Mr. Streeter stands 
in no better position than if no such thing as a 
monopoly had been conceded him. So much for 
the monopoly of which such capital has been made, 
and which obtains only in respeot to a small dot, 
as it were, on the immense gem producing area 
of Upper Burma, an area comprising thousands 
and thousands of square miles, over which the 
Government do not pretend even to have a claim 
any more than King Theebaw had. Over this im- 
mense gem-producing country there is room for 
innumerable Companies and private parties who, 
making their own arrangements with the native 
chiefs and land owners, will probably stand on a 
better footing than Streeter's Company and its 
guaranteed monopoly. As a proof of the Government 
having no claim on the lands of the native chiefs 
may be adduced the fact that the present line of 
road to the ruby mines was made by special arrange- 
ment with a native headman, the tract of country 
through which the road runs having been given in 
exchange for another, and about which there is 
now considerable irritation, as the Government 
have discovered they have taken the least convenient 
route and wish to resume possession of what had 
been given in exchange. 
Perhaps it may be urged that these statements 
in reference to a large gem-producing area are not 
supported by corroborative testimony, and the 
question may be asked from what source oomes 
the information from which they are made. 
Apart from the general testimony of the residents 
of the country, special opportunity was afforded by 
the company and friendship of a well-known European, 
whose residence of over 30 years' duration in India 
and Burma has been devoted to the trade in gems, 
and who accompanied by two Indian native experts 
has lately made it his business to obtain a thorough 
insight into the jewel resources of Upper Burma. 
Introduction was thus afforded to other sources of 
information amongst influential and intelligent 
natives, whose lives had been spent in the country 
and who were conversant with the doings of the late 
king. Besides these there was available information 
from the Europeans (Italians principally) who were 
in the service of Theebaw. In addition to all this, 
practical proof was afforded when joining a party 
of Europeans in some petty trading transactions at 
a small settlement of the Hill Shan tribes — some 
three hundred miles away from the ruby mine 
district. When the confidence of these hillmen had 
in some measure been secured, inquiry was quietly 
made for rubies. In the course of two or three days 
such a number of these gems were offered for sale 
as would make anyone who had invested deeply in 
Mr. Streeter's Company open his eyes with astonish- 
ment and dismay. Rough of course most of them 
were, many imperfect, and some probably set up 
with an artificial backing of colour, but rubies and 
sapphires they were — according to the experts of 
the party — and many of them of considerable size. 
There can exist no reasonable doubt that there is a 
vast traot of gem bearing country in Upper Burma 
and probably in Lower Burma also, and the sole 
advantage — if such it prove— gained by Mr. Streeter's 
Company is the protection of the British Govern- 
ment in a locality where the industry has already 
been carried on for some years past, With this 
exception any other Company, or any private 
party, has an equal chance of success with the 
famous Burma Buby Mining Company. 
It is said no such monopoly caa be obtained from 
the Government of Ceylon, and in reply no such 
monopoly is wanted — nor cared for, nor would it be of 
any advantage if it could be obtained. If any particular 
tract of Crown land should be considered desirable 
it can be applied for and purchased in the usual 
way, but there are thousands of acres of gem land 
in the hands of private individuals, both European 
and native, for which absolute purchase could be 
arranged, or for which leases could be obtained ; 
and in the gemming districts there are immense 
properties belong. .:g to Buddhist and Dewala 
temples, which tne present holders would be eager 
to lease for a lengthened term of years. What then 
would be the advantage of a Government guaranteed 
monopoly in Ceylon ? Another objeotion put for- 
ward to the formation of a Company for Ceylon is 
that " the results to the existing industry are very 
variable and t e. 'y dependent for success or 
otherwise on muie auck." Tiiis is an objection that 
holds good in almost every mining venture in the 
world, but affects such an industry in Ceylon less 
probably than in any other country. True it is 
that the existing industry must necessarily be 
uncertain in its results— as it merely consists in 
pricking little holes in the surface of the land just 
as fancy dictates. But knowing the results of such 
desultory search— we may form some definite idea of 
what may be done by systematic mining and wash- 
ing alter the land has been thoroughly prospected 
by oompetent persons, thereby making assurances 
doubly sure. Still another objection put forward 
is, " past experience shows " that gems were sold 
in Ceylon as the rule at about the prices — certainly 
not much below their current value in the London 
market. Without waiting to question the correctness 
of this assertion, — it may be pointed out that a 
local market is always the grand desideratum by 
