594 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1890 
is to ask your price, and when you mention 1 
he covers his mouth with his hand, anxious evidently 
to suppress his emotional nature. When he ha 8 
gained oommand of his feelings, he then ask 8 
how many pounds you have for sale : chews a bi* 
of the sample, as does his chum, and then the 
two look at each other in a most exasperatiog 
way : — " The bark has no bitterness in it" is what 
they deolare, after this rude chewing analysis, but 
you get a bid. It is low enough to allow of an 
advance of a cent or two more, out of pure friend- 
ship for you, but not finding their kindly effort 
appreciated they move off. How does it pay these 
fellows to waste the : r time as well as ours? You 
find them walking mi es, wasting hours, and never 
getting " a bit fora lder:" but they may be like 
the swallows which herald the coming summer, 
and may encourage us to hope that " the winter 
of our discontent " is drawing to a close, and that we 
are on the eve of better prices for oinchona bark. 
The latest issue from the Observer Press, " Tea 
Culture and Preparation in Oeylon," is as usual 
praotioal. There is squeezed into the 100 pages or 
so a vast amount of varied and useful information 
which represents the experience of scores of pains- 
taking planters. I fancy it is only among Ceylon 
men that the production of such a Compilation 
would be possible : India with its longer experience 
of tea could show nothing like it. From the tea 
planters of the neighbouring continent we can 
get the elaborate essay of the single man, which is 
very valuable in its way; but this is altogether 
different, for it represents the wisdom of the 
many drawn out by the wit of one. It is a useful 
little Book, and the experienced teaplanter may refer 
to it at times with considerable benefit. 
Coolies are beginning to arrive from the Coast, 
whioh is much too early for most men, with all the 
dry months ahead. It is the drought I hear that 
is driving them over. Recruiting should be an easy 
matter this season, and the returns of immigrants 
should be large ; so what with Tamil labour and 
the local Sinhalese even the districts which as a 
rule find a difficulty in keeping up a sufficient foroe 
may fare well. Kanganies with " tundus " are as 
plentiful as crows, and the deeper the mine of debt 
into whioh he and his gang are plunged, the higher 
are his demands. 
We were all beginning to wonder what was to 
be done with the labour foroe during the late dry 
weather, until the welcome rain came, which has 
been invaluable. It has soaked the soil in grand 
style, and we look for good flushes in due time. 
Peppercorn. 
4. . — 
GEMMING AND MINING ORDINANCE. 
We had no time yesterday to refer to the remarks 
of the Attorney. General in introducing this bill. We 
were struck not so much by what his speech contained 
as by what it omitted, including all reference to 
the past policy of the British Government for 
over 90 years in Ceylon. Why revive at this 
particular juncture a claim which has lain dormant 
all these years although, notoriously, native gem- 
mers have been constantly at work finding and 
appropriating precious Btones which in the aggre- 
gate must have represented an enormous value ? 
Again, it seems curious that while natives were 
allowed to dig and sink shafts and pits after a 
most dangerous fashion — in the case of plumbago, 
there are pits said to be 200 to 300 feet deep, — as 
soon as European enterprise is announced, the 
Government as " C. S." points out, must needs 
take steps to " guard the safety of persons em- 
ployed in mining"! In respect; of anoient royal 
rights to gems, we tear our correspondent is 
scarcely correct ; at least our reading, and the 
several authorities within reach — some quoted 
recently in the Literary Register — point the other 
way. But on another very important point 
started by our correspondent, we call on the 
unofficial members to take action so soon as the 
Legislature assembles again. It is stated that there 
is in existence an elaborate Report by one of Mr. 
Grenier's predecessors upon which the Ceylon 
Government in 1881 based the " Gem and Gold Min- 
ing Rules " which were then promulgated and which 
have operated ever since. We quote from our 
"Handbook," the more important of these, and 
we trust the unofficial members will endeavour to 
show that both good policy and good faith should 
lead to the maintenance of the Rules of 1881 : — 
General Rules. 
The Government will claim no royally on or share 
of the gems or gold found upon land in respect of 
which a license has been taken out, and is in force 
under these rules, but such land will he liable to any 
taxation which may hereafter be found necessary to 
provide, at the expanse of the grantees, the cost of 
such special police communication, water supply, sanita- 
tion, or other similar administrative arrangements as 
may, in the opinion of Government, be dictated in the 
interests of the local community immediately or 
directly affected by the results of the grantee's operations. 
Prospecting Licenses. 
Prospecting licenses will be issued only for Crown 
W aste Lands. 
No prospecting licenses whatsoever will be issued to 
dig for gems. 
Prospecting licenses will be issued to dig for gold 
on payment of R10 and on the following conditions : — 
The area on which the license is to extend shall 
not exceed half-a-square mile. 
The license shall be in force for six months. 
The grantee to have the exclusive righ -. of prospect- 
ing within that area for tiiat period and to have the 
option, at the expiration thereof, of applying for a 
regular lease of not more than 50 acres within the 
said area on the terms hereinafter described. 
Gemming Lands alienteda by the Crown. 
The proprietors of lands on which the rights of 
the crown to gems have been reserved may obtain a 
license to dig for and appropriate such gems on the 
payment of RIO, which license will be in force for 
one year, and may be renewed annually on the like 
payment. 
THE CEYLON SPINNING AND WEAVING 
COMPANY (LIMITED). 
Report of the Directors for the year ending 31st 
December 1889. To be presented at the general meet- 
ing to be held at 3 p. m., on Thursday, the 13th 
February 1890. 
The Balance Sheet to 3lBt Dec. 1889 ie now sub- 
mitted to the Shareholders, and from it they will see 
what the position of the Company was on that date. 
Thus far, the work that has been carried on has 
been wholly in constructing the buildings and erect- 
ing the machinery, and it is obviously inexpedient to 
prepare a Profit and Loss Account at this time, 
seeing that the actual working of the mill is only 
about to commence. A good deal of unlooked-for 
delay has been experienced in the arrival of machinery 
chiefly owing to the delay of manufacturers, and the 
London Dock Strike detaining vessels, but on the 
whole it has not been greater that that usually at- 
tending such undertakings, and when it is oon- 
sidered that it is less than a year sinoe the 
foundations of the buildings were laid, it cannot be 
said that much time has been lost. A " preparation," 
or complete section of the Spinning Machinery, is 
now running, and the whole will be gradually brong ht 
into work as quiokly as possible. The servioes of a a 
qualified weaving master have been secured, and a 
