November t, i888.j THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
them had been carters, and they had done good 
work in that way. But sitting there, and listening 
to that very able paper, he could not help say- 
ing mentally "What has come over my old friend, 
George Wall? for, in treating of the industries of 
the island he said not one word about the class 
without whose labour British capital even would 
have been in vain, viz., the Tamil labourers." 
Admitting that the Sinhalese might have performed 
10 per cent of the work which had been done in 
Ceylon in developing the resources of the country, 
lie did not think he was beyond the mark when he 
said that they owed !)0 per cent to the Tamil ooo!ies. 
They had all been instructed, and he was sure 
His Honour would take a mental note of the 
statement, that it they did not progress with rail- 
ways thoy would bo left behind in the race by 
their competitors. He was sure His Honour would 
convey his feolings on that subject to His Ex- 
cellency the Governor, and His Excellency would 
write to the Secretary of State, and so, as the 
Yankees say, they would " go ahead " with railway 
construction. As regarded railway rates he might 
say, even at the risk of being deemed a heretic, 
he was of opinion that if possible revenue should 
ultimately be obtained from railways. In this 
country they could not apply with over-strictness 
the dootrines of free trade. Direct l xaiion was very 
excellent in its way. It induced men to look at the 
mode in which their money was being spent, and 
where they had intelligent men it was all right ; but in 
Oriental countries direct taxation meant that one 
rupee was collected for the Government and 
another rupee extorted for the benefit of the 
collector. So that he thought liberal rates ob- 
tained from railways were justifiable so long as 
the splendid system of road: which ihey hail in 
Ceylon was kept up ; it afforded a chuck, so that 
the railway department could not possibly exact 
higher rates than competition with carts would allow. 
If they charged rates tint were too high, carts at 
once would come in and compel them to lower the 
rates. There were a great many other points worthy 
of notice in the very able and comprehensive paper 
they had listened to with so mneh pleasure, but the 
hour was late and there were other gentlemen — and 
ladies also, he hoped— who would respond to His 
Honor's invitation, and therefore with those remarks 
he could only say that he very highly appreciated 
the great ability of the paper which they had all lis- 
tened to with pleusure. (Applause.) 
Mr. C. Kbxbh* Mknon (ot the Agricultural Depart- 
ment, Madras) was the next speaker. He thought 
Mr. Wall had sucoeeded to a very great extent in 
proving that the imputation always cast upon the 
natives of Ceylon as indolent and apathetic had 
very little foundation when viewed in true economic 
liglits. He wont on to compare the natives of 
India generally with the people of colder climes, 
and said there were oertain forces underlying the 
superstructure of every Society which explained the 
cause of the decline of industry. These forces he 
enlargod upon, and then went on to disagree with 
the looturer in reference to hia remarks about 
nitivo rulers, entering into a defence of the last 
King of Kandy. Having referred to free trade and 
adduced instances in ill stration of bis contentions 
from the history of the Malabar Coast, Egypt, the 
Doited Stntes and other quarters of the globe, he 
uded with an upulogy for having kept the 
moo'ing so long. 
Mr J. Fkihiuson said it was impossible to deny 
th»> intluonoe of climate nnd religion on the 
character of a peopln like the Sinhalese. It had 
been hinted that, naturally, they would all lik* to 
do m little work as possible, and this was specially 
cxeinphiicd in the local proverb woll-kuown to 
them all: — "Better to walk than to run; to sit 
down than to walk, and best of all to go to sleep." 
(Laughter.) He had been that day reading a review 
of the wonderful work done by Sir Colin Moncrieff 
and bis colleagues of late years for the Fellaheen 
of Egypt, and very much was true of the effect 
in Egypt which was truo of the benelicial 
influence of the British Government in Ceylon. 
He would like just to refer to the response which 
the Sinhalese had made to the influence of good 
and enlightened Government, education, roads, 
the railways, &c. in directions outside those especially 
associated with their immemorial industries. For 
instance, a large number of them took a part in 
the coffee industry as owners of gardens and even 
large plantations ; when coffee fell, they were eager 
many of them about cinchona, caoao and most 
of all tea. The teas sent to the market from Mr. 
De Soysa's plantations — all managed and the teas 
prepared by Sinhalese — had got him quite a name. 
But it was in regard to the great coconut planting 
industry more especially that the natives had 
distinguished themselves by their marvellous ex- 
tension of cultivation. Following European pioneers 
who forty year3 ago began in Negombo, Jaffna, 
and Batticaloa, the natives especially in the 
Western and North- Western provinces had changed 
the face of the land, until now their palm culti- 
vation was nearly equal in importance to that of 
the whole of the other planting industries in the 
island. (" Hear, hear," and applause.) 
Mr. A. M. Fuhguson, after a pause in the dis- 
cussion, said he was very reluctant to appear again, 
but he had omitted to mention one of his most 
important mental notes, and he would like to 
take the liberty of just saying a few words on Mr. 
Wall's omission to notice that the British, with their 
western liberal ideas, went too far in 1830. They 
abolished compulsory labour, — the labour duo to 
the state by tho people, by tho aid of which Sir 
Edward Barnes made that great road which laid 
the foundation of the prosperity of the country. But 
they abolished also the native customs in connection 
with the culture of rice, and in doing so, he believed, 
instead of forwarding the interests of the country 
they threw them back a quarter of a century. They 
had had to hark back in their legislation, and 
help the people to re-enact those rules by which 
compulsory service was exacted by the community 
from the community for its own good. The mistake 
of 1830 was one of their greatest, but it was one 
honourable to them, for it was made in the direction 
of liberality, but it showed how different were the 
conditions of a western community and those of 
people of different pursuits and different ideas, 
in oriental countries. (Applause.) 
The Chaih.man (Sir Noel Walker). — I do not propose 
to make any attempt to traverse the multitudinous 
subjeots which have been touched upon by the lectur- 
er, and by those who have spoken after him, nor do 
I wish to take you from the Emerald Isle to the 
United States and other quarters of the globe to 
which tho native gentleman from Madras has 
introduced us. I have no doubt n hen we have an 
opportunity of studying his remarks, we shall see 
the practical application of them. There is a great 
advantage in seeing oursolves as others see us. 
There are two points in connection with tonight's 
paper and discussion which press tie msolves on my 
attention, and to which I should like to refer. One 
is as to the industry of the people. I, for DM OWTJ 
part, and I think many others have been very 
much iiritated by those theory-mongers who go 
about the world and tell us that if we did this 
i and that \\u might bo a most industrious and 
prosperous people Tho lecture ft for rod to one — 
, I did not oxactly catch who ho was— who pictured 
