834 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [JCne t, 1894. 
in a morning ; for wbiob they are paid good (at 
fees, I think it about time for Proprietors to give 
heed to the Indian system of District Superintend- 
ents, as infinitely more efficient and oaloulated to 
pioduoe much better results so far as the pro- 
prietor's pooket is oonoerned. The District Super- 
intendent in India is a planter of great experience 
in his district. He takes the place of the Oeylon 
Visiting Agent and by his intimate knowledge of 
the vork in that district, is of immense help to 
the Managers he advises aod as the gardens he 
supervises are all near his headquarters, " very 
little ef his time is wasted on the road" and when 
any Manager is in doubt or diOiouIty, he can get 
the advise or assistance he requires at once. There 
can be no comparison in the ioevitable results of 
the two systems. 
Take Bakwana for instance as a good rximple 
of waste of time in this matter. 
About half-a-dozeu diSereat V. A's used to go to 
this district, mostly Tisiticg one or two estates ; 
time — going 2 days, coming 2 days, say 6 Tisiting 
agents, 4 times a year — " 96 days on the'^road," 
when one good District Superintendent woufd have 
saved all this time, and done the work more 
efiSoiently. 
Then as to Superintendents in India the men 
are paid to leoompense them for hard work in a 
tropical climate ; in Ceylon they seem in many 
oases to be paid to exist, and it is a notorious 
fact that while Ceylon is producing heavy profits 
for the benefit of its proprietors, large numbers 
of Managers are so badly paid, that they have no 
chance of taking a trip home to recruit their 
health, the salary only beiog sufficient to live on. 
In the name of all that ia just and honest the 
Superintendent by whose energy and care the 
fortune of the Proprietor is being amassed, is 
surely entitled to a percentage on the profits, 
which are very large in many cases. 
When profits a few years ago went down till 
they reached the vanishing point, the Managers of 
Oeylon estates allowed their salaries to be cut down 
ruthlessly, and indeed I could point out instances 
where Superintendents in their sympathy for the 
straitened circumstances of the Proprietors, of 
the gardens they managed, " reduced their own 
salaries ;" and so far as I can learn, such kind- 
ness has been badly requited. 
No doubt the tact that many gardens are 
managed through Colombo Agents now-a-days, 
and the Superintendents are iinknown to the 
Proprietors, unless it be as working machines 
partly aooouuts for this, but give me back the 
days of old, when the kindly Proprietor used 
personally to acknowledge his obligations to his 
Manager, and the Christmas cheque or present 
of stores was common. It we oan't get this, let 
Us have the " mechanical equivalent" (although 
I trow a little "personal" interest in the 
Manager, would well repay itself) by which I 
mean a division of profits, say 5 per cent or more 
to the employees and it will give them something 
to look forward to, in old age other than being 
a burden to their relatives which is certainly 
the destiny of many Managers now in the 
Island unless some means are adopted for 
improving their prospects. We oome now to 
that class known as " Oreepers." Of all ths 
frauds perpetrated on a community whose 
ranks are already far overstocked wi h labour, the 
introduction of the Creeper is the greatest. If the 
facta were clearly stated at home — (1) that in the 
island there are numbers of men out of billets, and 
in temporary ones who will thankfully accept any 
pay almost ; (2) that the climate in many paits 
g| tb9 iBiand at jeaet, is fajf Um bealthy ; (3) 
that that wonderful elephant shooting and other 
sport we have all heard about are only for the 
wealthy and are not participated in by one in 
twenty planters as they have neither the time nor 
means to indulge in Ihem ; (4) tbat (or each 
billet going of Bl, 000 and upwards there are often 
more than 100 applicants ; (6) that the average 
planter of 10 years' ecrvice is cot drawing B3,500 
or say £200 a year stg., and lastly that n nnmber 
uf Creepers when they have seen the actual elate 
of sfiairs have left the country and their pre- 
miums behind them in the hands of their leaobers 
greatly to the discredit of the latter in my opinion. I 
say if these facts were known wc would see a whole- 
some reduction in the arrivals of those unfortunate 
young fellows whose future is pitiable. From 
the social poiot of view I strongly object to have 
the country filled with useless ne'er-do-wells of the 
class of Mr. Sinclair who now is (or was ) doing 
hard labour in Australia, or Oordon in Madras 
recently convicted of forgery, now in jail even if my 
neighbour Jones imBginee he has a divine ligbt 
by misreproeentations, to make a handsome incomei 
out of them, by charging them firBt an ezcrbitant 
premium, and tiien equally exorbitant boarding ftee, 
for badly cooked food. No, sir ! Oeylon is taking 
to a species of babyfarming of the woret type, 
and parents desirous of getting rid of utterly bad 
grown up babies, launch them on the Ceylon 
community, (which so far has not resented it) by 
paying one of the Babytarmers i;lOO to £2&0 lo 
take them over. 
N. B. — Some of thosa babyfarmers have added 
substantially to their incomes by carefully piayiiig 
nap, poker and a few equally innocent games with 
their "oreeperp," (parents take note.) In my remarks 
on oreepers I want it to ha clearly under- 
stood that it is the class of useleEb " girafia 
necked chappies " who bre brought here in most 
cases by false pretences, that I object. Thank God, 
there are a lot of fine young fellows coming to 
Ceylon from time to time, who will make the 
future bone and sinew of our planting community 
" and who are being discredited by the neer-do- wells 
imported along side of them." 
In India the Proprietor as a rule sends out the 
young fellow under agreement.and pays him sufficient 
to cover his food and clothes at once, generally 
B2,000 to begin with, hoping after he becomes 
ePioient to get good returne for hia money from the 
well paid servicea of the youth. In Ceylon, Creepers 
are as a rule imported under false pretences after 
paying a heavy premium, and the objrc'. of the 
importer is to get rid of him as soon as ha can 
to make room for another " premium '' with an 
equally unfortunate youth attached to it. Which 
is the better system think yon? ? !— the Oeylon or 
Indian ? 
We now come to the question of machinery 
and buildings in Osylcn as compared with India. 
In Ceylon in addition to the many ordinary 
duties of the Superintendent he is expected to be 
Archireot, Builder and Engineer, all rolled into one 
with the result that unless he has had previous 
training, the buildiogs cost far more than ia 
ueoessary, and are built either copies of other 
buildings near, or often of a type quite unsuit- 
able for the work ; aud still more frequently 
with bad material in them especially bad sorts 
of timber and before many years are over Proprietors 
in Oeylon will learn their mistake practically by 
expensive renewals, in their buildings that would 
not have occurred if they had employed a 
oompstent Engineer to supervise the work. 
I recently saw the end of a 5 -year old 
store : weather-boards, &o. falling down bodily 
all trotten, made of MaUbodde, Etiheraliya 
