3H 
THli TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. i, 1894. 
wo largely used in soap and candle making, and 
as a lubricant— and of this no less than 551,005 
cwt. were shipped in 1892. Last year the 
tpaantity was less — crops of nuts are often 
alternately big and smaller, according to season, 
although in another new preparation, "desic- 
cated coconut " (used largely in "confectionery," 
and an export only begun a few years ago), 
the increase is nearly 100 per cent, on the 
previous year. It will be of interest to 
show the whole of the Ceylon exports for 1893 
derived from the coconut palm alone : — 
cwt. 
Coconut oil ... ... ... 389,712 
Copra (dried kernel) ... ... 44,923 
Poonac (kernel after extracting oi 1 ) 1 88.. "338 
lb. 
Desiccated coconut ... ... 6,414,908 
Number 
Coconuts ... ... ... 11,079,028 
Coir (fibre prepared) cwt. 
rope ... ... ... 7,819 
yarn ... ... ... 84,831 
„ fibre ... ... ... 56,401 
This represents a very huge native industry, 
not only in attending to the gardens and har- 
vesting the nuts, but in the work of preparing 
most of the above products, and more especially 
the oil and fibre. For desiccating the coconut 
special mills have been erected within the nasi few 
years, but there is a danger of the trade being 
Overdone if pressed on too rapidly. 
Coffee production in Ceylon is no longer worthy 
of mention, though renewed attention in several 
districts is being given to the Liberian variety, 
which can be readily associated with the cultiva- 
tion of cacao (the chocolate plant). The better 
species of rubber are also being experimented 
with. For rice, Ceylon — essentially a leaf and 
fruit, and especially palm-growing country — 
continues to ne largely dependent on India, 
and there is no sign of diminution in the im- 
ports made from the rich alluvial plains of Ben- 
gal and Burma. 
As much as 27,000,000r. a year are paid to 
India for food grains, but largely to meet the 
wants of immigrant coolies from Southern India 
on the plantations and of the people in the towns. 
Last year, more than once, scarcity and conse- 
quent dearness of rice were experienced in Co- 
lombo, and there was a great deal of grumbling, 
more especially as one of the anomalies of our 
liscal system at present is the existence of an 
import Customs duty on grain, without a 
counterbalancing excise on land levies. The 
Sinhalese in towns and villages had thus levies 
at the Customs as well as from town boards, 
which their country neighbours entirely escape. 
But, to turn to rise production, the hope of 
Ceylon ever growing enough for its own wants 
lies in the utilisation of the vast tracts of un- 
occupied land in the northern and north-central 
parts of the island by the restoration of the 
old irrigation tanks This work, begun by Gov- 
ernor Sir William Gregory and steadily pursued 
by Sir Arthur Gordon, has been necessarily 
checked by the abolition of the rice-land levy 
(paddy tax), from which, indirectly, their big- 
tank funds came. If it were possible for the 
Indian and Ceylon authorities to co-operate in 
providing irrigation and colonising the region re- 
ferred to, the good results to both countries 
would be very manifest. In Southern India 
we have an overflowing population, very 
often on the verge of famine for a large number. 
The rice-grooving country is fully taken up 
there. In North-Central Ceylon there in un- 
oc.'Upie 1 country —once the home of ■ numerous 
population — ready to be turned into fertility by 
an industrious Tamil population, if only* the 
Governments restored the reaetyoin of water 
anciently constructed. One indispensable con- 
dition, however, is to get the people readily 
transferred ; and a proposal now maturing 
in London, under high engineering authority, 
for and Indo-Ceylon Railway, seems to offer 
the means required. This project is promoted 
by Sir George Bruce, formerly of the 
South of India Railways, and .Mr. W. M. 
Shelford, M~Inst.CE., and they design to con- 
tinue the Indian Railway (on the metre gauge) 
from Madura to I'aumben, cross by a screw • 
pile viaduct, and enter Ceylon by Manaar. If 
such a metre-gauge line were prolonged thence 
via the wertern coast to Colombo, there would 
be no interference with the broad-gauge railway 
system of the Ceylon Government ; there would 
be a very profitable as well a- through traffic : 
and the branch lines front Manaar to Auradha 
pura, Jaffna, and Trincomalee— pawing through the 
unoccupied country I spoke of could lie afterwards 
arranged. If this were done the hmurl gangf 
system could be confined to the south and centre 
of the island, there being several advisable ex tension* 
in these divisions which w ill probably be enough to 
occupy the Government for some yeais. 
An Indo-Ceylon railway, connecting Southern 
India with the splendid Colombo harbour — 
designed by the genius of the late Sir John Coode 
— is a work of Imperial importance, apart from 
its great local usefulness to Ceylon and Southern 
India. It would render Colombo more than ever 
the commercial capital for a considerable portion 
of the Madias Presidency. Already it* central 
and controlling position in respect of mail 
steamers is fully recognised, so tnat onr Post- 
master-General is frequently applied to for informa- 
tion in respect of the despatch of mails from Colombo 
to various ports, including Rangoon, by the 
business community of Madias. Among* other 
public works sanctioned during the time of our 
present Governor, Sir Arthur Havelock, is a 
new and extensive structure in a centra) and 
prominent position, as the-General Post Office of the 
Colony, serving for the twin postal-telegraph 
department. This will be a credit to a city that 
is now recognised as the great meeting port of 
mails and passengers, and of much traffic in 
Eastern seas. The Governor is no less interested 
in completing the harbour works, protection from 
the North and North-West being still requisite, 
and breakwaters for this purpose are to l>e l>egun 
at once under the guidance of Messrs. Code, Son 
and Matthews. The complete harbour will then 
have an area of 660 acres, with ample depth for 
the largest vessel afloat or that can be build, 
and Colombo will be one of the safest and most 
convenient ports in the world. All that will 
then remain to make it complete will be a good 
graving dock, and if the Admiralty gave some 
encouragement — there are several reasons why. in 
a year or two, Colombo should supersede Trin- 
comalee as naval headquarters for the East India 
station — the dock would also be speedily con- 
structed. 
I am bound to confess that a good deal will 
have to be done to improve our port manage- 
ment and along-shore arrangements, as well "as 
Customs tariff, before Colombo can hope to rival 
Bombay or Singapore. The establishment of a 
Port Trust, such as is found at all the Presi- 
dency ports of India, would be the very best 
means of securing the improved management 
