August  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
1 19 
money  the  cardamoms  letoh.  The  Government  defrays 
all  expenses  of  transport  and  sale,  and  takes  three- 
fifths  of  tho  proceeds  of  sale,  paying  two-fifths  only 
to  the  ryots.  This  may  seem  very  little,  but  when  it 
is  considered  that  the  ryots  (exo'-pt  during  the  first 
year)  do  exactly  one  week’s  work  in  the  year  for  it,  and 
make  no  mouey  payments  whatever  in  the  way  of 
pnrohase  of  land,  seed,  taxes,  or  for  watchmen,  and 
transport  of  their  produce  to  the  ooast,  it  appears  at 
once  that  their  two-fifths  of  tho  gross  proceeds  of 
sale  is  a comparatively  large  share. 
The  sirkar  keeps  a staff  of  guards  and  watchmen 
at  eaoh  pass  on  the  hills  all  along  the  British  boun- 
dary, and  a preventive  and  detective  staff  in  the  low 
country,  besides  a European  superintendent  and  assis- 
tant superintendent,  with  their  offioe  establishments, 
and  several  zamindars  and  subordinate  officials,  the 
salaries  of  all  of  whom  are  charged  to  the  car- 
damom department.  As  a matter  of  fact,  last  year, 
with  an  exceptionally  good  crop,  the  sirkar  only  made 
a profit  of  50,000  rupees  out  of  the  whole  monopoly. 
The  average  yield  of  cardamom  gardens,  ill-treated 
and  neglected  ns  they  are  by  tne  ryots,  is  only  one 
thulam  (about  18  lb.)  per  acre.  The  price  fetohed  in 
Alleppey  is  about  20rupoes  a thulam,  of  which  the  ryot 
gets  8 rnpee3 ; that  is  to  say,  he  gets  8 rupees  an 
acre  per  annum,  and  I doubt  if  he  spends  1 rupee 
per  acre.  The  size  of  a garden  averages  20  sores. — 
Oil , Paint  and  Drug  Reporter. 
PLANTERS’  ADVANCES  TO  COOLIES. 
In  another  column  of  today’s  issue  we  publish  a 
petition  to  the  Government  of  India  on  that  much 
vexed  question  of  planters’  advances  to  coolies,  which 
has  been  drawn  up  by  the  Wynaad  Planters’  Associa- 
tion. It  is  based  entirely  on  the  expressed  opinion 
of  Government  servants  who  have  had  to  deal  with 
that  particular  District.  The  petition  begins  by  re- 
citing an  unfufilled  promise  made  to  the  planters  by 
the  Madras  Government  in  1877.  It  then  cites  the  opi- 
nion of  two  of  the  Collectors  of  Malabar  as  to  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  Act  XIII  of  1859,  which  opinion  is 
backed  up  by  a large  majority  of  other  Magistrates 
who  were  consulted  in  1884  and  whose  opinions  are 
recorded  in  G.  O.  1911,  1884.  It  then  goes  on  to 
point  out  very  clearly  the  grievances  under 
which  planters  are  suffering ; but  these  per- 
haps are  still  better  illustrated  by  the  actual 
experience  of  an  individual.  Iu  Maroh,  1890, 
a planter  in  South  Wynaad  who  had  been  opening 
new  land  to  a considerable  extent  and  required  an 
increased  supply  of  labour,  advanced  the  sum  of 
Rl,100  to  nine  different  contractors  in  sums  varying 
from  R100  to  R200  each.  The  contractors  (chiefly 
Tamils  from  the  Coimbatore  District)  all  came  with 
good  testimonials.  They  contracted  among  themto  bring 
in  295  coolies  by  the  1st  of  June.  It  was  a season  of 
great  sickness  during  April  and  May  owiDg  to  influenza. 
By  the  1st  of  June,  though  labour  was  then  a matter 
of  absolute  importance  to  clearings,  no  coolies  had 
come  in,  no  maistries  had  arrived,  and  no  excuses  had 
been  sent  for  their  non-appearance.  The  work  had 
to  be  done,  and  contractors  from  the  Malabar  Ooast 
were  employed  at  a very  much  increased  rate.  By 
the  1st  of  July  the  whole  gang,  that  was  ever 
forthcoming,  had  arrived,  i.e.,  four  for  tho  con- 
tracting maistries  with  twenty-three  coolies ! 
The  planter  was  at  first  loth  to  prosecute  the  five 
defaulters  because  he  hoped  that  when  the  worst  of 
the  S.  W,  monsoon  was  over  they  would  begin  to  come 
in.  At  last  in  September  he  went  into  oonrt  and  laid 
a complaint  under  the  Aot  against  the  maistries. 
Although  every  detail  as  to  the  men’s  parentage, 
village  and  taluqs  was  given,  the  planter  wbb  informed 
that  he  must  send  his  own  men  to  identify  the 
defaulters.  After  considerable  trouble  he  found  two 
Tamil  coolies  who  lived  at  the  same  village  as  one  of 
the  defaulters,  and  who  reluctantly  agreed  to  go 
with  the  warrant  and  identify  the  man.  They  were 
given  R10  between  them  to  cover  their  railway  fares 
and  other  expenses.  At  the  end  of  a week  they  re- 
turned saying  that  they  had  been  robbed  of  the  RIO  on 
the  road  to  Oaliout  aud  asked  for  a further  sum  of 
money.  But  the  planter  thought  that  this  method  of 
arrest  would  soon  become  too  costly  and  de- 
clined to  send  them  again.  The  warrants  were 
consequently  seot  to  the  Magistrate  nearest  to  the 
defaulter’s  village,  and  in  the  course  of  fifteen  days 
were  returned  to  the  Vayitri  Sab-Magistrate  unserved. 
The  Act  makes  the  defaulter’s  offence  criminal, 
but  the  warrant  of  arrest  holds  goad  for  only  the 
term  of  contrnot,  although  under  the  Penal  Code  the 
werrant  for  the  apprehension  of  a criminal  never 
expires.  As  a matter  of  fact,  only  one  of  the  default- 
ing maistries  was  ever  arrested,  and  he  came  to  be 
arrestod  because  hs  felt  so  secure  from  punishment 
that  he  actually  took  work  on  a neighbouring  estate. 
He  was  brought  up  before  the  Vajitri  Sub-Magist- 
rate and  was  ordered  by  the  Court  to  bring  big 
contract  number  of  coolies  on  to  the  estate 
within  ten  days,  and  was  warned  that  unless 
ha  did  so,  he  would  be  given  three  months 
hard  labour.  He  was  then  dismissed  to  col- 
lect his  coolies  without  any  Bort  of  secu- 
rity or  guarantee  as  to  his  re-sppesrance, 
and  it  is  needless  to  say  he  was  never 
seen  again.  To  sum  up ; the  planter  in 
question  lost  the  bulk  of  his  Rl, 100,  had  constant  rides 
to  and  from  the  Magistrate’s  Ontoherry  some  13  miles 
from  his  estate,  paid  fresh  fees  every  time  he  had  the 
warraut  for  arrest  renewed,  and  got  absolutely  no 
redress.  This  no  doubt  is  an  exceptional  instance  so 
far  as  the  amount  lost  by  one  planter  in  one  year  is 
concerned;  but  it  is  an  instanoe  of  what  is  constantly 
occurring  on  a smaller  scale  all  over  the  planting  dis- 
tricts. And  it  is  not  only  the  planters  themselves  who 
suffer;  the  contracting  maistries  suffer  to  an  even  greater 
extent  from  absconding  coolies.  The  Sub-Magistrates  who 
have  to  deal  with  cases  under  the  Act  recognise  the 
injustice  done  to  the  planter,  but  confess  their  in- 
ability to  asist  them  owing  to  the  interpretations 
put  on  the  Act  by  the  High  Court.  The  higher 
Magistrates,  when  appealed  to,  also  admit  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  Act.  The  law  advisers  to  Govern- 
ment and  the  Judges  of  the  High  Court,  when  ap- 
pealed to,  give  conflicting  opinions  as  to  what  may 
or  may  not  be  done  under  tho  Act ; and  in  the 
meantime  the  planter  and  the  contractor  are  with- 
out any  legal  protection  from  defaulters,  notwith- 
standing the  promises  given  by  the  Madras  Govern- 
ment  fifteen  years  ago.  We  sinoerely  hope  that 
this  petition,  signed  as  it  is  by  all  Southern  India 
planting  Districts,  will  stir  the  Government  of  India 
into  giving  the  matter  its  'most  serious  attention,— 
Madras  Mail , June  23. 
■ The  Prospects  op  Tobacco  Cultivation  in  Suma- 
tra; Ruin  and  Disaster  Threatened Says  our 
correspondent  in  a letter  which  has  only  reached  us 
this  morning  ; — “ A great  oalamity  is  threatening 
the  cultivation  of  tobacoo  in  Deli,  by  a peouliar 
disease  in  the  nursery  beds,  whioh  painfully 
reminds  one  of  the  fearful  ravages  of  the 
Phylloxera.  Half  the  estates  in  Delhi  and  several 
in  Langkat  and  Serdang  are  infeoted,  and  a failure 
of  the  crop  may  now  already  be  foreseen,  unless 
radical  means  are  immediately  found  to  prevent 
a further  spread  of  the  disease,  whioh  is  so  swift 
iu  its  ravages  that  in  a very  short  time  the  whole 
country  may  be  totally  devastated.  The  disease  made 
its  first  appearanoe  a few  years  ago  on  a oouple 
of  estates,  and  it  has  assumed  most  gigantic  strides 
since  last  year.  It  has  been  found  necessary  to 
throw  away  hundreds  of  cartloads  of  the  young 
plants  which  are  totally  unfit  for  transplanting.  The 
effeot  this  visitation  will  have  on  the  tobacco  market 
in  Europe  can  soarcely  be  realised.”  Bad  as  the 
outlook  thus  foreshadowed  appears,  there  is  still 
the  hope  that  the  danger  may  be  averted,  by  the 
disease  being  stamped  out,— Straits  Independent, 
June  11. 
