Maech ], 1901.j THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
625 
PLUMBAGO : 
CEYLON'S ONLY MINERAL OF COMMER- 
CIAL IPORTANCE. 
We lenvn with much reereC that the Morgans 
Crucible Company — represented here by Mr. R. 
C. Fielding —have decided, after much considei- 
ation, to give up mining for plumbago in Ceylon, 
since neither thi laws nor the conditions seem to 
them to offer any inducement for the investment of 
capital in the industry. This would be a matter de- 
demanding the serious attention ot Governnaent, 
were it not for the undeniable fact that native 
capitalists seem to prijsper and to multiply as mi- 
ners, under the same laws and conditions as are 
deemed so inimical by the great Battersea house, 
so long identitled with the purchase and utilis- 
ation of Ceylon plumbago. Have we not here 
another illustration of the fact that there are 
certain trades and industries in this tropical 
island in which Europeans are unable to com- 
pete with the natives ? It used to be an axiom 
in the Fort, during the " seventies ' and "eigh- 
ties," that no European merchant could success- 
fully compete with the Chetties in the importation 
and sale of rice. The most notable attempt to 
develop a rice trade was by C. Shand & Co. 
who had, for several years, a special Agent (as 
lirewed a Scot as ever did business) stationed at 
Chittagong to buy rice at first hand, and ship 
it to Colombo ; but after a time, the agency was 
not found to be profitable and had to be aban- 
doned. The spell has been broken within the 
past few years by the advent of Calcutta experts 
in the trade, and here we may speak of an ex- 
ception to the rule of the previous decade. But 
again, in regard to "gemming" and Mining for 
Gems. Europeans have on several occasions en- 
tered the field, operating through Syndicates and 
Limited Companies ; but so far without success. 
And now it would appear as if Plumbago min- 
ing were to be added to the failures; for, cer- 
tainly, no Company or Association in the world 
•ould have entered the local field with a greater 
backing of capital, authority and experience of 
the mineral sought for, than that represented 
by Mr. Fielding. At the same time it cannot 
be forgotten that our plumbago industry has been 
one of considerable and growing importance for 
the past fifty, sixty and well-nigh seventy years, 
though the mining was confined entirely to na- 
tive hands. So far back as 1836, the export of 
plumbago was 12,644 cwt. ; in 1846 (with many 
fluctuations in the interval, down to 423 cwt. in 
1839) it was 25,037 cwt; in 1857 (again with ex- 
traordinary fluctuations between) it stood at 33,497 
cwt. : in 1869 there was an enormous increase 
to 226,131 cwt. which was only exceeded in 1881- 
2-3- when 262,714 cwt. was reached in the last- 
mentioned year. Since then, the average annual 
export for the five years ending with 1888 was 
216,472 cwt., rising in the quinquennial period 
ending with 1893 to 408 418 cwt. ; while for the 
next four years the Export was veiy steady at 
between 335,000 and 357,000 cwt. Then in 1898 
came a rise to 473,000 cwt. and in 1899 to the 
exceptional maximum of 618,000 cwt. — falling last 
year to 383,000 cwt. Now, until about five or six 
years ago, when the late Mr. C. Tottenham — 
with the remarkable prescience for which he was 
distinguished — interested himself in plumbago 
mining and finally got out Captain Tregay, as 
a practical Cornish Mining Engineer, to develop 
the mine on his Monerakande property,— it can- 
not be>aidj-;thafc Euiopeaus took any practical 
share or much iuteiest in the industry. We have, 
therefore, a purely native plumbago rninin"- in- 
dustry which has built up an export of over 400,000 
cwt. (it was 427,0j0 cwt. in 1892; with practically 
no extraneous help and which may, therefore, be 
sujjposed to be equal to ilia present trade, if not 
the actual requirements ot the European and 
American markets. All this must be taken into 
account in dealiug with the question as it now 
stands, as well as the fact ot the wichdrawal 
of the great Battersea Company after little 
more than three years' mining experience. 
On the other hand, no civilized, progressive 
Government can, content itself with the' actual 
results we have shown, without taking into ac- 
coHut the means by which they were produced. 
Until of late years, the working of Plumbago 
Mines in Ceylon was a disgrace to the British 
Government. There was no inspection, or care 
for the manner in which the lives of the labourers 
were endangered, and, if all accounts were true, 
no reports or enquiries were made in reference 
to numerous casualties. Even uow that we have 
Inspectors, we have statements reaching us that 
many of the employees in the pits are little 
better than slaves, are badly treated and badly 
paid, and are allowed or encourasjed to become 
demoralised by constant arrack-drinking — an illi- 
cit trade (not in the sense of cheating the Go- 
vernment, but of breaking the law) being de- 
veloped round nearly every large mine or group 
©f plumbago pits. Then again, it is alleged that 
a great deal of plumbago is illegally dug, and that 
bribery and corruption prevail to a large ex- 
tent in certain native districts in connection with 
the mining. Of course, while failures of Euro- 
peans to make plumbago or gem mining (or even 
a rice trade) profitable, are notorious, one scarcely 
ever hears of th.e many native pioneers or capital- 
ists who may have gone under, and whose non- 
success may possibly be due to causes which 
ought to be lemoved by a wise Government. A.nd 
now we may consider the list ef " obstacles," 
put forward by our evening contemporary, en- 
countered by a European Plumbago-jnining Com- 
pany as doubtless experienced by Mr. Fielding 
and his principals. These are: — 
(1) No owners of lands ( whether natives of Euro- 
peans) that have ever been transferred from the 
Crown have any title to the minerals on them, accor- 
ding to the position now taken up by the Government. 
(2) A good title to native-owned land, whether 
originally transferred from the Crown, or uot, is 
practically impossible to find. 
(3) The present mining rules do not offer a fair 
inducement to prospect and mine Crown lands. 
(•i) The delays in granting prospecting licensas, 
even after payment o£ the large deposit (Rl,000) 
demanded by Government, forms a separate and 
moat serious obstacle. 
Practically therefore, the opening un of mines 
i? barred in all directions under existing circum- 
st aces in Ceylon. 
til contrast with these "obstacles " we are told 
of the much more favourable terms and condi- 
tions which prevail in India.* One great differenca 
— and the difficulty which lies at the foutidation 
of most of the " obstacles " above specified — ^is 
the absence of a " cadastral survey " in Ceyloh 
Good titles cannot be got to much " plumbago " 
land, because the Crown is not as yet in a pa- 
* The Indian liliniDg Law is generally condemned 
by the Indian and English trade papers. 
