626 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Map.ch 1. noi. 
Bition to say, definitively, to vAxon) the land 
belongs. Natives, probably, dig with impunity 
in many cases, on lands to wliich they have neither 
right nor valid title. A cada.stral survey is now 
in progress and when completed — or further ad- 
vanced—all this could he rectified. But many 
years will be required before this is accomplished ! 
— unless indeed the Governor gives orders to 
concentrate and strengthen the survey in the 
" plumbau;o " districts as the most pressing claim 
on official attention. 
But apart from this question of survey, and 
in view of what we iiave said as to the mode 
in which Native Mines in many cases are carried 
on. and still more in view of the gieat diilerence 
between the Mining Laws and conditions prevail- 
ing in India and Ceylon, there is a ca'^e, in our 
opinion, for immediate Enquiry antl Report. A 
Commission ought to be appointed, before the 
European gentlemen who have acquired so much 
unfoi tunate expsrience, leave the Island. Tneir 
evidence as well as that of leailing native mine 
owners and managers, ought to be recorded, and 
could not fail to be valuable to the Government 
as well as to the public; and we sincerely trust 
His Excellency the Governor will take advantage 
ot the opportunity now presented, to arrive at 
a right conclusion in respect of the working of 
the local Industry in Plumbago Mining. 
Finally, we have to noticj a letter on our 
sixth page which may be regarded as, in some 
sense, a warning to the Ceylon Gevernnient. 
But so far as substitutes for "plumbago" (as 
also for "rubber"') go, we do not think much 
need be feared. The risk of discoveries of the 
mineral in other lands must, of course, be faced ; 
but so long as Ceylon can give from 15,000 to 
20,000 tons of its mineral to the world at a fair 
price, we think it should hold its own. Curi- 
ously enough last mail biought us a letter from 
the great American business house of " Joseph 
Dixon Crucible Co," of .lersey City, in which 
while anxious to get information on certain 
points — the request arriving in the nick of time 
to have the answer embodied in our " Hand- 
book and Directory,'' — they say not a word about 
"substitutes" or new "finds" of plumbago. It 
cannot be forgotten that the United States is 
our largest customer for plumbago, its demand 
fiar exceeding that for the United Kingdom. We 
are anxious to compile a reliable list of all the 
principal Plumbago Mines at present open in the 
island and trust to have a due response from 
the owners and managers to whom "forms" 
have been issued. Meantime, we repeat, the 
time is ripe for an Official Enquiry by Com- 
mission into the working of Ceylon Plumbago 
Mines, into the nature and eSecb of local 
Mining Laws as compared with those of India 
and as to how " prospecting licenses " can be 
more freely and promptly granted. 
CEYLON PLUMBAGO CRISIS. 
IMPORTANT LETTER FROM THE MANA- 
GING DIRECTOR OF THE MORGAN 
CRUCIBLE COMPANY. 
SUBSTITUTE ALBKA.DY FOUND IN AMERICA. — 
TIIKEATBNKD REVOLUTION OF THE TRADE. 
Sir, — I have read your* articles on Ceylon's 
mining laws and mineral wealth with great in- 
terest, and feel that you have rendered a great 
public service in calling attentiori to this sub- 
* A local daily paper. 
ject, ^yllich is of such vital importance to Ceylon 
1 consider, Sir, that such serious economic ques- 
tions should be discussed in an absolutely calm 
and philosophic manner and free from anything 
approaching per.<onality. I do not, therefore, en- 
dorse your strong strictures on local authorities 
as I bel ieve that the oHicial apathy and opposi- 
tion is due, not so much to any wish to dis- 
courage the industry, as to an entire want of appre- 
ciation of the risks and cost of prospecting and 
mining operations, which is, peihaps natural 
in a Colony whose principal industry is, planting. 
It is obvious to anyone that in clearing jungle 
aid growing tea, for example, the planter must 
spend his capital, and the approximate cost per 
acre can easily be calculated— vdiat he does is 
ea.sily recognised. The work of the prospector 
too frequently leaves nothing to show lor itself, 
and the mining laws now in force in the island 
are evidence that it is neither understood nor 
appreciated by Government. 
It is well-known that more gold is pat into 
the ground than ever conies out of it as the 
rare regard of the successful prospector. What 
is difficult to make clear is the cost of even 
superficial prospecting in a country like Ceylon, 
where heat, jungle-fever, etc., are serious factors! 
Even if, at last, some indications of that most 
"chancy" mineral, plumbago, are found, expense 
on a far larger scale must be incurred to prove 
in nine cases out of ten, that it is one that will 
not pay to mine. The Government have dealt 
with the subject more as if they had well de- 
fined and accurately-located coal measures which 
they wished opened up by private capital than 
jungle land in which, possibly, one acre in ten 
thousand may contain some deposit of plumbago 
that would pay to mine. 
In your first article and at the end of your fourth 
you allude to the fact that users of' plumbago 
may be forced to find some cheaper substitute. ' 
On this point, perhaps, I can give you alii tie 
information. In a great measure this is a." fait 
accompli" in that they are learning to do with- 
out Ceylo7i plumbago. A great many trades aie 
Ceylon's customers for plumbago. One of her 
best is the American manufacture of crucible steel. 
[The Sheffield industry has never used plumbago 
crucibles for this purpose.] I am well within the 
mark in putting down this customer for 3,000 
tons a year. Just before leaving England l' re- 
ceived a letter from America, from one who is 
in a position to know accurately the course of 
trade there, telling me that recent enormous 
prices had set the biggest people to work to do 
without plumbago, and that the result was a 
complete success and would revolutionise American 
consumption of plumbago. Another large cus^ 
tomer of Ceylon is manufactured stove polish— 
a customer extremely useful as it takes the in- 
evitably produced and otherwise unmarketable 
common dust. 
Just before leaving England, again, I saw, for 
the first time, Chinese plumbago of a new char-' 
acter, and was informed that 1,000 tons of this 
were imported into the United States last yea-- 
and tests show that it will be equally appreci- 
ated in England. 
The enormous rise in plumbago pri^xs in 1899- 
1900 has been regarded in the light of a blessing 
to Ceylon, and as a subject for congratulation 
by Government, native pit-owners, and owners 
of estates. But if more were known of the 
course of trade hitherto dependent on C«yloa 
