THE TEOPiCAL AGillCULTtJRIST. [Nov. 1, 1902. 
COOLY TIN TICKETS. 
■ [The following correspondence has been sent us 
for publication. — Ed. T.A.j 
My dear T.— The enclosed remark?, with refer- 
ence to tin tickets, writen by the G.A., Western 
Province, may be of interest to you : — 
"The objections that are raised in some quarters 
to tin tickets being required at all times in order to 
secure cooly rates appear to me somewhat unreason- 
able. I do not think it can be disputed that the 
eeitificate system at present in force is greatly 
abused, and that a number of persons travel under 
the certificate at cooly rates who are not bona fide 
coolies. I do not mean to suggest that planters 
wilfully grant certificates to persons who are 
not entitled to them; but I think that it is 
not an uncommon practice to give a certificate 
to a kangany without know-ing who will travel 
by it. The lestriction of cooly rates to gangs of 
six and upwards has probably greatly contri- 
buted to this abuse of the system. If tin tickets 
are, as is proposed, accepted as proof of the status 
of an estate labourer, such restriction will no 
longer be necessary, A single cooly may travel 
at cooly rates on production of his tin ticket and 
certificate. As regards the legal point, the ordi- 
nance specifies no form of certificate, nor is the 
Kailway authority reqniied to accept such certifi- 
cate if he has any doubt as to the status of any 
alleged cooly labourer. It may be said that tin 
tickets may be in the satne way misused by kan- 
ganies, but the new form of certificate renders this 
unlikely, and it is hoped that no planter will 
issue a tin ticket to a person who is not a bona 
fide cooly The new form of certificate entails a 
a little additional trouble, but on the other 
hand, combined with the tin ticket system, it 
tenders desertion and crimping far more difficult 
and easier of detection. Undoubtedly employers 
Of labour who are ready to take any coolies 
they can get without asking questions will op- 
pose the system in its entirety, but I hope that in a 
ishort time the number of unregistered estates will 
be very small and that the transfer of coolies 
between estates will be greatly simplified by the 
adoption of the tin ticket system." 
The tickets are E2'50 a hundred .—Yours sin- 
cerely, ' A. C. KiNGSFOKD. 
Kookwood, Hewaheta, 26th Sept. 1902. 
Sir, — With reference to your letter of the 22nd 
July, 19J2, I am directed to inform you that the 
restriction imposed by the Government Agent, 
Western Province, was imposed by him not as 
Government Agent, but as the originator of the tin 
ticket scheme and to state that the question of the 
restriction is under consideration and awaits the 
receipt of a further communicat;ion from the 
Planters' Association of Ceylon, — t am, &c., 
(Signedi A. G Clayton, 
for Colonial Secretary. 
Colonial Secretary's Office, Colonibe, 29th Sept. 
1902. . yi/ui^ 
' I - ; . 
TEA IN JAVA. 
Mr. L. A. Wright, of Maskeliya, who has 
just returned from Java — where he and other 
members of his family own property in tea, 
cinchona and coffee — lias a favourable account 
to give of tea, notwithstanding the low prices. 
The rich Java soil gives a better 
yield per acre by, perhaps, 25 per cent 
ibaa . CeyloQ ; the labouv is cheap and 
reliable, and planters are taking to all the 
modem improved machinery. He also mentioned 
to a representative of our contemporary that the 
telephone is in universal use, nearly all estates 
and bungalows being connected, 
♦ ■ 
PLANTING NOTES. 
The Deane Judge Strainer— so success- 
fully tried in Calcutta the other day, is to 
be still further improved by the principal 
parts being made in steel in England. 
Meantime there is another " Riclimond in 
the field" in C;ilcutta— a Ceylon-made 
Machine of which four have been already 
ordered, and a trial of which may - be re- 
ported any day now. 
The Cholera Microbe in Well Water.— 
The Madras Government has approved of the sug- 
gestion of the Sanitary Commissioner (Madras) 
that District Medical and Sanitary Officers be 
requested to send to him specimens of well or 
other water believed to be contaminated with the 
cholera microbe before they add permanganate of 
potash, and another specimen twelve hours after 
having done so. The purpose of the investiga- 
tion is to ascertain what is the actual result of 
using permanganate of potash under the methods 
at present pursued.— Pioweer, Oct. 10, 
Bamboo for Pulp. —The Collector of Customs at 
Trinidad reports that enquiries have been nrade of 
the Government of Trinidad respecting the pos- 
sibility of obtaining bamboo in quantities large 
enough to warrant the establishment of a fac- 
tory in the Calony for the prodiietion of pulp. 
At present immense areas in Trinidad are occupied 
by the bamboo, and these could be almost indefi- 
nitely increased if tlie plant were in demand. 
There is no doubt whatever that if a factory 
were established in our near Port of Spain a 
practically unlimited supply could be obtained 
within a radius of five or six miles — Board of 
Trade Journal for September. 
A Dry Cycle!— All over th6 world there 
has been scarcity of rainfall and the Nile is 
expected to be lower than within living me- 
mory : but fortunately the Assiout Barrage 
was closed early, is expected to save the agri- 
culturists of tipper Egypt. According to 
one of the London correspondents in Caii*o 
Egypt will be repaid the cost of the Assiout 
Barrage in the first year of its existence — 
a marvellous testimony to the value of Gov- 
ernment enterprise and of wise expenditure 
on reproductive works. From the London 
Speaker we quote: — "It is perhaps not too 
much to say thatthroughout the world the rain- 
fall during the last five years has been below 
the average. In many of the southern dis- 
tricts of ISngland, for example, old springs 
have dried up, and it has been necessary to 
sink wells deeper. In India, as everyone knows, 
the famines have been abnormal, and Austra- 
lia has suffered terribly from drought. It is 
to be feared that the rains reported during 
the last few weeks in Australia are partial, 
and in many districts insufficient to restore 
prosperity ; but happily the danger of any 
renewal of the famine in the Bombay Presi. 
dency of ladia has been altogether diepelledj 
