May I, 1903.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
771 
We would draw the attention of tlie commission 
to the Mauritius Ordinance for the suppression of 
Vanilla theft which is on the same lines as our 
Cinchona Ordinance. 
Also to the Grenada Ordinance, for the suppres- 
sion of Cocoa and Nutmeg theft and the Tinier.d- 
raents to the same which bring it exactly into line 
with the Ceylon Cinchona Ordinance. 
Also to the statement in the Administration 
Report for the Central Province 1901, page (J 35, 
to the effect that, the old Cejion " Coffee 
stealing " Ordinance and the Madras Act Vllf of 
1878 " were found to be inoperative to a great 
exient." '* The reason for this has been stated 
by the Hon. the Chief Secretary to the Government 
of Madras. They impose no adequate check 
upon the dealings of receivers of stolen coffee who 
own small patches of land planted with coffeein 
the vicinity of large estates and account for the 
possession of large quantities of Coffee by the 
statement that it is grown iu their own land." 
Thisis precisely the difficulty that meets any purely 
receiving ordinance in Ceylon. We would suggest 
to the Commission that the Hon. the Colonial 
Secretary be asked to state from his West Indian 
Experiences, what nature of laws exist there, for 
the suppression of Cocoa theft and what their 
effect has been. We would also suggest that some 
influential natives be asked to give their opinion 
on the proposed legislation to the Commission and 
would mention Mr Dan. Joseph and Mr Bastian de 
Silva. We submit this case to the Commission 
and would be glad to attend in the form of a depu- 
tation and go over it carefully and give evidence 
as to the points raised. 
{^Correspondence in connection luitk cocoa thefts 
commission and rural police.'\ 
No. 307. 
COCOA POI-ICE. 
Police Station, Matale 11th February, 1903. 
Sir, — I have the honour to request that yon will 
be good enough to inform me whether you were satis- 
fied vtitb the couduct of the Cocoa Police employed 
for the protection of your Estates during the past 
season, and whether you consider that they were of 
assistance in checking thefts of cocoa. — I am, Sir, 
lour obedient servant, 
(Sgd.) E, B. Alexandek, A. G. A. (Police.) 
D. E. EODRIGO. 
The SuPEKiNTBNDJBNT, Alloowehiire Estate. 
Alloowebare Estate, Matale, 16th, Feb., 1903. 
The Assistant Govern jirnt Agent, Matale. 
Sir, I am in receipt of yonrs of the lith instant, 
requesting me to give my opinion as to whether I was 
satisfied with the conduct of the Cocoa Police for the 
past season, and whether they were of assistance in 
checking thefts of cocoa. 
In reply to this, I have to state .... that the Police 
did their work well, and only on two occasioua (at 
the commencement of the Season) did I find them 
absent from their posts. On all other occasions I 
found them at work, and I must say the headmen 
attended to their dnties in a very satisfactory manner. 
I put down the zeal of the headmen, and the constant 
attention to duty of the Police in a great measure to 
your very close supervision, and to the co-operation 
yon received from the Eatemehatmeya and Korale 
under yon, — these latter were closely under your 
control, and they in their torn kept both Constables 
and headmen well up to the mark. I would venture 
to point out that, considering the majority of the 
before-mentioned headmen were busily engaged 
guarding my cocoa from 4 to 7 a.m., and again from 
i to 7 p.m , they were unable to do justice to their 
other numerous duties in their districts. Under the 
condition on which the Cocoa Police worked during 
the paet Season, I have no hesitation in Buying that 
they did their work well and prevented ihefta of Cocoa. 
—Yours faithfully, (Sgd.) William Lyall. 
P.S. — The headmen guarding the Cocoa were paid 
by Government for this work. W. L 
COCOA THEFTS. 
Kafugastota Estate, 18th iVIarch, 1903. 
My dear Martin,— In reply to yours, I have pleasure 
in handing you a few facts which I hope will go to 
help us in proving that we want something better 
in the way of protection in cocoa. This place is a 
scattered one, and lends itself more to robberies 
perhaps than places more compact, but that does 
not lessen the fact that we want better protec 
tion but proves that the present law is not 
enough. The villagers will not steal unless they 
can get rid of the stolen cocoa, and the receivers 
are the ones to get at. They give one cent 
per pod to people who bring them, and it they don't 
agree to those terms they threaten to expose them. 
I think if we get a stronger law, and the receivers 
made to account for the cocoa they receive, ii; would 
stop a good deal of it. In my opinion it is no good 
sending a low-caste Sinhalese to prison or fining him 
much, he is received with open arms wlen he comes 
out of jail by his friends, and tS:ey do not attach any 
shame or disgrace to it. The better class and good 
caste Sinhalese do not steal I think. It is often the 
case that the same man has been convicted and 
sent to jail for stealing several times, that goes to 
prove that he does not fear going to j '.il. 
No. 1.— I should say I iiad quita 70 thefts last year, 
but fortunately none of these were big ones owing to 
good work of my watchmen, which prevented large 
robberies. 
No. 2.— I caught and took to Court 31 cases. 
No 3. — I got 20 convictions and 11 dismissals. 
No. 4.— The Watchmen cost the Estate E,2,427 and 
Legal Expenses cost E500. 
No, 5. — I consider there were cases dismissed which 
ought to have been convicted. 
Yours Truly, Gilbert James, 
March 22ii(1, 1903. 
My dear Martin, — I will willingly do anything I can 
possibly do to help you and the cocoa theft CommissioD. 
I h'we sent for a Native Proprietor, a neighbour of 
mine, who is perhaps as honest as natives a-e made. 
He may be able to give you some help by sugges- 
tions, can the cocoa commission not send out Form.q 
with leading questions and headings. An example of 
one theft I detected was, I was losing cocoa' from 
one of my far Fields. We could not detect anything 
for months. Bj- a big bribe 1 received information 
where 1 might find some of my cocoa drying. I went 
and there was quite a beaten track towards some Lau- 
tanaa few chains from my boundary. luto this there 
was a hole about 18 in. wide by abont IS in. high, 
through which I hud to crawl on my stomach about 
10 yards long : arrived inside was a cleared space (a 
bavbiicue well stamped) not noticeable from outside 
as it was surrounded by thick Lantana. Cocoa vina 
drying nr.d there were Sacks and Sctilos on the spot. 
We rem lined in ambush. After a while a Tarn 1 
Proprietor and two Moormen crswled in, whom we 
captured, and handed over to the Acachchi. Pauwila 
was then my Court. Owing to being ill I had to 
postpone the case several times and then having 
Pleuro-pnenmonia I had to leave tbe island. The 
case Wag dismissed as the P. M, would not let my 
Conductor or Locum Tcnens to go on with the case. 
My watchers cost me over El, 300 per annum and 
expenses, battas etc. to witnesses about E400. We 
have detected about IS thefts bat had only about 4 con- 
victions. I have now a case pending for 5ih April. 
The accused's previous convictions here are {D 1 year, 
(2) 6 months, (3) 3 years. The case pending is District 
Court, 
