March 1, 1000.] THE TROPTCAI. AGRICULTUinST. 509 
THE KICE TRADE OV CEYLON ; 
IMPOKTS F-IOM BrNJAL, S. iNDtV, BURMATT, SzC. 
The largest import trade earned on Mirou.tjh 
Colonilio, is, n-- may well be guessed by all who 
have, any knowledge of the. locil reqllireraent^; 
of the article, tlie import trade in Jiice. Wliile 
the exported quantity of Tea — the largest item 
in the exiiort trade — last year was close on 
130,000,000 lb. ; for the same psriod we )iotice 
(see tables on next page) that the imports 
of rice mu^t weigh about 500 million pounds 
or not far short of four times the weight of 
the export" in tea. The trade in rice with this 
island being of uch dimBn>ions as we have 
indicated, it is worth while to consider its 
present condition and the changes that have 
recently taken place therein- 
In the fir.st pbice, referring to the tables 
which appear on next page, it will be seen 
that th^ imports in bagft, during 1868 
are given as 2,790,6:j8 while far 1899 they 
are 37o31,97ij showing an increase of ^41,337 
bags. From this one would gather that the 
quantity of imported lice had increased last 
year as it has done for several years past. 
On examination of the smaller table, however, 
it will be found that there has in fact been a 
decrease in the total quantity imported by 14,610 
bushels. The explanation of this is not diffi- 
cult: but to m ike it plain with all the figures 
before us, is somewhat le~s easy. The point 
is that Eangoon rice is measured in bags taking 
3 bushels and not 2| bushels, as is the case 
with Calcutta bags; these are the usual measures, 
but not even these remain continuously the same. 
Moreover in the cases of nearly every other 
port the quantity per bag is different : and as 
the larger table, mentions no less than 18 sources 
from which our rice was drawn last year it 
will tve seen that an increase or decrease in 
bacs is not a true criterion of the actual amount 
of^'rice imported. The decrease in the importa- 
tions of rice li.st year is nothing abnormal and 
may almost entirely be explained by the smaller 
quantity of estate' labour then available in 
Ceylon. 
Now as to the sources of our rice supply, 
Calcutta, in ?pite of "plague," still stands easily 
first- Southern India coming next; these two 
will, we belive, continue to remain our chief 
sources of supply. Ruigoon comes next; but 
from Eangoou we arb again receiving only the 
broken rice or chips which have been imp )rted 
for many years past. The trade in Eangcou 
rice all over the world is something enormous 
and the surplus crop alone in this year is estimri.od 
at about 2 million tons, a 'good deal of which 
it is expected that Bombay will take. But rice 
in Eangoon is differently prepared from the 
Calcutta and South India rice ; in the latter 
places it is scalded and when used for cooking 
with curry has a better consistency and is 
more liked by coolies. Erom Rangoon there are 
three kinds of rice, so-called, imported; (I) 
Cargo Eice— the raw article : (2) Chips, or broken 
rice, obtained from the mills , and (3) Eice meal, 
the finer grindings which are used mainly in 
the manufacture of dog-biscuits. Looking at the 
75 
inijinrts of Eingoon rice into Ceylou between 
1837 and 1897, it will be spen that they vary 
between 108,000 a;ul 174,000 bags; this 'nil re- 
fers to the broken rice or chips, given as {'!) 
ab ive, which is locally imported solely for the 
making of hoppers and sweetmeats— while iti 
Europe and elsewhere it is taken largely for 
the manufacture of starch. In 1897, when there 
was a scare of plague in Calcutta and it was 
thought that our rice supply from that quarter 
might be harajiered, it was decided to send 
Corainissioncrs from Ceylon to Burma to select 
some quality of raw rice which would be suit- 
able for our coolies and could take the place 
of the Calcutta article; the result of this was 
that over 850.000 bags of Eangoon rice were 
imported in 1898 as against 136,709 in 1897. 
But circumstances were entirely against the new 
plan and several local firms who took up 
the matter found the business unprofitable and 
went back to former ways. First, the cooly was 
not used to th.e Rangoon rice ; special instructions 
were issued as to cooking, but were not followed 
(who ever heard of a cooly forsaking the old 
culinary methods with his daily food?) ; chetties, 
annoyed by the Eangoon imports, kept the coolies 
up to these complaints, and they had to 1)3 lis- 
tened to ; but — most cogent argument of all 
— -the ''plague'' in Calcutta was a mere scare 
as far as the rice trade was concerned, and 
with a huge crop, prices came tumbling down 
and- the old favourite from the Indian capital 
thus became cheaper than the new stuff, as well 
as being better liked. And so, in 1899, a nor- 
mal condition of things has been resumed , the 
imports have dropped one-half; and these, we 
learn from special enquiries, are • only of tile 
broken rice, used for consumption with other 
than the pure rice form. 
The rice trade with C ileutta has for some- 
time past been largely in the hands of Chetties ; 
but in June, 1898, a representative of the well- 
ktiown firm of Grnnberg Bros, of Calcutta and 
Singapore came to Colombo to see what could 
be done here in the matter of underselling the 
Chetties, who by their ring had kept the prices 
above the normal. In October 1898 a branch 
cf the firm was established here and the result 
was that by competition the prices of rice, as 
largely fixed by the Chetty community, have 
been brought gradually down. We learn further 
tha.t of recent years, or rather month, the 
Chetties have found that the old profits cannot 
be made in this trade and the profession of 
1 ed rica-dealers is passing more into the hand.s 
of Moors and Bombay ParSees ; while the old 
lords of the rice market are having greater re- 
course to the pastime of money-lending. Cor wiiich 
the special colonial mania for running into debt, 
offers such terrible facilities in the matter of 
victims, both young and old, in the East. 
In conclusion we may express the opinion that 
only a rise of price in Calcutta is likely to cause 
a return to Eangoon raw rice, the trade in which 
at this port has pnrtically ceased for 18 months, 
and even then it is doubtful if a slight rise 
would make very much difference. Burma, it 
is true, has an immense extra crop to get rid 
of this year; but; from receut Eangoou circulars 
