Jan. 2, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
461 
that I Iiave received proxies from seven gentle- 
men, and I need hardly say altogether unsoli- 
cited Ijy me, and it is only riglit that I should 
express their views as I have been asked to do so 
But before referring to their letters I woukl just 
allude to the 
EKPORT OF THE EXPERT, 
Mr. Feilding, and remark upon it, that it does 
not appear to me to be a very satisfactory docu- 
ment, or a very encotiraging document I may 
call it. I would refer to two passages in it. One 
is — " Water will be the great dittieulty to con- 
ten<l with in opening up these veins. It is already 
very troublesome, but will not always be so miu-h 
as now, when a great deal of surface water Iroju 
the recent abnormal rains is finding its way into 
the workings. With regard to future develepment 
I cannot too strongly Wdrn you against native 
methods of mining, as being uneconomical and, 
from eveiy point, of view, bad." Then in the 
last paragva|ih he says " al! the work at 
present being carried on should be discontinued." 
OTHEll shareholders' VIEW-. 
With reference to the letters of the gentle- 
men who have sent me their proxies I would 
like to say that Mr. Henly of Amba Tenne, 
Kalutara says "from wdiat I have heard locally there 
is a great deal of water in the present pit, and 
if operationsare extended much further, expen- 
sive pumping will probably be required. jMr. 
Alderson of Clyde estate, Kalutara, asks for a 
full statement of the expenditure uji to date, 
and " on what authority has the directors voted 
■ monies for the mining of minerals when the 
articles of Association of that Company grant 
them no power whatever." That, however, has 
been ascertained by the directors and I under- 
stand that a resolution will be brought forwaid 
today to deal with the matter. M r. lioss Wright 
of Hatherleigh, Kakwana writes to me- 
" Keading what you said at the last meeting 
I quite agree with you. I liave had a deal 
of CAperience from time to time in jjlunihago 
mining for which enterprize there is plenty of 
scope in Rakwane district, and have long ago 
come to the conclusion that it is a very great risk, 
and have now adopted the better ]jlan, and 
certainly the safer, of leasing out the mining 
rights, securing one-iiftli or one-eighth as the 
case may he as royalty for the estate or parties 
concerned of all plumbago land, thus securing a 
fiure profit without any expense. Of course any 
damage done to property is made good by the 
lessee or lessors." Mr. Harrison of Culloden 
says : — " I am most strongly against the work 
l)eingdone on estate accmint. Even if the miners 
iind a good vein, they will at once ))roceed to 
cover it up, and after a time when operations 
have been stopped a Sinhalese will offer to pros- 
• pect on his own account and reap tlie benefit of 
all the money that has been previously spent. 
Plenty of experienced miners are prepared to 
lease the ]nt now, giving one fifth of all plum- 
bago found to the estate. This surely is the 
better way to work it." Mr, E. B. Creasy 
writes: — "I quite agree with the views you ex- 
pressed at the last meeting with regard to iiluni- 
bago mining. The mine should, in my ojiinion 
either be leased to a native under suitable terms 
or if worked by the Company, it should be with 
a specia capital raised from such of the sliare- 
liolders as might caie to subscribe. On no nr. 
count shotild any of the revenue derived from 
tea be used foi' mining imrposcs." These aie 
the remarks of tho dilVercnt shaTeholdera who 
liaVQ sent their pro.xies to me. 
HxVRD EARNED EXPERIENCE. 
There is only one other remark I woul 1 like to 
make and that is with regard to what the Chairman 
said in his opening speech to the effect that ob- 
jections have been taken to mining by Europeans. 
He referred to it as a superstition that was 
abroad that mining on the part of Europeans 
cannot be attended with success. In reply to 
that I would only say tliat it i.s anything but 
a supers' ition ; it is the result of hard-earned 
and dearly bought experience. I would move 
the resolution which I brought forward at the 
last nieeting, namely, " that the action of the 
Board of Directors he confirmed in what they 
have done in searciiing for plumbago and that 
the pit now he leised to others if further working 
is thought desirable." 
The Chairman seconded as proxy for Mr. J. 
K. Foster iVIelMor. 
CAPT. TREGAY'S OPINIO.V. 
Mr. G. W. SuHREN said he had to put before 
them a letter which he had received on the 
subject from Capt. Tregay. He began his letter 
with some personal remarks on the speech made 
by Mr. Mitchell at the last meeting, but he 
would not refer to these. Capt. Tregav 
said :— " It was rather a sweeping remark 
for Mr. Mitchell to make t/iat he had 
never known a European to make anything 
out of plumbago mining. A number of 
people in Ceylon have the opinion that none 
but natives can work plumbaga succes'-fully and 
apparently for no other reason than that it 
was attem[ited by a few planters without any 
knowledge of mining to guide them and be- 
cause they, as might have been expected, made 
a hash of it, people jumji to the conclusion 
that plumbago mining can onlj' be conducted 
by natives. That this opinion should prevail 
amongst the natives themselves one can very 
well understand, but that Europeans and 
Englishmen at that, should harbour such a 
opinion is beyond me to comprehend. A mine, 
no matter what the mineral may be, to be 
worked economically and safely must be opened 
up in a scientific manner, and tliis can only be 
done by those possessing a full knowledge of 
the businsss namely, mining engineers, and 
whoever attempts to do the work without this 
knowledge and experience is bound to come to 
grief sooner or later, generally sooner. As re- 
gards the native miner, what I have seen of 
him has shown me that he knows very little 
aliout mining and has no knowledge whatever 
how a mine should be opened out. The native 
method of working is slow and most expen- 
sive and I do not know how better to express my- 
self than by saving that they becin everything 
at the wrong end. I was very much amused 
when I Krst started to open up a mine. Most 
of the men I had with me had previously 
worked in the neighbouring pits and calleil them- 
selves miners of course. They one and all con- 
demned my method of opening up a mine and all 
ofi'ered me advice which for obvious reasons I did 
not take as you may suppose. They do not ofler 
it now. As I said before if you choose at the 
next meeting of the Vogan Company to quota 
Morankande as an example of European enter- 
prise in phimb.ago, I have no objection and if 
there is anything in this letter worth quoting 
you are at liberty to make use of it." That he 
1 hought was a very encouraging letter. No doubt 
he was a man who had had money at his back to 
work the mine and although it could not be so 
very niHcli that he had spent in one year yet 
