Aug. 1, 1903. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
12ft 
came here ; so when tbe late dear old A. M. F, 
asked me about red spider, I had the audacity to 
say the pluck'.n^^ K.P. had informed me she had 
levantid with the shot-hjle borer and as the 
microscope had gone astray, I was lielpless. 
Passive resisiauce must be a wonderful power ; 
for it is publicly stated now that Abbotsford is a 
non-iufected estate, though it has just the same, 
more or less, harmless diseases that it had 20 
years ago. 
Advance Vi^ilants ; but with less fuss please.— 
Yours truly, 
JOHN FKASER. 
THE PROTECTION OF INSBUTI\'"OROUS 
BIRDS. 
Abbotsford, July 15. 
Dear SIr,— How pleased I am to see some 
sensible action being, at last, taken as re- 
gards the jDreservation of our insectivorous 
bird friends. They have a terrible struggle 
for existence in this island, as not only the 
hand of man, but the claws of many beasts 
and birds are all against them. 
I think the following of their enemies 
should be exterminated or kept within due 
bounds, viz, :— Coolies (young and old) ; Cats 
(wild or tame) ; Hawks (sparrow especially); 
Jungle Crows and Jays. 
Most estates in Ceylon now are fairly well 
covered with trees, all more or less attrac- 
tive to and protective of birds, but the 
best sanctuary of all for birds, in my opin- 
ion, is a grove of, say, an acre of trees 
(the greater proportion of them fruit trees, 
of course) and shrubs, creepers and climbers, 
hedges and ditches and so forth round one's 
bungalow, as it is really surprising how tame 
even the most shy birds become in a bloom- 
ing wilderness of this sort. The only draw- 
back to this arrangement, and that i^t a 
very serious one, is the domestic cat," but 
any one really fond of birds will dispense 
with the cat, as I did or chain it up to 
something. 
I do not care for some of the recommen- 
dations such, for instance, as the planting up 
of ravines. Brambles are untidy and diffi- 
cult to keep in order and lantana does not 
fruit at thij elevation though some vaiueties 
flower freely, but the birds do not seem to 
care for it. 
Ravines planted in this way would be per- 
fect sanctuaries for wild cats which want a 
lot of keeping down, so I vote for leaving 
the ravines alone. 
The burning of patnas I have often felt very 
wroth about in connection with this subject ; 
but birds are few on grass lands and beetles 
and caterpillars swarm and from receut 
experience I have come to the conclusion 
birds do not suffer so much from these fires 
as might be expected. During our last dry 
weather I found 2 nests on each of two 
occasions I went to the Elk Plains, and there 
was neither eggs or young in any ; though 
I know for certain the fire had passed over 
at least two of them a day or two prior 
to my finding them and had done no 
damage. 
For boundaries let us have shrubby fruit 
and flowering shrubs : China guava, Mul- 
bery and red Habrothamnus, for iiistance, 
as almost all birds love these ; but beware 
of anything of the Fir tribe, as tea hates 
all of them and tliey should, therelure, only 
be planted in the one acre bungalow block. 
Mr Nock knows more than any other 10 
men in Ceylon what would best suit our 
varying elevations and climates, so let us 
hear what he has to say on' the subject. — 
Yours truly, JOHN FRASER. 
LABOUE SUPPLY AND COOLIES 
IN SELANGOK. 
Kandy, July 15. 
Sir,— I enclose herein copy of letters ad- 
dressed to the Chairman, on the Labour 
Question by Mr. E. V. Carey, Klang, 
Selangor, for publication.— I am. Sir, yours 
faithfully, A. PHILIP. 
The Chairman, Ceylon Planters' Association, 
Kaudy, Ceylon. 
Dear Sir, — Although it is now many years since 
I left Ceylon, I am privileged to still have many 
valued friends there, and I have always en- 
deavoured to keep in touch with everything lhab 
is going on in the country where I liist started 
planting. It has been a great pleasure to me to 
meet Ueylon men over here from time to time, 
and on such occasions the labour question has 
usually been one of the most interesting topics of 
conversation between us. As you are doubtless 
aware, Ceylon has supplied the Straits with many 
other planters besides myself and we have en- 
deavoured in building up our labour system here, 
to avoid, as far as possible, the doininioo of the 
Kangany and the Clietty, which Ikis made itself 
so unpleasantly felt in Ceylon, since competition 
for labour put these two classes in such a powerful 
position. It is in the hope that a short history 
of our experiences may be of interest, if not of 
any particular value, to our Ceylon friends- 
that I venture to address this letter to you, especi, 
ally as I see from a report of your Labour Com- 
missioner, Mr Edgar Turner, that he appears to be 
under the impression tliat the system of working 
Tamils under indentures is almost universal over 
here, whereas, speaking for Selangor alone, I am 
in a position to state that, not a single inden- 
tured cooly is employed by any of the planters. 
I do not know whether Mr Hill was the fiist to 
start the system of indentures, and rather fancy 
that the sugar planters of Province Wellesley, most 
of whom had come from the West Indies, were res- 
l)i)nsible for its introduction, though I know that 
Mr Hill did at one time employ indentured, as well 
as free, coolies. Ue that as it may, in 19UI the free 
kangany system was in force in Selangor, and 
speedily ousted the other. Of course, at that time 
men's ideas of the best way to handle their labour 
were very crude, and we soon saw that, unless we 
did something to stop it, we should, before very 
long, be attlie meicy of our kanganies,with, at the 
same time, every chance of internal strife amongst 
ourselves. So we started by keeping a separate 
coast advance account for each of our coolies, paid 
them monthly, and only recognised the kangany's 
position by giving him weeding contracts and pence 
money, as a quid pro q no for his trouble in recruit- 
