April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUIUST. 685. 
.THE CEYLON CACAO THEFT COMMISSION. 
THE EEPOIiT. 
We tlie undersigned were appointed a Commis- 
sion for tlie purpose of inquiring into and reporting 
(1) whether since tlie publication of the Puedial 
Products Thefts Commission Eeport in 1895 there 
lias been any material increase in the number of 
cacao thefts ; (2) whether sucli increase if any, 
could have been prevented by the exercise 
of greater diligence and care on the part 
of growers, or by more rigid enforcement of the 
existing law by Government ollicials ; (3) whether 
the system of rural police has been sufliciently 
utilised, and whether, when utilised, it aft'ordel 
adequate and satisfactoiy means of protecting 
produce from thefts ; and (4) whether special 
legislation is necessary or desirable, and if so 
what form it should take. Your Excellency 
was subsequently pleased to direct us to inquire 
and report whether any description of fencing 
would be of service in protecting cacao from thefts. 
In pursuance of these inquiries we issued question 
papeis to the Superintendents of the principal 
cacao estates. The form of question paper and 
the answers to the more important questions will 
be found in a tabulated form in Appendix A'to this 
report. Keplies were received in nearly every case. 
Your Commissioners also held five meetings at 
Kandy, one in Matale, and two in Colombo. 
At these meetings twenty-four witnesses, some of 
whom liad previously given written replies to the 
question forms, were examined, and their eviderce 
will be found recorded in the printed Minute of Evi- 
dence. In inquiring whether there has been any 
material increase in the number of thefts of cacao 
since the lleport of the Praalial Products Thefts 
Commission in 1895, your Commissioners were met 
by the ditlieulty that no one of the witnesses 
wliom we examined was in a position to quote 
figures as to the amount or proportion of the crop 
which was stolen. 
THE DIFFICULTY OF ESTIMATING THE LOSSES 
by theft is due to the circumstance that thefts 
of small quantities of cacao are in many cases 
unnoticed, or if noticed by the watchmen are not 
reported to the Superintendent. The represent- 
atives of 45 estates replied in writing to our 
question whether thefts had increased or decreased. 
Of these, 6 replied that thefts increased or decreased 
from time to time with the rise or fall of the 
price of cacao, 9 reported that they were unable 
to give a definite answer or that there had been 
no change, 12 that thefts had decreased, 9 that 
they had increased, and 9 that there had been 
little or no stealing on the estates in their charge. 
Of the witnesses whom we orally examined, but 
one complained that there had been any material 
increase in thefts. Your (Commissioners have no 
hesitation in reporting that in their opinion 
THEFTS OF CACAO HAVE NOT INCRKASED, BUT 
HAVE DECREASED SINCE 1895. 
How far this is to be attributed to the fall in the 
market price of cacao, which may be a temporary 
cause, we are unable to say. In the district of 
Matale the witnesses whom we have examined 
are disposed to attribute the improvement to the 
activity of Mr Alexander, the Assistant Govern- 
ment Agent, which they suggest may also be only 
a temporary cause. While it is clear that from 
one cause or another thefts of cacao have 
decreased rather than inireased in recent years, 
we are not disposed to deny the existence or to 
minimise the gravity of the mischief. On the con- 
trary, we are satisfied that on the whole 
THE COMPLAINTS OF CACAO GROWER 8 ARE 
WELL FOUNDED, 
That cacao stealing still prevails to a con- 
siderable extent in the District of Kandy is 
proved by information recently received from 
the Police Magistrate of Kandy to the effect that 
in the present season up to 1st December there 
have been 47 charges of cacao-stealing in the 
Police Court of Kandy, 30 of which have resulted 
in convictions. Beside the pilfering which in 
some districts seems to be of constant oc- 
currence, cases have been brought to our 
notice in which large quantities of cacao, 400,500 
or 000 pods, have been stolen at a time. 
The question "whether such increase, if any, 
could have been prevented by the exercise of 
greater diligence and care on the part of growers, 
or by more rigid enforcement of the existing law 
by Crovernment officials," does not strictly arise, 
but, in view of the opinion which we have ex- 
pressed with regard to the prevalence of cacao 
stealing, we are of opinion that this point should 
not be passed over. Cacao growers, in our opinion, 
must be acquitted of any wai:t of diligence and 
care in protecting their property. Watchmen are 
almost universally employed, and in some cases at 
very heavy cost, Mr G J Murray, for example, 
who is in charge of the Pallekelle group of estates 
of 3,100 acres, beside having the 1'ural police, 
employs as many as 30 watchmen at a cost of 
E3,000 per annum. Mr James Martin, in charge of 
1,137 acres, spent R3,60Oin watching his crop, and 
even went to the expense of importing Moham- 
medans from the Punjab to serve as watchers. 
This experiment was successful at first, but we 
learn from Mr Martin that the eiliciency of these 
watchmen was short-lived. On another estate, 
that in charge of Mr Holloway, Afghan watchers 
were employed at a cost of K20 each per month. 
The evidence with regard to the efficiency of estate 
watchmen is to the effect that on the whole they 
do their duty fairly well, but they are necessarily 
recruited from a class from which a high standard 
of honesty or efficiency cannot be expected. 
The evidence which we have collected does nob 
disclose any failure on 
THE PART OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN 
ENFORCING THE EXISTING LAW. 
It is generally admitted that during the last two 
or three years great activity has been shown, 
especially in the Matale District, in suppressing 
cacao thefts, and that this activity has been fol- 
lowed by excellent results. In the course of our 
inquiry cases were brought to our notice in which 
it was complained that persons charged with cacao 
stealing had been acquitted when the evidence 
warranted their conviction. It is not, we conceive, 
part of our duty to sit in appeal on the decisions 
of Police Magistrates, but we may record onr 
opinion that the complaint is not wholly unfounded 
Mr Borrett attributes these 
FAILURES OF JUSTICE 
to the non-appreciation on the part of some 
Magistrates of the probative value of evidence ; 
he states that Magistrates in some cases will not 
convict without direct evidence of theft, and that 
they hesitate to draw the legitimate jnference 
when a theft has been proved and the accused is 
found in possession of freshly cut pods. The com- 
plainant's proper remedy in such cases is to obtain 
the sanction of the Attorney-General to appeal to 
the Supreme Court. We would here recommend 
the adoption of a sugggestiou which has been made 
that 
