July i, i8gi.] THE TRO^tOAL 
AQRICULTUR!ST. 
47 
CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
WEATHER AKD LABOUR - TAMIL I-ETTIfRS AND PObTAL 
AUTHORITIES— SCOTTISH JIIPEPIAL IKBDtAKCE COM- 
PAKTAND lEMPEBANCIi) — A LITTLE GIRL'S SIMPLIClTy. 
May 25th. 
At present one has little else to think of than 
the weather. It is in evideuoe everywhere, out- 
side and inside, and its eii'ects are visible in leaf 
that won't wither, short musters in the morninp:, 
roDfs that will let rain through, clothes that don't 
dry, boots that will grow fungus, and general dis- 
comfort and unpleasantneBS, Work falls back and 
back, for when an estate has barely enough of cooHes 
to get on with in normal tim-s, to have the added 
horror of the wind and the rain fighting against 
you is a serious handicap. Still, with it all, it is won. 
derful how things are kept straight. 
We are all in hopes too of reir^forcements to 
our labour force, for you hear of the coming of the 
new gang, long before they put in an appearance : and 
some of us would even willingly see a slacking olf 
of flush— high treason though the thought may be 
just to get our feet cleaved and wipe off arrears 
of work, and then boijin again. 
How ia it that Tamil letters get so often miscar- 
ried ? So long, of course, as the letter reaches, Rama 
Sami cares not, as a rule, whether a week or a 
month has been lost in the transit, and if the letter 
disappears altogeth^^r and he hears that one has 
been written, ho would be the last to blame the 
postal authorities. He would treat the story of the 
writing rather as a romance. It is a wonder to me 
however what little care these coast letters get. One 
comes up in your tappal box, every now arid again, 
which should never have been sent, as it is in- 
tended for another estate altogether. It makes the 
round of the estates' kanganies, and goes back after 
Some delay to the Post Office as a derelict, to 
wander away, after that goodness knows where. Very 
likely shoved into the first handy tappal boz to 
try its luck there, and as likely as not a blind 
shot again. Of course the Tamil address is often 
a thing of voluminous vagueness and it would need 
an inspired genius always to hit on the letter's 
destination. Stili so many Tamil letters intended 
for some estates fiod their way into the wrong 
tappal box, that one is impressed with the idea that 
a ^little more care and attention would result 
in better delivery. The knowing ones who go 
to the coast eairy away with them properly ad- 
dressed envelopes, as I suppose they find that 
the English oharactnrs have more respect paul to 
them than is usually awarded to the Tamil fnes, 
and are sure. 
I have received a copy of the prospectus of the 
Pcottish Imperial Insurance Company oE which Mr. 
W. D. Gibbon ia 8g: nt. Thi.s Inturance Company 
has a provision, which I am not aware that uny 
of the other Companies represented in the isia-'i 
has ; that is a separate eeetion open for abstainers. 
The prospectus says that "The profits earned 
from the premiums of such assurers are aecertained 
separately, so that abstainers have the full h nefit 
to be derived from such a classification.'' The 
prospectus gives no hint as to what this advar tage 
amounts to ; being a comparative young offi'!?, it 
may not yet feel justified in tabulating its already 
ascertained results ; but other oflioes do, Perbaps 
the oldest company that has eubdivided its lives in 
this way is the United Kingdom Temperance and 
General Provident Institution ; and over a seventeen 
years ptriod, the deaths in the general section 
were but s'ightly below the expectancy, whereas 
in the Tempermce section a little over seventy 
per cent were fAl that died. This oi course means 
a very considerable bonus to the abstainei- and 
tbose who go in for insurance and who are ab- 
y ■■■■iiia»».» -M;-^w wBMai|PM^gnnrigrTWMiM ■iiiiniiii i ii ■■, ■■.."■■il^ i ^nnflll I NH I 
Etainers should see that the advantages of the 
longevity of the class to which thoy belong are 
wholly secured to themselves. 
The " Scottish Imperial " still sticks however to 
an extra ten shillings per annum for every £100 
assured as a Ceylon risk. No doubt Aseuranoa 
companies are slow to move in matters of this 
kind, but that there should be an extra risk for 
Ceylon, shows either a grasping disposition, or 
an insicquaintance with the conditions of Ceylon 
life. When we have Companies at home open to 
proposals without a medical examination at all ; 
and others which allow residence abroad at the 
home rates, the Companies that trade wuh Ceylon 
ought not to be behind the forfmost. That life 
has more risks here than it l.as in the old country 
is very much open to doubt : indeed it is all the 
other way if anything like ordinary care is observed. 
In due time this will come to be recognised, and 
it is for local men like the agent of the " Scottish 
Imperial" to press this fact on his Company's 
directors, so that extra premiums which cover 
fanciful risks, may disappear, and the GeyloB 
insurer may have his business done on the beat 
terms. 
A little five year old girl was having a story 
read to her the other day, when the sentence 
occurred, " And h'S eye fell upon the page." 
" Did it really tumble out ? " was the question she 
immediately asked. 
I began my letter with the weather, and am 
constrained to end it with the same theme. There 
is a good deal of monotony in it, and the con- 
stant rain gets very tiring. We will all be pleased 
to see a change which would suit planter and 
cooly alike, and give something brighter to write 
about. Pbppeboorn. 
THE SCOTTISH CEYLON TEA 
COMPANY. 
Mr. H. L. Forbes report on his recent trip to 
Ceylon to his Company's Board is mainly as fol- 
lows ; — 
The Board called upon me to make no special reporfc 
ou any particular estate or possesfiou of our Oompiiny. 
If, however, I had cousidf red such necessary, I ehuuld 
have done so, bat I have pleasure in shatiug that I 
could furnish no more elaborate or truthful reporrg on 
the Company's interests in Oey Ion, than those supplied 
uB by our Ceylon Manager, so, therefore, mortly take 
the Estates generally. Ia company with Mr. Kerr, 
and the respective Superintendents, I have inspected 
each and nil of the Company's properties in the island, 
and can corroborate Mr. Kerr's reports furnished tou8 
from time to time thereon, in every detail. From my 
intimste knowledge of all the estates I was in a posi- 
tion to notice pi egression or otherwise. In everything 
I eaw I C5uld mark mooh improvement inferowth,. and 
tiatare has been assisted by,the mosc'coreful husbandry. 
Tho Conipany's properties, during the two ydsrs which 
the Company has held them, have immensely improved 
in - value, not only from their natural increase 
in age (being young when pnrcbased), hub from tho 
judicious care bestowed upon them, the capital put 
into them, and tbe generally improved prospecta of 
Ceylon as a Tea producin,? country, and I tliink it is uui- 
versally acknowledged, by those who ou,iiht to know, 
that tho yield of up-conntry estates, such as ours, will 
be considerably greater than was ever anticipated. 
As this date, I have every reason for stating that I 
consider the Company's properties have increased in 
value to the extent of 30 per cent on the price at 
which they were acquired by the Company two years 
r.2;o. Ten per cent waa put into them in hard cish 
by the shareholders themselves at our general meetiug 
of 1890, and quite 20 per cent hAs been added to them 
dnring the two years of possession, by oiroumstauoefl 
over which tue had and had not control. 
