34 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, i8go. 
smoothly, because the vast majority o£ the planters 
are honourable men. But there are a few “ black 
sheep ” amongst the planting community, and 
of one of these we lately heard, that alter apparently 
transferring a couple of gangs, whose advances 
had been repaid to him, he allowed a consider- 
able proportion of the gangs to come back to 
work on his estate, protecting and encouraging the 
deserters, instead of assisting the kanganies to 
recover the lost men and aiding the estate pro- 
prietor whose money in repayment of advances he 
had received. Of course a person thus acting is 
not recognized as an honourable man, and it 
seems to us that all such cases should be taken 
up and publicly dealt with by the District As- 
sociations. It will be seen that paying coolies every 
cent due to them as wages each month tends to 
make the coast advances more and more risky, and 
on this subject and that of weeding contracts 
given to kanganies, as constituting an addi- 
tional security, our correspondent “ 1873” writes 
largely today. His views are worthy of care- 
ful attention, but we are sorry to see him give so 
unfavourable an opinion of the class of labourers of 
Tamil origin who have been born and brought up 
in Ceylon and who are included in gangs receiving 
“ coast advances.” We had hoped that such coolies 
would have been amongst the best and most trust- 
worthy labourers on estates, and we feel sure that 
in many oases old planters have so recognised them. 
The system of “ weeding contracts ” may bo 
briefly explained. In Ceylon, whether coffee, tea, 
cinchona or cardamoms are cultivated, the keeping 
of the ground clear of weeds is deemed essential. 
Gradually a custom has arisen of separating this 
work from the other operations on an estate, 
and entrusting it to the various kanganies, who, 
beside the labour they provide for general pur- 
poses of the estate, employ “ weeding gangs ” 
on their own account. On the understanding 
that the section of an estate for which a kangani 
gets a weeding contract is kept clean, by being 
weeded, as a rule, once a month, the estate 
owner pays the kangani a certain monthly rate 
per acre, — generally K1 per acre per mensem, 
or E12 per acre per annum. On these contracts 
the kanganies usually make an appreciable profit, 
in addition to head money which they receive for 
coolies in the gangs they provide for the general 
purposes of the estate, Kanganies will object to 
go to estates on which weeding contracts are not 
given out. It is evident, therefore, that the system 
is generally remunerative to the kanganies, while, 
BO long as lull weeding gangs are kept up and 
the land is kept clean, it saves the superintendent 
a great deal of trouble. When a weeding oontraot 
kangani fails to keep his section in a clean 
condition, the superintendent puts on a portion 
of the force at hia disposal and charges their 
wages against the contract rates, paying the 
Kangani only the balance due to him. Our cor- 
respondent ” 1873 ” indicates that this system of 
weeding oontraots, beside adding to the emoluments 
of the kanganies, acts as an additional security to 
the estate owner for coast advance?, in proportion 
to the amount due to tho kanganies for weeding 
contracts which is kept in hand. 
To outsiders all this may seem complicated, un- 
scientific and not in accordance wioh strict law. 
But “custom,” which suits all parties and of the 
working of which none but defaulters or the 
dishonest and those who suffer at their hands 
complain, has, as we stated when discussing the 
wages advance system, all tho binding force of 
statute law with far more of the equity which 
is superior to all written law, whatever its penalties 
jind sanotiona may be, The fewness of the oases * 
in which the courts have to decide disputes be- 
tween coolies and their employers, is a strong 
argument for letting well alone. The oooly is 
a free agent, — free to come and free to go, — 
except where he compromises his freedom by 
going into debt. This the cooly too generally 
does, borrowing of the kangani, while the kangani 
borrows from the chetty, high interest being charged 
in both instances. In this as in other cases of 
the kind “ the borrower is servant to the lender.” 
Some believe, with Sir Arthur Gordon, that a 
system of full settlement of wages at the end of 
each month would prevent this great evil. But 
the vast majority of those who know the people 
and their idiosyncracies best have no faith in the 
panacea. We largely share their scoptioism, and 
we look for improvement only to time and educa- 
tion — giving this latter term a much wider meaning 
than mere schooling. One thing is certain : that 
no body of labourers in the world are, as a general 
rule, better treated than those employed on Ceylon 
estates, it being the interest of the planters as 
well as their duty to treat the class on whom 
their own success depends, not only fairly but 
kindly. Sinhalese labour is useful but not reli- 
able ; and if, from any cause, the Tamils of India 
ceased to seek employment in Ceylon, the vast 
majority of the estates would have to bo abandoned, 
^ 
TEA PLANTING IN THE NUWAEA ELITA 
DISTKICT--OVEE 6, .300 FEET. 
(irotn a Besideiit Proprietor.) 
You asked mo to let you know how my yield 
turned out compared with my estimate. I estimated 
that I should get 20,000 lb. green leaf between 
ciUtu September 1889 and 1st October 1890. I shall 
exceed that this month considerably, and have 3 
months to the good. This year’s yield is added to 
slightly by tipping o acres planted in August 1888. 
But that is very little. 
Acreage. Garden. Altitude. 
12^ in the block (“ Elephant 6,200 feet 
f for reserve Nook.”) 
13 
Less bungalow and gardens, two large ponds, 
lines, store, two cattlesheds, pig-sty, & 3 ., say two 
acres, giving in tea 11 acres. 
11 acres planted Attabage seed at stake, after 
came up here in July 1885, has yielded as follows : — 
1889. 
1890. 
January 
577 
1,096 
February 
1,430 
1,097 
March 
1,130 
2,766 
April 
... 1,555 
... 2,747 
May 
2,125 
2,455 
June 
1,266 
July 
1,645 
August 
September 
October 
1,721 
1,683 
1,710 
Pruned (cut across) 
in August 1888. 
November 
2,160 
December 
2,038 
19,040 
= 433 lb. made tea per 
acre. 
The seed at stake was not a great success. Fully 
25 per cent were supplied with plants (mostly plants 
from Abbotsford ; seed from Inverness) in 1886. The 
black grub ate down the shoots time after time ; 
otherwise the seed at stake germinated well. 
When planted “ seed at stake,” it was all in 
cinchona, and the ground was dibbled not holed 
for the tea. 
