2 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[July i, 1890, 
we certainly shall choose if the Government wish it 
worked at all. We shall not let anybody else work 
it. Even if we raise a subsidiary company to do it 
it will be worked.” This is all very well in its way, 
but it is more than probable that if other Companies 
should choose to demand a concession, and applied 
to the supreme authority for it, they would sooner 
or later obtain what they asked for. It is not 
conceivable that in the present days of free trade 
a monopoly of a valuable trade, such as the ruby 
trade is supposed to be, should be monopolised by 
a few shareholders in London. Powerful no 
doubt the Company is, and large the powers of the 
Indian Government, but if it were made a public 
question and pressure brought to bear in the proper 
quarter there can be no doubt such a monopoly 
would cease to exist in reality as it has already 
done on paper. The Buby Act gives the Chief 
Commissioner of Burma authority to grant con- 
cessions of mining rights to anyone, to whom he 
may choose to give them, and such option would 
have to give way to the demands of any powerful 
body who were in a position to make themselves 
heard and felt. 
In the meantime however until the promises and 
pretensions of the present Company have been re- 
deemed by the declaration of exceedingly handsome 
dividends, it is not probable that others will embark 
upon a similar venture. The future is still before 
them and they may yet prove a brilliant success 
and in such case no doubt their example will be 
followed by other wealthy and powerful syndicates. 
The market for really valuable rubies is said to 
have advanced a great deal in price. The Shan- 
trader said “ the price of really fine rubies now is 
from R1,000 to El, 500 per carat. I saw R8,000 
refused in Rangoon a few days ago for a ruby of 
about 7 carats. The owner said it had been about 
fifteen years in his family. His mother had 
bought it for E700. I have got a parcel of stones 
in the Mandalay Treasury which the Company did 
not care to purchase at the price 1 put on them, 
and they will remain there until I pay the thirty 
percent duty on the value, or until the value is 
obtained at auction.” 
From a private letter published however in one 
of the local journals we take the following para- 
graph 
“ Do you know if it is wrong to buy rubies from 
the Shans ? I mean do Streeter’s claims come into 
question ? Perhaps this is a silly inquiry, but it 
is one that several besides myself would like 
answered, my bosom friend bought a stone last 
year but made me promise not to mention it. I 
should say that Streeter’s rights are confined to the 
Ruby Mine tract only. Strangely enough, though 
the Shans ask such absurd prices for their ponies 
they part with their rubies for a mere song.” 
The latter statement is by no means singular, 
for it is commonly made by most persons whose 
avocations have brought them in contact with the 
hill tribes of Upper Burma. 
The pacification of the Ruby Mines district has 
made great strides during the past year, at great 
expense of life and money. Fever of a very fatal 
description was very prevalent amongst the troops 
and military police and the mortality was very 
deplorable. Dacoits in a email way are still 
frequent, and the road from Thabyetkyin on the 
river bank to the sanitarium at Bernardmyo, is 
daily traversed by patrols who take charge of all 
travellers passing to and fro. Very recently we read 
in the journals of the day ” Three Military Police- 
men were attacked whilst cutting jungle near 
Thabyetkyin in the Ruby Mines District, two of 
them were killed, the third managed to escape ” and 
again “ News has come to hand of a daring murder 
being committed in the Ruby Mines, an inspector of 
police was coming into his district with an armed 
sepoy orderly and a number of coolies who were 
carrying the camp kit. Suddenly the inspector 
beard a shot, and riding quickly up found the 
sepoy lying dead and his revolver and ammunition 
gone. The coolies dropped the kit and fied, but 
subsequently returned.” 
From many inquiries made from residents in the 
Ruby Mines district we gather there are always a 
number of evil disposed persons wandering about 
— ready to commit robbery and murder whenever 
an opportunity offers. There are no large sytema- 
tised gangs of dacoits at present in the district, 
but it is not at all desirable to neglect taking 
every possible precaution when journeying through 
the country. 
It is impossible to say where or when travellers 
may be attacked, especially when booty in the 
shape of arms or money is obtainable. That 
this state of afiairs may continue for many 
years yet to come is highly probable seeing that 
Mogok|lies on the outskirts of the great hill-country 
reaching far into Chinese territory, inhabited by wild 
tribes who will for ages to come be continually re- 
cruiting bodies of marauders to prey upon their more 
civilised neighbours, “ for ’tis their nature too ” 
as Dr. Watts writes of other animals but a shade 
more savage than those of whom we are writing. 
The deductions we drew from our several inter- 
views with Sir Lepel Griffin and Mr. Kirby, one 
of the directors of the Company, are expressed in 
a few paragraphs we addressed to one of the 
Burma locals and which we now reproduce for the 
benefit of our readers. 
Sir Lepel Griffin has a straightforward way of 
giving expression to his opinions on public occasions, 
which carries conviction with it, though his hearers 
may not always relish the tenor of his remarks. His 
address to the shareholders at the first half-yearly 
meeting of the Ruby Mines Company, held in the 
middle of last year, is an example of this, as also 
his speech at the Burma dinner of the same time. 
We gather from his utterances, that he is of the 
same opinion now as he was then, and is able 
more clearly to realise the difficulties which beset 
the initiation of operations at Magok. Taking all 
the circumstances into consideration, and having 
seen for himself, and made every inquiry possible 
during his brief visit, he can, on his return to 
London, do but little else than emphasise the opinion 
he expressed six months ago. We should, however, 
be inclined to think that he is not altogether satisfied 
with some minor details in the administration of the 
Company’s affairs in Burma. In saying so much we 
must be clearly understood to be stating our own 
deductions from the manner, rather than from the 
expressed tenor of his remarks. He evidently con- 
cluded that it was an error sending out too many 
European assistants when there was absolutely 
nothing for them to do, and before sufficient 
preparations had been made for their comfort and 
subsistence. Then again no doubt a considerable 
amount of incongruity had arisen from certain 
operations having been entrusted to men which 
were not appropriate to their special qualifications, 
la othe? words, the work has not been altogether 
