84 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1890. 
is paid to the sanitary condition of their lines and 
houses. When sick, the greatest care is taken of them 
and kindness shown them. In most of the tea gardens 
in North Lukhimpore an hotel system of feeding the 
coolies is carried out » by which, R3 per mensem per 
adult, and Bl'8 per mensem for working boys (children 
too young to work are fed free) they obtain three 
meals per diem and a.s much at each meal as they can 
eat. In the early morning before commencing work 
each man, woman, and child is served out with a 
chupattee fried in ghee, a quantity of parched rice, and 
tea at 11 a.m., at which hoar work ceases, until 1 p.m., 
they get a meal consisting of rice, dhal, vegetable carry, 
and tamarind ohutnee, which is repeated at 7 p.m.; work 
ceases for the day at 5-30 p.m. Once a week they get 
mutton, and one chittack of mustard oil each, with which 
they sham 2 >oo themselves. I had the pleasure of seeing 
yesterday, 500 coolies men, women, and children, assem- 
bled in a capacious hotel building eating their mid-day 
meal; The waiters went round serving out the rice, 
dhal, curry, and chutnee until all bad had sufBcient, 
and refused further helpings. All seemed contented and 
happy, and on the manager asking them if they had 
any complaint to make about the food, he received a 
smile and reply from each man or woman he interro- 
gated that everything was very good. The native 
doctor, who is much respected by the coolies, is present 
at each meal. I have noticed rhat on wet days 
most of the coolies turn out with good substantial 
grey blankets, and when working in the sun many 
of them wear large mat hats protectieg their beads and 
a great part of their bodies. They own cows in great 
numbers-t and in the lines numbers of fowls and 
pigeons are to be seen. Without doubt the tea garden 
coolies are a happy and contented lot, particularly 
well cared for, and the greatest interest is taken in 
their welfare by the managers. After the expiry of 
their first five years’ agreement an average of about 
90 per cent enter upon a second agreement, which in 
itself is a sufficient proof of their contentment. Many 
time-expired men obtain grants of land from Govern- 
ment and open out on their own account. Influenza 
has been, and is still, rife among them ; in one garden 
400 were ill with it at one time; few deaths have 
occurred, and I am happy to say the epidemic is on 
the decrease. The greatest consideration is shown to 
the sick, and those in hospital are supplied free with 
fish, milk, sago, Liebig’s extract of meat, &c. On one 
garden employiuont is given to two blind boys, and 
one man who is a cripple. These notes are made. 
Sir from my personal knowledge and observation dur- 
ing’ a visit to North Lukhimpore, and I trust your 
readers will from a perusal of them consider that the 
adieotive brutal does not apply to the Assam tea 
planter.^ It is certainly not the opinion of the coolies 
as can be judged from the following incident. One 
night a few months ago a manager’s house was burnt 
to the ground through the bursting of a lamp ; he 
lost everything to his name. AU his coolies came 
forward offering him money; he was presented with 
a watch, wearing apparel, numerous other articles. 
With these facts before them surely Govern- 
ment can see its way to modifying Act I of 1882, 
which quadruples the cost of the passage of coolies 
up here ; but for this Act coolies could be 
comfortably landed at Debrughur at from R20 to 30 
per bead, whereas they now cost the planter from R80 
to 100. The planters could then no doubt recruit in 
Jeypore, Rajputana, and the N. W. Provinces and thus 
help to ameliorate the condition of the underpaid 
and underfed labourers of those provinces.— Veteean. 
*■ vVe have frcqueutly suggested some such system 
for Ceylon estates, but we suppose the curse of caste 
stands in the way. In Government hospitals, however, 
the obstacle is (.vercorne, high caste cooks being, we 
lad'ev**, employe ^ — Eo. T A. 
t rids could not be iimnsgcd on Oeylon estates, where 
only the condiiclor mid a fi w kangmiies generally Imvo 
cows. 'J'lm I odian estates are sometimes of large area, 
ini'loding grass and rico fields. — Ki). T. A, 
♦ The whole class Biilfor ill reputation from the un- 
doubtedly brutal condiiet of a few “ black sliecqi.” Of 
tho latter Oeylon has kuo.vu some.— J'lu. f. A, 
PROSPECTS FOR A NEW LOCAL 
INDUSTRY : 
Maana and Citeonella Geass foe Tea Boxes, 
Referring yesterday to the deterioration of 
our teas due to packing in chests made of 
unseasoned wood, we touched upon the pros- 
pect of an efficient alternative to the use of 
such wood afforded by the patent now being 
worked by the Stanley-Wrightson Syndicate. We 
said that this patent was still awaiting approval 
or condemnation, and we are not even to 
date able to say what the nature of the verdict 
upon it is to be. But intelligence conveyed to ug 
in our London Letter to the effect that mana 
grass has been successfully applied to the manu- 
facture of the board which forms the main con- 
stituent of the new chests must make us desirous 
to learn that the character of that verdict, when 
given, may be a favourable one. For, if it be so, 
there seems to be every chance, according to what 
our London Correspondent writes, that we may 
see established in this island two factories to 
undertake the making of the new material from 
what are now almost entirely waste products of 
native growth. With these would of course also 
be included workshops for the manufacture of the 
ohests, which have as yet been made only at the 
trial factory near London. 
The two items among our local products which have 
as yet received special mention are the mana grass 
which grows so freely in Ceylon and the eitronella 
stalks which are now left as refuse after oil has been 
expressed from them. The first of these has 
already been subjected to successful trial at 
home, and our Correspondent has forwarded to 
us a small sample piece of the thick fibrous paper, 
resembling millboard, whioh has been the result 
of that trial. We are assured that so good an 
authority as Dr. P. Norman Evans, the expert of 
the London Paper Makers’ Association, has de- 
clared as the result to his experiment that mana 
grass offers a more than efficient substitute for 
wheat straw ; that it is, in fact, owing to its 
containing less of the silicate which is so potent 
a factor in producing brittleness, much more 
suited to the manufacture of the boards required 
than is the last-mentioned material. One has 
only to handle the specimen of the outturn to 
Dr. Evans’s experiment to realize how far more 
flexible and homogeneous it is than anything we 
have yet seen produced from straw. Further , 
trials, we are told, are to be made by Dr. Evans, 
and if these result in confirming first impressions 
and an official report to that effect is made 
by their conductor, it will be determined 
upon — contingently of course upon a favourable 
opinion being expressed as to the general suit- 
ability of the new tea chest to the needs of our , 
lea planters — to establish factories for the manu- ! 
tacture of tho board both at Gallo and , 
Nawalapitiya ; the first to undertake tlin working , 
up of the v;aste from tho eitronella oil mills, | 
and the second that of the mana grass which ' 
is to bo found in such abundance in its noigh- 
hourhood. I 
We sliall naturally be well-disposed to welcome 
the establishment among us of these two new " 
factories, with, we should presume, their included | 
industry of tlio making up of tea ohests of the |- 
