332 
THE TROPICAL AQRICULTURIST 
[November i, 1890, 
Our Financial Minister, in spite of great oppo- 
sition from all commercial classes, is adhering to 
his decree of obliging 20 per cent of import and 
export duties to be paid in gold at 27d per milreis, 
while paper is valued at 22^d at present. It is 
calculated that each farthing up or down of 
exchange counts 1 per cent more or less of duty. 
This will make up as total tax ad valorem on 
imports of some 50 per cent on most European goods, 
— unless agricultural machinery, which has to pay 6 
per Cent emancipation tax. 
A fearful revolution has broken out in our 
neighbouring republic, the Argentine, brought on 
principally through financial mismanagement and 
robbery by the governing powers— so says the 
Proclamation of the Provisional Government as 
the insurgents call themselves. At present the 
Telegraph says they are killing each other in the 
streets at Buenos Ayres — some 300 having been 
killed yesterday. At present the fighting is con- 
fined to the military, but it is expected the people 
will take the side of the insurgents, who have some 
battalions of the army and the part of the navy 
on their side. The Proclamation of the provisional 
Government accuses the president de Jure of great ir- 
regularities, of robbery, biibery, and ir terferenoe with 
the liberty of the subject, and the rights of property. 
Their paper money is at 310 per cent. That is 
to say for a 100 gold dols ; one must pay 310 
in paper, and duties have to be paid half in gold. 
The late President is blamed for the depreciation 
of the currency. President .Juarez elman entered 
into oflioe poor, and is now said now to be a mil- 
lionaire: the same with other members of his Govern- 
ment. The head of the revolution is General 
Campos, who has already proved himself a 
brave officer in the wars, but Leonardo Allem is 
put forward as President, a respectable citizen and 
honest. 
— — — — 
THE CEYLON HANDBOOK AND DIKECTOKY 
FOB 1890-91. 
(From the Aberdeen Free Press, Aug. 23rd.) 
“ The Ceylon Handbook and Directory,” compiled 
and edited by Messrs. A. M. & J. Ferguson, editors of 
the Ceylon Observer, has been mentioned in our 
columns before now. In a supplementary sheet issued 
with the overland edition of the Obseiver of 28th July, 
the preface to the edition of the Handbook and Direc- 
tor}' for 1890-91 is printed in full. And in it a very 
hopeful view of the condition and prospects of our 
leading Crown colony is given. The knowledge and 
experience gained in collecting information and making 
all the needed investigations “ justifies us,” say the 
editors, “in repeating the expression of the san- 
guine hope that, during the term of office — 1890-5 — of 
Governor Sir Arthur Havelock, Oeyloo will have fully 
regained (through the great tea euterprise) that plant- 
ing prospierity which wss lost through the dire effects 
of the colfee-lcaf fungus in the time of his predeces- 
sors ; and we further see the promi.se in our other new 
industries, together with the continued extension of 
palm as well as grain cultivation, of a degree of stable 
comfort and even wealth for the people such ks could 
not be imagined when Ceylon was at the very height of 
its sneient glory in the days of the great king Para, 
krama, the creator of ‘ the Inland Sea.’ ” 
Of the social and intellectual condition of the “Spicy 
Isle,” the editors say : — “ We cannot regard with satis- 
faction the fact that twice as much is annually spent 
on ‘ intoxicating drink' in Ceylon as on ‘ education 
and the tr aching of Christianity'; the proportion being, 
according to our estimate, between four and five mil- 
lions ot lupees, 'By ,{;'l.'j0,0CO, on the former, and not 
()uite j;230,0()0 on the latter, or less than twopence per 
head of the population ! 
“Nevertheless, as compared with India, in public 
instrucUoD, Ceylon is far in advance, having 1 out of 
26 of her population in school, against 1 in every 
150 in India ; while in England the proportion 
is now, we suppose, 1 in every 4 or 5. Edu- 
cation is very cheap in Ceylon, and in respect of 
teaching in the vernaculars especially, a small 
amount gojs a long way ; but it is an ‘ English’ educa- 
tion that the natives — both .Sinhalese and Tamil — crave 
after, and it is evident that, nolens volens, our educators, 
whether missionary or Government schoolmasters, 
cannot help themselves until in a ccmparalively short 
time, perhaps before another century dawns, from 
Dordra Head to Point Pedro, English will practically be 
found to be the language chiefly used by the people of 
Ceylon.” 
THE PBOSPEEITY OF CEYLON. 
'Says the London correspondent of the Olatgow 
Herald — a copy of which has been sent to us by a 
Ceylon colonist: — 
One of the most striking economical incidents in 
recent British colonial history is the prosperity of 
Ceylnn. Fifteen years ago “ coffee was king,” as the 
saying ran in that island ; Ceylon depended on coffee 
as absolutely as Guatemala does row ; coffee built rail- 
ways and made roads, paid the taxes and kept up 
many an establishment at home. Then came the failure, 
caused largely by the growth of the .South American 
produce and the fall in prices, and for several years 
Ceylon was on the verge of bankruptcy, and many of 
the principal planters went down never to rise again. 
After a short time, tea was tried, W'itb the now well- 
known result, I have lately seen a return from Ceylon 
which shows that tea plantations now cover a larger 
area than those of coffee did in the palmiest days. 
Tea flourishes where coffee failed. In whole provinces 
where coffee was tried over and over agoiu with no 
result, tea piaulatious now flourish. Tea, again, grows 
luxuriautiy where coffee languished, for it is hardier, 
and will grow at higher altitudes. ‘‘ As a general rule, 
wherever coffee has succeeded best, there also tea has 
yielded good results. Hence it follows that tea domi- 
nat es over all the old coffee region, and a vast territory 
besides where coffee failed.” The consequence is that 
Ceylon has for several years past enjoyed even more 
than its old abounding prosperity ; its revenue shows 
a good surplus, public works are being steadily con- 
tinued, and planting is once more profitable. But this 
time it is under the reign of King Tea. 

AN EXCHANGE DIFFICULTY. 
To THE Editor of the “ Pioneer.” 
Sir, — Now that exchange has taken an upward 
course rvhich it is likely to maintain, I, in common 
with others of your readers, am somewhat at a loss 
to know why it has not already gone higher. For 
two or three weeks past the American Government 
have been buying silver at 119^ to 119f cents the 
ounce, which unless the American dollar has gone 
down in European exchanges, is within a small 
fraction of a penny of the rate at which silver 
sold in the years before 1873, when the bimetallic 
ratio of the Latin Union was in force aud the rupee 
was at or about two shillings : yet the rupee is at 
present worth only Is. 8§d. Can you explain the 
discrepancy or rather can you explain how the 
rupee ever came to be worth two shillings ? An 
ounce of fine gold, I understand, exchanges at the 
English mint for £3 17s. Gd., aud that the old 
bimetallic ratio of 15| to 1 makes the price 
of fine silver 60J., which was practically the rate 
at which that metal sold for many years prior to 
1873, Now a rupee weighs 180 grains and contains 
about 1G5 grains of fine silver, which at the above 
price makes its intrinsic value (neglecling alloy) 
Is. 6gd. How did it ever come to be worth two 
shillings ? Tyro, 
