504 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[January i, 1891 . 
as it at one time appeared. The gardens areas proHfiu 
as ever, the labour supply is improved, the demand is 
increasing eveiy year, but Oeylon tea is so tree chc rously 
good that some Himalayan planters have feared that the 
competition of that favouied island is going to some 
extent to rub the gilt oft the gingerl'rc ad. But an 
analysis of the balance sheets issued by 24 of the more 
prominent concerns shows that they yielded an average 
of nearly 7 per cent on the invested capital, and 17 out 
of the 24 coi.crrns have reserve funds saved out of past 
profits, which aggregate more than their paid up 
capital. Not at all bad as times go, and if the Indian 
tea industry never does worse, the planters will have 
little cause to complain. Of Ceylon and its miraculous 
climate and bountecus soil all travellers fpeak with 
enthusiasm. It has been held by some to be the Itoman 
Taprobane referred to by Milton in the groat vision of 
Koman power in “ Paradise Regained.” 
From India and the goldeu Chersonese, 
And utmost Indian isle Taprobane : 
Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed. 
By others it is considered to be tlie local represei tative 
of the Paradise of Scripture. If not, travelh rs ssy 
it at least ought to have been, as no place on earth 
better supports the Paradisaical characters. And then 
does not Ceylon boast her “Adam’s Peak” — named 
after the universal progenitor — a mountain more than 
7.000 feet high, which, however, ranks only fi'th or 
sixth in the mountain scale, the highest being over 
8.000 feet above the sea level The dimensicns of this 
Eden of the terraqueous globe are about one-six' h Uss 
th: V .el.ind. Scotland also affords a scale of com- 
parison; Sc.tiand containing a trifle more than 30,000 
square mile.s aud Ceylon 24,500. Great already in tter- 
foimance, Ceylon is still greater in what she promists. 
and well merit- the admiration of those ardent travellers 
who describe her as the most gorgeous jewel in the 
imperial crown. — Yours, &c., 
Becokk, Bond & Co. 
17, Piccadilly, Blanchestcr, November 7tb, 1890. 
— Manchester Courier. 
THE ASIATIC QUESTION IN MAURITIUS 
AND NATAL. 
The Natal Mercury is afraid of that colony being 
overrun with “Hindus” lo the same extent as 
Mauritius. Here is an extract from a recent 
editorial ; — 
We find in the Commercial 3azeite, of Mauritius, 
of September 30ih, an ariicle that deserves the serious 
attrition of all who are in'eresfed in rvhat is known 
as the “Asiatic question.” Mauritius, it must be re- 
membered, is an island that cannot be said lo have 
had any aboriginal population. Its people are either 
immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. They 
are the offspring of European occupation, and are only 
“native” in the sense that whether they be white or 
coloured they have for to many generations, as the case 
may be, been horn on the soil. Thirty y ears ago the 
population of the island was represented by the Euro- 
pean c;eoles — mostly of French extractic u— by a few 
British mercl ants and planters— the, two classesfcrming 
the aristocracy of the c< mmunity — and by a much 
larger proportion of Asiatics from India and Chinn, 
who represented the “lower” and laboining cla.'ses. 
At that time the island presented a pic! ure of sug .r 
plantations, owned by Euiop au coloni.sts and worked 
by coolie labourers, witli a modciato admixture of 
colonial creole.s, and in the towns and village.s of small 
“Malabar” and Chinese traders. A large breadth of 
the soil was still covered by fore.ots that added to 
the beauty of the landscape and tempered the coedi- 
tioDK of the climate There had been occa.sional 
epidemics of cholera; but as a rule the health of the 
island was faiilygocd; the fever period only inf.de its 
appearance in 18G4. Little by little sli ce tlun the 
Asiatic ehinent has more and more taken possess -ion 
of the «( il, and fever has more and ni lo established 
itself in the community. 
Now »e fiud a journal fairly reprosnetative of 
)iublic opinion in a colony whese only industry has 
been developed by means of Indian lahoar, deliberately 
proposing that the supply of that labour shall be 
arrested, as a measure of sanitary and social s- Ivation. 
Which may be the “ neighbouring colony ” from wbioh 
it is proposed in future to draw the stream of 
ionmigration we a-e not tol '’, nor does it matter. 
Mauritius, as we have said, has no vast reservoirs of 
native popu'aticn to draw upon, anci the proposition, 
therefore, as compared with our own case is all the 
more striking sna suggestive, Such an experience and 
example cannot pos.sibly be ignored. The Indian 
population of Mauriliu- — an island of some 713 .square 
milts — numbers, say, 317,121. It has overrun and 
.swamped the island. It has denuded it of trees ; it 
has corrupted the climate, ar d it has driven out 
European trade from the hands of all but a few 
wholesale firms; in other words, it has converted a 
European colony into an Asiatic settiement. These 
are startling and omincus facts, and they ought to 
command the gravest attention of our legislators 
Mauritius is witnessing the full fruition of evils of 
which we already see and feel the beginning in Natal. 
THE PERFECTION OF CLIMATE IN AMERICA. 
From an American friend, a merchant — who has 
hitherto been settleil in Philadelphia, we liavo the follow- 
ing under date 3rd November “ Last winter my 
wife’s lungs seemed ailing and we Fpent the cold 
months in the south. The change had a beneficial 
i ffect, but r nr doctor here thought the splendid 
cl. mate and high altitude of Colorado was needed, eo 
we spent the summer there. I think my better half 
lias srarcely a trace of lung weakness today, and we 
enjoyed Colorado Spring.s so much that we are going 
to settle there permanently. I have been much in 
Virginia, and have travelled extensively (elEcwherc) in 
til's country, but have never seen such a climate ns that 
of Colorado, nor so charming a place for residence as 
Cclorado Springs,” 
- 0 - 
The Cultivation of the Coca Pl.ant, and the 
manufacture therefrom of the drug known as 
hydroclilorate of cocaine, is to be tried as an 
experiment at the Government cinchona plantations 
in Bengal. The suggestion that it might be 
advisable to attempt the manufacture of this valuable 
and costly drug in this country, came seme month* 
ago from the authorities at the India Office.— 
Bombay Gazette. 
Technical Education in Indi.a — One of the 
most admirable features in the scheme of techni- 
cal education worked out by Mr. Mackenzie in 
the Central Provinces, is Ihe prominence given to 
instruction in the principles of agriculture. For 
this purpose, as we noted some time ago, a primer 
for use in primary schools was recently drawn up 
by the Director of the itgricultural Department, 
and it has now been d termined to make in- 
struction in this handbook compulsory in nil 
rural schools. Already the Inspector-General of 
Education reports that the subject is very popular 
both with the pupils in these schools and with 
school committees in rural tracts. The great 
difficulty is to provide traohers who can impart 
the IfssoGS of the primer in the vernacular, which 
is obviously the ocly medium by which the classes 
in the rural schools can be reached. For this 
purpoee a vernacu’ar class for teachers will now 
be added to the English agricultural class at Nagpur; 
an additional teacher with a diploma from the 
Poona College of Science will be employed for 
the purpose of giving to selected masters from the 
village schools a course of practical instruction 
in the primer through the medium of the vernacular; 
and, flntilly, small scholarships will be provided for 
the teachers so selected, so that two may be sent 
in from each district half-yearly for a six months’ 
course at Napgur.— Ptemee/-, 
