856 
THE TROWCAL AQRSCULTUR181 
The exports for 1890 were for 9 months 2,7G0 bushels 
value £720 against 4,704 ^bushels for 1889.* 
Minor Products. — Of these VAcilla remains the mo.st 
important. Judging from the character of the splendid 
exhibits of this product at the late Exhibition your 
committee are more than liopatul that the exports of 
1891 will number amongst them a superior bean. 
Arrangements are being made by bis Excellency the 
Governor whereby the beans can be properly prepared 
in the necessary ovens which will be erected during 
the year 1891. 
Tobacco. — Hitherto this product has been grown 
principally for homo cousumpliou but there is some 
prospect of its being cultivated largely for export 
during 1891. That its successful cultivation will be 
confined to certain favourable localities is no doubt 
true, but your committee are sanguine as to its being 
a future export and believe that witha little patiaioc 
and perseverance the company now being formed will 
soon be an accomplished tact. 
Fibre. — Immediately after the first Exhibition of 
your Assooiatiou an effort was made by his Bx- 
cellenoy to initiate attention .to the advantages 
that would accrue to the colony as well as to tho...e 
who would undertake the cultivation of some of the 
many valuable indigenous filires of the country. Ar- 
rangements wore made at a meeting held for the pur- 
pose whereby certain persons were to cultivate a cer- 
tified area of any one tibre-pro.lucing plant and furnish 
a statement of cost and yield. The plants were to be 
supplied by the Governraeut, Your committee are not 
aware whether this was clone, but from the successes 
obtained in other parts of the world by the production 
otfibre between the time referred to and the preseno 
they feel that a seriou., and irreparable loss has re- 
sulted to this colony by allowing the matter to drop, 
and while fully alive to tno value of some of the indi- 
genous fibre plants, they have, through the Govern- 
ment, sent for the seed of the true Sisal hemp plant 
and hope shortly to have it here fur dislribucion. 
Your committee are satisfied that there is at present 
in the country sufficient of the true Agave Americana 
from which the “Pita” fibre is made as will meet the 
requirements of large areas of cultivation. His Excel- 
lency has already been the means of distributing euf- 
ficieut seed from Tailevu as has planted some forty 
acres of land, and your committee have been informed 
that large quauties of seed can be obtained from other 
parts of the group. 
To use an Ainericanisui f your committee are of 
opinion that there are three products which the climate 
and soil of Fiji can produce bettr*r than any oouatry in 
the wurld, viz.. Fibre, Vanilla and Tobacca, and that it 
but wants special attention to be directed to these 
productions fur a short time to thoroughly estabhsh 
the future prosperity of the country.. 
It has been reported to your committee that the 
true Sisal hemp plant has been received by His Excel- 
lency from Kew. 
Labour. — Your committee congratulate you on the 
satisfactory labour conditions which have existed in the 
colony during the past year, the grave importance of 
which can liardiy be overrated, and they deem it to be a 
great satisfaction to know that whilst the import fee 
for foreign labour is being gradually reduced, that many 
improvements have recently been made to facilitate 
the recruiting of native labourers. 
[The above is the main portion of a report which 
the Fiji Timm denounces as unduly pess.imistic. Tea 
for iust.iince is in such large demand locally that 
as yet little is exported, — E d. T. A.J 
!>-- __ 
Avocado Pkars in Fodombo. — E ight years ago, 
Mr. CuL jjlantcU two trccH in the K lyal (.'ollage 
ground and yesterday ho whs able to gather eight 
III" fruit fair'y develop'd and of good flavour. 
* It 'H I'l tji; II a..;. I ih. 1,1 he eno mous • r p le- 
porleil fi-oiii till) (Ji iiid .Sla'ts vtill again exiiuguish 
tills iiidueliy in Fiji.* Eo. T. .1. 
t We d'l not recognize the A meri ranis 11 , but vo 
'o eich Eoglish ns tliis;— “siifboii.ut bted * * U8 has 
pl'jutcd !” — E d. 7’. -1. 
[June i, 1891. 
AERACK AND COOLIES. 
On all sides we gather evidence that the question 
of labour supply for our tea industry is fast 
becoming a burning and serious one. Advertise- 
ments for coolies are becoming common. Very 
soon we shall have a repetition of the days of old 
when notices ran “ wanted a manager who can 
command labour,” or ” to an estate superin- 
tendent who can bring 100 cooli's, will give a 
liberal salary ” and so on. From Uva and 
other remote districts a real cry of distress 
is likely to go up as successive expanses of tea 
come into bearing and yield a succession ol flushes 
which it will require many additional hands to 
overtake. Now it is at such a junoture that all 
interested in the industry must exert their ingenuity, 
carefully use their beat judgment and urgent 
endeavour in order to supplement the existing 
labour supply or to devise means for econo- 
mising and conserving it. The invention and 
application of labour-saving machinery and con- 
trivances come under the latter category. There 
is a fine field here equally for th e practical ex- 
perienced Manager and meehanieal Erigineer. Im- 
proved machinery for the factory can do some- 
thing, but still more do we want the application of 
labour-saving machines in the field : — wire tram- 
ways (worked from electrio motors) to carry leaf 
to the Fa dory for instance. It will be more especially 
for the Committee of the Planters’ Association to 
consider how the labour supply can best be sup- 
plemented, w'hether by special agency on the coast 
and (or) by endeavouring to move the Government 
to get its officers to encourage the poorer Sinhalese 
to take up the very easy and remunerative work of 
tea plucking in their immediate neighbourhood. 
But our object more particularly today, is to 
call the attention of both the ■ Government and 
the public to the letter of “ H. A. T.” from the 
Kalutara district, showing how the multiplication 
of arrack taverns is beginning to have a serious 
effect in diminishing the available strength of 
cooly labour and in demoralizing large numbers of 
our Indian immigrants. Here is indeed a matter 
of most serious import and one to which a 
remedy should at once be applied. The Planters' 
Association should ask Government for a return 
of any new arrack taverns opened, say, since Ist 
January 1890 (all over the island while they are 
about it) and publish the same. We are beginning 
to think that the universal increase in the sale of 
arrack rents this year is likely to prove an un- 
mitigated curse to the community. We think the 
time has come to insist on repression rather 
than encouragement — in fact we should be ioclined 
to insist that Government go back to the position 
occupied in 1874-5 when Sir Wm. Gregory had 
an Arrack Tavern Map of the Island laid before 
him to prevent any further extension of places 
for the sale of intoxicating driuk. Then there is 
another evil which the Planters’ Association may 
well call on Government to deal with in their o\ya 
interests, as well as in those of the people and 
especially of the coolies. We refer to the sale of 
partially fermented toddy in ceriain districts to an 
almost unlimited extent, without fee or license, tax or 
duty to the revenue, but greatly to the detriment 
of Sinhalese villagers and estate coolies. We refe? 
more espeoially to the Matale, the Kurunegala, 
Oampola and some other districts and think a great 
deal of good might be done by putting a stop 
to what is in reality an illicit sale of 
intoxioating drink. Let every District Asso- 
ciation consider the subject in the light of local 
experience, and where there is no district body, 
a special Ipeal Committee nji^ht Jje organised, in 
