July  i,  1895.J  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
31 
l>roaa  gauges  seliloiii  come  out  Mell  umler 
tills  test.  Their  working  expenses  in  tlie  items 
of  maintenance  and  repairs  wear  a sinister  look 
unless  ligured  out  on  a unit  M'liicli  gives  credit 
for  gross  load  ; but  we  rpiestion  whether  credit 
should  be  allowed  for  wear  and  tear  due  to  the 
unnecessary  dead-weight  of  (luarter  tilled  b" 
ndling  stock— the  average  load  on  the  C.  G.  11. 
according  to  the  1S98  Iteport. 
TUI-;  XATUKK  oi''  TllK  TIt.VFKIC 
is  commonly  accounted  a determinant  of  Working 
Expenses,  and  it  is  so  in  cases  \vhere  (1)  either 
goods  or  )iassengers  are  greatly  in  excess,  or  (2) 
the  liulk  of  the  goods  traflic  is  mineral,  or  (3) 
the  traffic  is  mainly  end-to-end,  or  (4)  is  seasonal 
or  intermittent.  Tlie  effect  of  a predominance  of 
either  goods  or  passengers  on  cost  jier  train-mile 
came  up  for  remark  in  our  last  article  in  con- 
nection with  the  Cape  Government  liailways.  The 
difference  is  seen  mainly  in  the  item  of  Station 
(diarges,  but  to  be  material  the  line  must  be 
almost  exclusively  either  foi  jiassengers,  like  the 
“ Metroi»olitan  ” of  famdon,  or  for  goods,  like  the 
“Hull  and  Ifarnsley.”  Obviously  these  cases  rarely 
occur  in  new  countries,  where,  indeed,  the  bulk 
of  the  traffic  is  of  a nature  which  admits  of 
lieing  dealt  with  by  “mixed  trains.”  The 
second  and  third  conditions  above-mentioned 
make  for  cheap  working;  the  fourth  tends 
on  the  whole  to  increase  expenditure.  Hut 
while  undoubtedlj'  the  Jiature  of  the  ]:)ros- 
pective  traffic  is  a consideration  tobekejd  promi- 
nently in  mind  by  the  promoters  of  new  railways, 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  is  the  sjiecifications 
for  ])lant  and  rolling  stock,  not  the  estimates  of 
Working  Expenses  which  will  be  modified  thereby. 
There  are  other  factors,  some  technical,  some 
economic,  Mhich  share  in  the  determination  of 
Working  Exi)cnses,  ami  which  must  therefore  be 
take!!  into  account  before  the  standard  of  cost — 
2s  (3d  i»er  train  mile,  can  be  safely  used  un- 
changed as  a basis  for  estimates  ; wages,  fuel, 
^vatel■,  rates  and  taxes,  climatic  oddities.  Our 
jiurpose  howe\cr  is,  not  to  exhaust  the  subject, 
but  to  say  so  much  thereu|)on  ;is  Mill  ser\e  to 
enforce  the  axioms  that  there  Jire  no  fixed  rules 
for  raihvay  enterprise  ; that  precedents  have  no 
value  except  ;is  hints  and  warnings  ; thiit  if  a 
I'aihviij’ is  built  of  a cerbiin  pad  tern  becfiusc  other 
raihvays  liiivc  lieen  .so  built  it  is  pretty  certain 
to  turn  out  unsati-  factorily  : and  lastly  that  in 
the  problems  udiich  ha.s  e to  lie  solsaal  before  the 
first  .sod  of  any  nesv  railway  can  safely  be  fumed 
the  plain  man  has  a share  and  a voice  M hich  he 
cannot  judiciously  delegate  to  the  Engineer. 
In  our  next  iirticle  Me  shall  deal  lirieliy  Mith 
the  relation  between  Management — State  and  Com- 
]iaiiy — and  Working  Expenses  ; and  shall  then 
take  u])  .some  of  the  <|uestions  M’hich  arise  in 
connection  Mith  T.vkifias. 
PLANTEUS  AND  L.^HOUKEHS: 
THE  CINNAMON  INDPSTRY  AND  THE 
DESERTION  OE  “PEELERS”  M'ORKING 
UNDER  A CONTRACT  SYSTEM. 
Tea  planters  in  Ceylon  are  not  alone  in  their 
experience  of  disfurbiug,  if  not  contradictory, 
judicial  deliverances  in  lefeiencc  to  the  rehitions 
existing  between  employers  and  labourers  on 
plantations.  The  oldest,  .and  ut  one  time  the 
most  important  Phuiting  indu.stry  in  Ceylon — 
that  of  cinnamon  (the  spice  M-hich,  sent  from 
our  shores  to  Rome  in  the  time  of  the  Emperor 
^ugustub,  sold  for  the  equivalent  of  per  lb) 
— -L  iwUtU  tlLtvubetl  at  jn'eseiit  iu  its  head- 
(|U.arters  in  the  Negombo  district  l>y  the  diffi- 
culty of  .securing  punishment  for  labourers  m-Iio 
break  their  contnict  .and  desert  their  em|iloyers, 
perhaps  at  the  most  critical  time  of  the  mIioIc 
ye.ar  Mdien  the  Cinnamon  bai'k  is  ready  to  peel 
and  M'hen  a few  days  and  a ch.ange  of  M’eather 
may  make  a vast  dilleremte  in  the  !'ahie  of  the  cro)i. 
If  ever  there  m.is  a case  M’here  prompt  jmnish- 
ment  is  needed,  one  Mould  .say  it  M-as  in  (he 
case  of  deserters  under  such'  circumstances— 
labourers  taking  advantage  of  the  absolute  and 
urgent  necessity  of  their  em]iloyers  to  sIiom- 
their  importance  if  not  to  vent  tiieir  malice  liy 
running  away  from  tlieir  contracts,  knoMin.- 
how  extremely  diflicult  it  Mill  be  to  fill  their 
]daces.  Eor,  unlike  ordinary  estate  coolies 
cinnamon  jieelers  are  ii  class  by  them.selve.s 
and  may  in  fact  be  considered  to  be  “.skilled 
Labourers.”  The  only  jiarallel  M e can  give  is  that 
of  the  tr.ained  hands  of  a tea  bictory  at  the  very 
busiest  time  of  the  year,  Mitlmut  cause  desert- 
ing their  posts.  ^ Hom-  should  the  Law  and  the 
Courts  treat  such  a c.ase? 
In  the  c.ase  of  the  spice  industiy,  it  is  not,  ap- 
p.arently,  that  in  the  present  year  there  h.a.s  been 
any  special  increase  of  “desertion”  from  cinnamon 
estate.s ; but  that  the  present  Magistrate  of 
Negombo— unlike  iuiy  of  his  predecessors— has 
decided  tlnit  cases  of  desertion  and  breach  of 
contract  such  as  M'e  have  described,  should  be 
imoceeded  against,  not  criminally — by  issuing  M-ar* 
rants  for  the  apprehension  of  the  f'leserters— but 
through  civil  actions.  A “ civil  action”  a<>-ainst  a 
liolting  cinnamon  })celer  ! 
Let  us  now  proceed  to  deal  moi'e  in  detail 
with  the  state  of  aflair.s  levealed  by  the  ijro* 
ceedings  in  our  Supplement,  and  in  doim-'  so  It 
M'ill  lie  observed  Iiom-  aijpllcable  is  mucirof  M hat 
M’e  M-rite  to  the  case  of  tea  planters  and  their 
labourers.  First,  to  (|Uote  from  the  Introduction 
to  jUessrs.  Lewis  and  CraM-ford’.s  admirable  com- 
liilatiou  “ Phiiuts  under  the  Master  and  Ser- 
vants ( (rdiiiiince”  : — 
“III  any  country,  in  Mhich  slavery  is  illegal  the 
relations  betM'cen  master  and  serv.ant  must  neces- 
sarily exist  by  virtue  of  sonie  agreement,  either 
express  or  implied  between  the  parties— in  other 
words  they  ai-e  created  by  contract.  The  remedy 
for  breach  of  contract  is  ordinarily  by  civil  actioii 
The  experience  hoM'evor  of  different  'countries  has 
shown  that,  so  far  as  regards  this  ebiss  of  contracts 
the  remedies  .atforded  by  the  Civil  Courts  are  in- 
adequate for  the  due  protection  of  either  master  or 
servant.”  “Whereas  much  loss  and  inconvenience 
are  sustained  by  manufacturers  * * * from  fraudulent 
breach  of  contract  on  the  p.art  of  artificers  Mork 
men  and  labourers,  who  have  received  money  in  ad' 
vance  on  account  of  work  which  they  have  con 
tracted  to  perform ; and  whereas  the  remedy  af 
forded  by  suit  in  the  Civil  Courts  for  the  recoveVv 
of  damages  is  wholly  insufficient  and  it  is  just  and 
proper  that  persons  guilty  of  such  fraudulent  breach 
of  contract  should  lie  subject  to  punishment'’  eCc 
(Preamble  to  the  Indian  Act  No.  IS  of  18>9)  In 
the  words  of  Sir  C.  Marshall  “a  criminal  nrosecu 
tion  IS  the  only  remedy  in  veri-  many  c,ase.s  which 
from  the  relative  situation  of  the  parties,  and  from 
the  circumstances  of  most  servants,  can  be 
available  to  their  employer.”  * * * ’ 
“It  is  because  the  eircmnstances  of  most  serv.ants 
would  incapacitate  them  from  paying  dam.agea  that 
tlie  breach  of  Iheir  civil  contracts  of  service  are 
thus  punishable  criminally.  In  other  words  the  fear 
of  punishment,  operating  on  the  mind  of’  the  ser- 
vant, IS  given  to  the  master  as  a protection  .against 
misconduct  in  the  room  of  a pecuniary  indemnity 
which,  if  .awarded  by  a decree,  could  seldom  be  nr 
Now  let  Uo  see  Iiom-  the  Cinnamon  Pluntiim  In 
duiitry  has  been  hitherto  worked,  and  the  ioV 
