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THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[July  i,  1895. 
No.  Ml. 
'I.'ala\vakela.  May  17th. 
De.U!  3In.  Eoiion, — I have  just  read  your  veiy  em- 
phatic article  ill  vour  issue  ot  the  Ihth  and  must  say,  1 
teel  you  are  still  uninformed,  on  the  great  x'ital 
nuestioii— our  life  and  blood — the  Labour  Siiiiply  of 
Ceylon.  I have  more  e.xteiisive  knowledge  than  you 
and  all  your  corresjiondents,  if  past  ex))erieiic(!  can 
count  for  anything.  I have  opened  more  acres  of  Ceylon 
in  coffee  and  1 am  inclined  to  think,  even  in  tea 
than  all  your  correspondents.  Forty  years  experience 
should  entitle  a man  to  have  an  opinion  of  his  own. 
Scarcity  of  labour  has  from  time  to  time,  for 
these  It)  years  occurred  periodically,  but  the  reced- 
ing wave  has  returned  the  following  year  and  more 
Ilian  made  up  for  the  great  vacant  sand  beach,  co- 
vering it  over  with  a surplus  till  most  estates 
could  only  give  1 days  work  a week.  An  occasional 
famine  in  India  has  often  filled  our  ranks  to  over- 
flowing and  will  again  (although  I pray  not).  Mort- 
gagees ill-treated  coolies,  in  the  dark  days.  Many 
nad  to  go  home  unpaid  and  the  stream  of  immigra- 
tion, was  stayed  and  has  never  been  pei'ennial  since. 
As  our  wants  have  increased,  so  has  our  morality 
decreased,  the  “tnndu”  system  has  come  in.  A more 
vile  and  corrupt  practice,  never  existed  among  honest 
men  in  any  country.  It  originated  in  the  dark  days 
of  coffee  depression  when  planters  desired  to  get  rid 
of  their  indebted  surplus  labour  and  has  grown  and 
magnified,  until  every  rascally  nefarious  kangani 
considers  himself  greviously  wronged  if  you  happen 
to  offend  him.  Should  vou  refuse  his  request,  he 
demands  it  as  a right,  let  his  indebtedness  be  ever 
sc  great.  Ghetties  and  usurers  arc  deeply  involved 
in  tliis  species  of  blackmailing,  which  (lows  and  ebbs, 
according  to  needs  and  wants.  .Just  now  it  is  de<  ided, 
audpersisteilt.  I kiiowa  case, where  a tiiiidu  kangani  de- 
manded 11.50  a head  for  his  gang  besides  1 know  there 
is  a system  come  in  professionally  : where  lazy  scoun- 
drels wander  about  and  offer  0 or  I coolies  at  1\'20  a 
head,  needy  men  give  it.  'Ihcy  work  as  little  as 
they  can  for  a couple  of  weeks,  or  so  and  bolt  to 
a distant  part  of  the  country  and  dupe  some  other 
needy  man.  The  Chetty  does  not  get  his  interest 
“in”  on  Kanuisamy's  big  debt, 'because  master  has 
not  paid  or  is  not  farther  squeezable.  So  says  the 
Ghctty, — “ Get  a tundu,  1 can  put  you  in  the  way  of 
gptting  the  needful  plus  my  interest.’  - so  on.  and  so 
on.  ^Ve  get  deeper  into  trouble,  when  labour  is  scarce. 
Demoralization,  vileness,  cupidity  and  all  manner  of 
abominations  are  creeping  into  our  system  ! 
Now  say  you.  “ Give  us  your  Panacea  for  all  the 
ills  you  mention 
Here  it  is  : “ let  not  another  tundu  be  written''  by 
any  planter  in  Ceylon,  let  Chetties  suffer,  let  Kanga- 
nies  “squirm"  in  their  own  \ ileness,  I ill  tliey  again 
become  honest  men.  who,  trust  to  their  ow  n,  and  coo- 
lies’ industry  to  work  off  their  debts. 
liCt  the  law  say : — every  honestly  paid  advance,  to 
kang.anies  and  coolies  shall  be  honestly  wrought  off 
in  honest  lairour,  for  which  it  was  in  all  good  laith 
given,  or  repaid  in  sterling  money,  not  however 
obtained  on  the  “tundu”  system.  In  a few  years 
as  in  olden  times  we  would  be  surrounded  by 
honest  kanganies,  not  “ restless  vagabonds”  but  per- 
manent good  servants,  as  of  ;J0  j ears  ago. 
lict  every  planter  look  to  India  as  iris  field  for  re- 
cruiting. Any  planter  having  to  jiay  off  a gang, 
give  them  a writing  to  the  effect  lie  has  done  so, 
and  let  them  look  for  emiiloyment,  as  all  honest 
woi'kmen  have  to  do.  Ten  years  ago  I wrote  to  a lead- 
ing planter  ( F.  W.  L.)  asking  him  to  hring  the 
“tundu”  system  befoi'e  the  0.  P.  A.  as  1 then 
saw  the  thin  end  of  the  wedge  was  introduced,  of 
all  the  rascality  since  sprung  from  it.  I have  used 
it  myself,  but  never  have  had  an  idea  of  it  as  .a  door  to 
every  evil  the  labour  system  may  be  surrounded  with. 
All  honest  men  must  feel  the  truth,  of  what  I have 
written,  then  why  perpetuate  a system  so  fraught 
with  crime.  Let  it  be  banished  for  ever,  now,  and 
hereafter,  and  the  very  word  and  name  be  deleted 
from  every  honest  planter’s  “ 'Tamil  Vocabulary.  ’ — 
Ytmrs  faithfully, 
AGRICOLA. 
CKVLOxV  TLA  IN  .VMKlllCA. 
bin. — 'Though  by  no  means  an  upholder  of  the  Tea 
Cess,  yet  seeing  that  we  are  perforce  obliged  to  pay 
it,  it  behoves  us  to  at  least  try  and  get  the  best 
value  for  our  money,  and  1 think  Mr  Mackenzie’s 
letter  shows  us  bow  this  can  be  done  namely  by 
judicious  adveitizing.  I am  quite  prepared  to  sup- 
)iort  that  part  of  his  scheme,  but  I must  emphati- 
cally protest  against  any  more  of  our  hard  earned 
money  being  siient  in  supporting  canvassers  in 
America  whether  ex-planters  or  others.  We  have 
of  late  heard  rather  too  much  of  certain  gentlemen 
now  in  America,  w’ho  appear  to  have  constituted 
themselves  into  a mutual  admiration  society.  Their 
object  is  laudable  enough,  to  make  an  honest 
living,  but  I very  much  doubt  if  the  results  to  be 
obtained  by  employing  them  will  be  at  all  commen- 
surate with  the  expenditure  necessary,  and  were  the 
bulk  of  Ceylon  proprietors  consulted,  I believe  they 
would  be  found  to  be  of  my  opinion. — I am  etc., 
PKOPIilETOR. 
rilL  KLS'l’KK  TING  OF  TEA 
ITIODUGTION. 
Dn.vit  Slit, — 'The  efforts  of  some  planters  to  create 
a monopoly  of  tea  production  are  rapidly  approaching 
the  ridiculous  and  we  may  shortly  expect  to  see  a 
series  of  resolutions  passed  sou;  ewhat  as  follows  : — By 
the  Dimbula  Association  (who  have  all  the  land  they 
want) “ That  owing  to  the  danger  of  overproduction 
Government  put  a reserve  of  ItlOO  on  all  land  for 
tea.  ' By  the  Kurnegoda  Association  (who  have 
jilcnty  of  Sinhalese  labour): — “ 'That  owing,  etc.. 
Government  put  a tax  of  BIO  on  all  immigrant 
labourers  landing  in  Ceylon.”  By  the  Ilapushima  As- 
sociation layoung  district  with  good  soil)  “'Ihatowing, 
etc..  Government  put  a tax  on  all  manure  imported” 
By  the  Muttegama  Association  (who  have  got  their 
railway !)  “ 'That  owing,  etc..  Government  make 
no  more  railwaj's  to  young  tea  districts.”  By 
the  Kalutotte  Association  (who  have  water  trans- 
port) " 'That  owing,  etc..  Government  raise  the  railway 
rates  on  tea  and  manure.”  And  so  on.  There  is  far 
more  danger  of  increased  production  by  manuring  and 
introducing  more  labour  which  will  take  effect  at 
once  than  from  increased  planted  acreage  which 
cannot  affect  the  market  for  some  years  and  which 
withdraws  labour  from  the  manufacture  of  tea  in 
the  meantime. — Yours  truly.  B.  B.  B. 
.IA^■A  CINCHONA  COMP.VNIES. 
'1' he  annual  general  meeting  of  shareholders  in  the 
Western  .Java  (hnchoua-growing  Vonipany  was  held 
in  Amsterdam  on  April  25th.  'The  directors,  in  their 
annual  report,  mentioned  that  the  'i’ji.loerian  estate 
had  been  handed  back  to  the  Government,  and  that 
another  plantation,  Bajabang  had  been  sold  to  a 
Dutch-Indian  syndicate.  'The  company  received  from 
its  estates,  in  the  courso  of  DS'll,  ‘2, 7131)  bales  C20:>.0(X) 
kilos)  of  cinchona-bark.  In  1S‘.):3  the  receipts  were 
2,1:37  bales  (171,000  kilos).  Besides  cinchona,  the 
company  grows  coffee;  but  at  present  the  yield  of 
that  crop  is  insignificant — only  a few  , hundreds  of 
)ionnds.  'The  total  number  of  treeson  the  company's 
two  plantations  is  l,ir)(;,!i:31  cinchona  and2(>0.t>OO  coffee 
trees.  'The  average  selling  price  of  the  company's 
cinchona  in  1H’.)1  was  :>  !)lc.  per  unit;  in  l.S',):!  it  was 
;>  blic.  'The  year's  working  shows  a profit  of  21,fillf 
(about  LblHj/l,  tile  greater  part  of  which  goes  to  re- 
deem the  loss  on  the  operations  for  IblCl,  leaving  a 
net  juoftt  of  10,727f.  (about ',)1K)(.) 
'Tin;  AMsrmm.VM  Dium-n.vuKia. — 'The  .lava  Cinchona 
bark  auctions,  which  will  bo  held  in  Amsterdam  on 
May  9th,  are  composed  of  5,902  bales  and  27fi  cases, 
weighing  in  the  aggregate  517,b2;>  kilos;  the  manu- 
tacturiiig-bark  ropresents  2(1.705  kilos  of  sulphate  of 
([iiininc,  being  an  average  of  5- 10  perccnl. 
Jjivisnrooi.,  Apiil  2.>th.— Kola  nuts  continue  to  mect- 
with  a ready  sale;  1(3  bags  sold  at  lOd  and  l.lbiigs 
at  lid.  while  prime  dry  are  held  for  Is  ild  per  Jb.— 
{^herniot  (lud 
