694 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIS  P. 
[April  i,  1897. 
or  so,  Kurnncgala  will  boast  of  a coconut  manufac- 
tory, coconut  oil,  fibre  and  desiccating  mill  in  full 
working  swing.  In  a coconut  district  such  as  this 
IS,  the  visefulness  aud  importance  of  a manufactory 
of  this  kind  cannot  be  overestimated.  blather 
than  allow  the  principal  agricultural  product  to  leave 
the  district  and  be  diverted  into  various  channels 
outside  its  borders  it  will  attract  and  utilize  the 
trade,  offer  a ready  market  to  the  district  owners  of 
coconut,  and  open  out  a never-failing  field  of  work 
to  the  labouring  classes.  Such  a public  benefactor 
deserves  well  of  his  countrymen,  and  in  giving  the 
following  description  of  the  mills,  which  will  pro- 
bably commence  operations  in  April  or  May  next,  we 
wish  Messrs.  ,7.  C.  de  Silva  A Co.  of  which  firm,  Mr. 
John  Clovis  de  Silva  is  the  chief  partner  and  moving 
spirit,  every  success  in  his  new  venture. 
THE  MILLS. 
The  main  building  is  one  of  the  most  imposing 
structures  in  Kurunegala.  It  stands  on  a plot  of 
ground,  about  10  acres  in  extent,  on  the  Circular  road, 
South,  in  the  hamlet  Vilgoda,  and  is  about  a mile 
from  the  Jail  Corner.  The  roof  is  of  zinc,  and  the 
wall  of  red  brick,  pointed  with  cement,  while  the  doors 
and  windows  are  painted  chocolate.  A 0 ft.  brick 
wall  with  massive  gates  runs  along  the  road 
frontage.  The  tout  ensenible  is  picturesque  in  the  ex- 
treme. 
The  main  building  is  203  ft.  long  and  86  ft.  wide, 
aud  occupies  the  central  portion  of  the  land.  P’or 
purposes  of  internal  economy  and  arrangement  the 
building  is  divided  into  three  portions  to  serve  three 
departments. 
(1)  THE  DESICCATING  DErAltTMENT 
which  takes  the  right  hand  side  of  the  building,  and 
occupies  the  largest  space,  153  ft.  by  86  ft.  Then  this 
space  is  again  subdivided  into  (a)  the  packing  room 
and  (b)  the  desiccating  room.  There  is  accommoda- 
tion for  eleven  desiccators,  but  only  three  have  been 
fitted  up  for  the  present,  aud  are  similar  to  those 
used  in  the  tea  factories. — Brown’s  patent  single 
desiccators,  manufactured  by  the  Colombo  Commer- 
cial Company.  The  desiccators  occupy  the  entire 
length  of  the  room  on  the  southern  side,  the 
engine  room  being  at  the  extreme  end  on  the 
east.  The  engine  is  8’  by  13j’  by  20”  compound 
tandem  condensing  engine,  with  9’  0”  by  5’  0” 
type  D cylindrical  multitubular  boiler  by  Euston 
Proctor  & Co.,  Lincoln.  It  is  the  first  of  its 
kind  imported  into  the  island.  Another  imported, 
after  it,  has  lately  been  fitted  up  at  the  New  Ice  Mills, 
Colombo.  The  enormous  amount  of  time  and  labour 
and  expense  saved  by  the  use  of  a compound  as 
against  a simple  condenser,  is  too  well-known  to  be 
repeated.  The  boiler  in  question  will  develop  12 
nominal  and  50  indicated  horsepower. 
The  other  machines  to  be  used  in  this  department 
are  the  slicing,  grating,  and  stripping  machines.  The 
grating  machines  are  from  the  Commercial  Company, 
Colombo,  and  the  slicing  machines  from  C.  A.  Hutson 
& Co.,  Colombo.  The  shelling  of  the  coconuts  will  be 
done  by  axes,  and  the  shaving  by  spoke  shaves  used 
manually,  chiefly  by  women  and  boys. 
There  are  also  one  hot  water  tank  to  noil  coco- 
nuts in  and  a washing  tank  in  which  the  nuts  are 
washed. 
THE  OIL  DEPARTMENT 
is  just  in  front  of  the  ground  taken  up  by  the  fibre 
department,  aud  occupies  a space  9D  ft.  by  25.  This 
department  is  not  to  be  worked  just  at  present,  and 
will  commence  operations  probably  some  time  after 
the  other  two  branches  are  sufficiently  well  developed 
and  all  in  proper  w'orking  trim.  When  this  depart- 
ment begins  work,  Richard’s  occupation  at  Gangoda 
will  be  gone.  Gangoda  is  a hamlet  in  Kurunegala, 
where  the  native  oil  mills  (chekkus)  do  a small  trade, 
which  at  one  time  flourished.  The  chief  residents  are 
Tamil  chetties,  who  were  one  time  well-to-do  men 
but  strange  to  say,  not  one  ever  succeeded  in  keeping 
the  money,  (and  in  days  of  yore  it  was  not  such  a rare 
commodil}' as  it  now  is),  he  piled  up.  There  is  not  a 
single  man  now  at  Gangoda  among  the  oil-mongers 
who  is  above  want. 
Something  ails  it  now 
The  place  is  curst.” 
THE  EIIiliE  DErAimiENT 
is  just  behind  the  oil  room  and  covers  a space  54 
feet  by  86  feet.  Ten  fibre  drums  have  been  set  up 
along  the  southern  length  of  the  hall,  and  will  be 
worked  by  the  same  shaft  as  the  other  machines. 
Then  there  are  the  crusher.?  to  crush  the  husk, 
the  winnow'ers  to  shift  the  fibre,  while  the  most 
Interesting  branch  of  the  department  is  the  “ heck- 
ling shed,”  where  the  fibre  is  combed  and  dressed. 
It  is  said  that  young  women  arc  as  a rule  employed 
for  this  kiml  of  work  and  perhaps  with  much  reason 
for  a gay  pert  damsel  would  “ do  up  ” the  fibre  as  she 
would  her  own  hair,  which  you  could  not  expect  from  the 
sere  and  yellow  leaf!  8o  there  will  be  an  excellent 
opening  for  Miss  Kuiunegala  at  the  Mills,  when  work 
is  in  full  swing.  Then,  again,  there  are  the  b.illoting 
presses.  We  next  come  to  the  tanks  which  are  right 
behind  the  fibre  room  and  are  two  in  number.  Tliey 
measure  26  ft.  by  23  ft.  each,  Tlrese  tanks  are  us<  d 
for  soaking  the  Inuks,  and  are  fed  by  the  well  ad- 
joining it,  which  was  constructed  by  contract  for  a 
sum  of  11750. 
THE  superintendent’s  rungalow 
stands  on  the  right  and  a lit  le  distance  away  from 
the  main  building,  It  is  to  be  an  upstair  building 
with  two  bed  rooms  and  a hall  at  the  top,  and  two 
rooms,  a dining  hall,  and  office  with  outhouses, 
etc.,  below. 
IIUILDING  material. 
With  the  exception  of  fire-bricks  imported  from  J. 
and  M.  Craig,  Kilmarnock,  the  rest  of  tiie  bricks  used 
was  supplied  locally’,  principally  by  the  well  known 
kiln  at  Malpitiya,  three  miles  from  Kurunegala — 
which  has  won  quite  a reputation  for  the  superiority  of 
its  bricks.  Locally  m.uiufuctured  Inicks  were  largely 
used  in  the  construction  of  bridges  and  culverts  on 
the  Kurunegala  branch  of  the  railway,  and  Mr. 
Waring  wrote  in  his  final  report  : — “ The  bricks  used 
for  the  most  part  were  made  at  brick  fields  on  and 
near  the  work,  the  remainder  having  been  made 
at  Colombo.  The  locally  made  bricks  were,  I think, 
fully  equal  to  those  from  Colombo.”  'In  this  con- 
nection it  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether 
lire  bricks  were  ever  made  in  Ceylon.  Is  not  fire- 
clay to  bo  met  with  in  the  island  ? If  fire-bricks 
have  not  been  made,  perhaps  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  do  not  command  a market  here,  and  tlnit  it  is 
cheaper  to  get  the  impo'-ted  article. 
The  zinc  roof  was  supplied  by  Messrs.  Hutson 
& Co.  and  the  timber  bought  locally,  while  the  work- 
manship so  far  as  the  wood  work  goes  was  contri- 
buted by  Moratuwa  carpenters,  the  masons  being 
men  of  the  place. 
THE  STAEP. 
Mr.  E.  C.  Dick  son,  a competent  practical  Engi- 
neer, supervised  the  setting  up  of  the  machinery  and 
to  some  extent  the  fixing  up  of  the  roof,  on  a 
special  agreement.  Mr.  Dickson  was  at  one  time 
residing  at  Kurunegala,  and  daily  visiting  the  manu- 
factory. but  as  the  work  progressed,  he  changed  his 
residence  to  Kandy  and  now  pays  peiiodical  visits. 
It  will  interest  the  friends  of  Mr.  Sydney  Morse' 
whose  memory  is  bound  to  live  long  in'  musicai 
circles,  that  Mr.  Dickson  as  well  as  his  brother 
served  the  same  apprenticeship  as  Mr.  Morse  and 
his  brother  did  in  Scotland,  in  qualifying  themselves 
as  practical  Engineers,  and  that  they  all  passed  out 
at  the  same  time.  Nothing  surprised  Mr.  Dickson 
more  than  on  suddenly  coming  face  to  face  w' th  his 
quondam  fellow-upprentico  in  the  streets  of  K ind \ I 
Mr.  Dickson  is  a nephew  of  Dr.  Cochran,  the  Ci  v 
Analyst.  Mr.  Dickson’s  trusty  lieutenant  is  filf 
Henry  de  Silva  w-ho  has  had  ten  year.s’  experience 
in  the  desiccating  mills  of  Messrs.  Vavasseur  in 
Colombo,  also  at  the  Kelaniya  Mills,  and  who  will  be 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Machinery  when  the  work 
starts.  Mr.  Silva  is  busy  in  carrying  out  the  work 
according  to  the  instructions  laid  down,  Eor  most’ 
