agriculturist. 
785 
May  I,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL 
Iiis  work  would  not  be  complete  without  another 
protecting  arm  for  the  harbour  ; and  after  his  lamented 
death  the  design  for  this  addition  being  entrusted 
to  his  firm  (Messrs.  Goode,  Son  & Matthews), 
i^Ir.  Matthews  visited  Colombo,  and  as  the  result  of 
his  inquiry  and  inspection,  the  designs  and  estimates 
for  two  additional  protecting  arms — a Northern  and 
North-Western  breakwater— were  sanctioned  and  these 
and  a lied  works  (as  shown  in  the  plan  on  the  wall) 
are  now  under  construction,  Mr.  J.  H.  Bostock  being 
the  Eesident  Engineer.  These  arms  are  to  be  1,000 
feet  and  2,670  feet  in  length  respectively,  are  to  cost 
£527,000  and  to  be  finished  by  1‘JOl  A.n. 
The  foreshore  all  round  the  harbour  is  to  be 
rec, aimed  and  suitable  coal  depots  are  to  be  esta- 
blished for  the  mail  as  well  as  commercial  and  naval 
vessels,  leaving  plenty  of  room  (much  required  at 
present)  for  the  import  and  export  trade  of  the  port, 
for  passengers’  jetties  and  other  requirements  of  a 
first-class  liarbour.  When  these  arms  are  completed, 
the  Colombo  Harbour  will  have  two  openings  each 
SIX)  feet  wide  ; and  the  area  enclosed  will  be  660  acres, 
affording  a-iicommodalion  for  quite  a fleec  of  vessels  cf 
all  sizes  and  grades,  it  being  noted  t hat  the  tendency 
of  these  days  is  for  steamers  to  emain  in  port  as 
short  a time  unloading,  coaling  and  loading,  as 
possible, — ^quick  despatch  being  the  test  of  a port’s 
convenience  and  good  mauagemeut. 
The  total  cost  of  these  Harbour  Works  £1,250,000 
has  been  guaranteed  by  the  Colony,  the  steadily 
increasing  income  from  port  dues,  pilotage,  rewt,  etc., 
fully  justfying  the  outlay.  There  are  now  few  busier 
ports,  than  that  of  I’olombo,  and  not  being  properly  a 
terminal  port,  it  is  fittingly  called  the  Claphani  junc- 
tion of  mail  steamers  and  passengers  for  the  East 
and  far  South.  It  is  the  great  meeting-place  for 
the  steamers  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  Com- 
pany, of  the  Orient  S.N.  Company,  of  the 
Messageries  Maritimes,  of  the  Norddeutscher  L'oyds — 
all  running  to  Australia  and  China  as  well  as 
India;  also  of  the  British  India  S.N.  Compinv  with 
its  complete  Indian  Coastii  g as  well  as  Queens- 
land Service  ; of  Bibby’s  Liverpool,  Marseilles  and 
Kangconline  ; of  the  Clan,  City,  Ducal,  Ocean,  and  a 
great  variety  besides  of  British  as  well  as  foreign 
Steamer  Conipanies.  Every  national  flag  is  from 
time  to  time,  displayed  in  the  harbour,  as  m luy  as 
15  to  20  large  ocean-going  stcanisrs  occasionally 
arriving  in  one  day.  The'  aggregate  inwards  and 
outwards  tonnage  for  Colombo  now  approximates 
to  6 million  tons  per  annum. 
One  great*  advantage  of  Colombo  harbour  is  the 
ease  and  safety  of  approach  at  nearly  all  seasons 
during  night  or  day.  The  Colombo  lighthouse  stands 
120  feet  above  sea  level  and  the  light  is  visible  18 
miles  off  at  sea.  Harbour  lights  will  mark  the  ends 
of  the  Breakwater  arms  and  openings  nearly  13 
miles  off.  The  average  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  is 
only  about  18  inches. 
GUAVIXa  DOCK. 
It  was  felt  all  along  that  without  a Grav- 
ing Dock,  Colombo  Harbour  Works  could  never 
be  considered  complete,  and  after  full  consi- 
deration and  negotiations  between  the  Admi- 
ralty, the  Colonial  Office,  the  Treasury  and  the 
Government  of  Ceylon,  it  has  just  been  decided 
(a  few  weeks  ago)  that  a first-class  Dock  of  the  largest 
size  be  constructed  at  Colombo  on  a design  by 
Messrs.  Coode,  Son  and  Matthews,  600  feet  long  by 
62  to  85  ft.  broad,  23  feet  dee[)  equal  to  taking  in 
the  largest  ironclad  afloat,  at  a cost  of  £318,000 
— half  of  which  is  to  bo  provided  by  the  Colony  and 
half  by  the  Imperial  Treasury.  The  work  is  to  bo  done 
by  1901  A.D.  Colombo  will  then  possess  both  the  largest 
Artificial  Harbour  and  Graving  Dock  hi  the  world. 
IMPKRIAI,  IMPORTANCE  OF  COLOMBO. 
After  this,  it  is  needless  to  dwell  on  the  Imperial  im- 
portance of  this  central  port  with  its  safe  harbour  and 
stores  of  coal — nearly  3.50,000  tons  imported  annually,  at 
the  most  commanding  point  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Modern  batteries  and  guns  for  its  defence  have 
been  already  provided  and  it  is  anticipated,  that, 
when  the  Dock  is  constructed,  the  East  Indian  Naval 
Headquarters  will  be  transferred  from  Trincomalea 
to  Colombo.  Thirty  thousand  passengers  to  or  from 
all  parts  of  the  Eastern  and  Austral  world  pass  through 
Colombo  each  year,  and  as  to  the  local  trade,  the  Ceylon 
Exports  and  Imports  are  now  valued  at  £10  million 
sterling  per  annum,  the  former  including  100  to 
120  million  lb.  of  toa,  mainly  shipped  to  London  for 
consumption  in  the  United  Kingdom.  Colombo 
bas  a population  of  130,000  altogether  spread  over  11 
square  miles;  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
healthy  of  tropical  towns,  a good  water  supply  being 
brought  from  a hilly  district,  30  miles  distant,  into  the 
City  ; while  Mr.  Mansergh,  C.E.,  is  engaged  in  de- 
signing improved  Drainage  and  other  Sanitary 
requirements.  As  to  Railways,  Ceylon  has  now  300 
miles  of  first-class  5^-feet  broad  gauge  line,  the 
Northern  terminus  being  Kurunegala,  from  whence 
a section  of  71  miles  is  projected  to  the  ancient 
capital,  Anur.idhapura  ; while  between  it  and  Jaffna 
a feeder  line  on  2J-feet  gauge  is  recommended, 
CONNECTION  BETWEEN  SOUTHERN  INDIA  AND  CEYLON. 
Turning  now  to  Southern  India,  I may  point 
out  that  there  is  a very  close  connection  in  trade 
and  community  of  intcrest-s  between  the  island  and 
the  mainland.  Indeed,  the  great  planting  enterprise 
of  Ceylon  depends  to  a very  large  extent  for  its 
very  existence  on  the  free  immigration  of  Tamil 
coolies  from  Southern  India.  These  come  over  to 
the  number  of  120,000  every  year,  about  80,000  to 
90.000  returning,  and  as  many  as  from  300,fX)0  to 
-100,'  00  of  them  altogether  are  employed  in  the 
island.  This  is  besides  a large  number  of  traders, 
artificer.s,  domestic  servants,  etc.,  coming  to  Colombo. 
These  Indian  coolies  are  all  constantly  coming  and 
going — returning  home  to  see  relatives  and 
invest  their  little  savings.  They  often  arrive 
a weak  sickly  people  and  with  the  good 
food  and  fine  climate  on  the  plantations  often  become 
a sturdy,  sleek,  h.appy  class.  Their  favouiite  route 
u.sed  to  be  crossing  at  Bamban  and  by  boats  to 
Mannar  and  then  walking  down  the  long  road  to 
Matale  ; but  of  late  years  a daily  steamer  service 
between  Tuticorin — by  no  means  a convenient 
port — and  Colombo,  has  tempted  the  larger  number 
by  that  route,  although  they  heartily  dislike  the 
sea. 
Next  a great  quantity  of  rive  is  imported  from 
Southern  India— Ceylon  not  growing  half  enough  to 
feed  its  town  and  immigrant  population.  There 
is  also  a large  supply  of  other  food  products,  live* 
stock,  poultry,  &c.,  from  Southern  India  to  Ceylon  • 
and  a certain  quantity  of  raw  material  such  as 
cotton.  Prom  Ceylon  there  is  a large  export  to 
India,  of  areka  (betel)  nuts,  copperab,  coconut  oil,  &c. 
COLOMBO  AND  AN  INDO-CEYLON  RAILWAY. 
Travancore,  a flouiishing  planting  division  in  South- 
ern India,  may  bo  considered  an  offshoot  from  Ceylon, 
its  first  planters  having  been  trained  in  the  ifslan*, 
and  the  natural  market  for  its  tea,  &c.,  isC;loml)o 
— where  there  is  now  regularly  established  weekly 
public  sales  of  tea.  To  all  Anglo-Indi  ins  in  the 
Madras  Presidency — whether  public  officers,  planters, 
missionaries  or  others — Colombo  must  become  the 
favourite  port;  because  there,  they  can  get  a steamer 
direct  to  almost  any  part  of  the  world,  which  is 
not  the  case  at  Calcutta  or  even  Bombay,  while  few 
steamers  now  call  at  Madras.  With  railway  com- 
munication established  between  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency and  Colombo,  there  cannot  be  a question 
that  the  latter  would  become  the  port  for  all  the 
passenger  traffic  beyond  seas  ; while  such  a line  would 
carry  all  the  coo'ies  migrating  to  and  fro,  whose  num- 
bers to  Ceylon  especially,  could  not  fail  to  increase  very 
largely.  At  present,  Ceylon  planters  would  be  glad  of 
50.000  to  100,090  more  immigrants  than  they 
have  and  the  requirements  of  the  island  are  yearly 
increasing.  Passengers  iu  tlie  shape  of  pilgrims  for 
Rameswaram  Temple,  would  certsinly  prove  agrowing 
item  in  the  traffic  of  .an  Indo-Cey'loii  line.  Colombo 
nas  already  been  made  the  Mail-port  to  a large  ex- 
tent for  Madras  and  Rangoon  and  with  aEailway  all  the 
foreign  mails  and  passengers  and  a certain  amount  of 
goods  for  Southern  India  would  pass  through  Colombo 
—a,  great  advantage  at  such  a time  as  this  when 
