788 
THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICCL'I'URIS  r 
[May  I,  1897. 
cent,  might  be  anticipated  on  the  total  cost  of  a metre- 
gauge  line  from  Madura  to  Colombo. 
ANIICIPATEB  BENEFITS. 
I would  now  attempt  in  a few  words  to  summa- 
rize the  benefits  already  indicated  which  would 
accrue  from  an  Indo-Ceylon  junction  R.iilway  to  India, 
to  Ceylon  and  to  the  Imperial  Government.  First, 
as  to  India,  we  have  a first-class  Harbour  made 
available  for  Southern  India,  which  is  without  a single 
port  of  its  own  worthy  of  the  name.  Steamer 
communication  with  all  parts  of  the  world— even 
to  the  Pacific  and  East  as  well  as  South  African 
Coasts — is  maintained  from  Colombo.  There  is  also 
a favourable  market  for  South  Indian  produce,  es- 
pecially tea,  coffee  and  rice.  Next  there  is  the  benefi- 
cial outlet  or  its  surplus  population.  Some  of  the 
Collectorates  of  the  Madras  Presidency  aie  immensely 
indebted  to  Ceylon  as  it  is  : in  the  Madras  famine  of 
1877,  Ceylon  saved  as  many  lives  of  the  famine- 
stricken  as  were  probably  rescued  by  all  the  other 
official  and  private  relief  applied.  I think  it  is  Sir 
Charles  Bernard  who  has  said  that  in  Southern  India 
there  are  several  millions  of  people  who,  if  they  can 
get  the  equivalent  ofSo-Gcijner  family  per  week,  are 
well-off,  but  who,  inasmuch  as  they  often  cannot 
make  more  than  ars  on  the  verge  of  scarcity 
and  sometimes  of  famine.  Now  Ceylon  not  only  wants 
an  increased  number  of  free  immigrants ; but  it 
offers  in  its  North-West  and  Central  parts  a great  ex- 
tent of  land  for  gradual  but  permanent  settlement 
to  the  overcrowded  Tamils  of  Sou'.bern  India, — a 
matter  of  immense  importan'io  to  the  Indian 
Government,  since  the  distress  and  famine  now  pre- 
vailing in  the  North,  may,  any  season,  be  experienced 
in  the  South  as  it  was  ten  jears  ago. 
The  advantages  to  Ceylon  are  largely  connected 
with  a free  and  ample  labour  supply  for  its  planta- 
tions, roads  and  other  public  w’oiks  and  for  the  taking 
up  of  waste  land.  An  Indo-Ceylon  Railway, in  its  saving 
of  lime,  health  and  money  to  the  poor  coolies  (as 
compared  with  the  wearisome  road  and  ferry  rou'e, 
and  the  troublesome  steamer-crossing)  would  make 
no  mean  addition  to  the  number  of  days’  labour  even 
without  ii)crea=!ed  numbers.  But  these  would  be  sure 
to  come:  a Filming  Commissionn-  (Mr.  E.  .1 
Young)  who  went  over  the  Madras  Presidency  some 
years  ago  and  snwihe  chief  anthorit'es,  made  sure  that 
unbroken  railway  communication  was  the  one  solu- 
tion of  a continuous  labour  difficulty — never  more 
pressing  than  in  the  present  year.  Then,  of  course, 
unoccupied  districts  in  Ceylon  would  benefit  by 
development;  while  the  port  and  market  of  Colombo 
could  not  fail  to  be  directly  benefitted  when  they 
became  the  chief  outlet  for  the  Madras  Presidency. 
Then  as  regards  Impekial  interests,  it  might  be 
enough  to  remind  you  how  these  arc  bound  up  with 
the  advancement  of  British  Dependencies.  London 
secures  all  but  an  insignificant  portion  of  the  trade 
from  Ceylon  : the  more  that  island  is  developed — and 
it  has  capabilities  for  supporting  at  least  8 to  10  in 
place  of  8 millions  of  people— the  more  produce  there 
will  be  to  export,  and  the  greater  the  demand  for 
British  goods— already  very  largely  consumed  by  the 
native  people  of  Cevlon.  Anything,  too,  to  relieve 
the  pressure  of  population  in  India  is  a matter  of 
Imperial  importance.  Mr.  Chamberlain  would  find 
in  an  Indo-Ceylon  railway  a potent  means  of  de- 
veloping thousands  of  square  miles  of  fine  land  now 
Iving  idle  in  the  “ public  estate.”  But  there  are  also 
the  direct  Imperial  advantages  from  a Naval  and 
Imperial  point  of  view.  To  have  a Naval  basis  in  the 
Indian  Ocean  so  convenient  and  secure  as  Colombo, 
facing  the  French  in  Madagascar,  central  Jor  either 
the  Malabar  or  Coromandel  Coasts  of  India  or  for 
Burma  and  the  Straits  and  commanding  tor  Western 
Australia,  would  surely  be  an  Imperial  gain.  Still 
more  may  be  said  in  reference  to  military  and 
strategic  ndvantnges';  but  on  this  I need  merely 
quote  Sir  Charles  Dilko  when  in  a recent  standard 
work  he  says  : — “ India  under  a better  organization 
of  Imperial  Defence  would  become  the  Eastern  centre 
of  defeace  from  which  garrisons  iii  half  the  world 
would  bo  aided  and  upon  which,  rather  than  upon 
home  arsenals,  they  would  depend  for  their  supplies. 
* * * The  creation  ef  an  Eastern  Woolwich  is  an 
Imperial  need.” 
But  any  decision  that  India  shall  be  the  source  of 
succour  and  supply  for  our  Eastern  Possessions  raises 
at  once  the  other  question,  at  what  point  on  her  vast 
coast  lino  are  the  succour  and  supply  to  be  made 
available?  With  the  map  before  him  no  one  will 
challenge  the  proposition  that,  given  railway  connec- 
tion between  India  and  Ceylon.— so  that  men  and 
war  materiel  may  be  passed  into  the  island  promptly 
and  safely, — Colombo  is  the  point  where  our  vessels 
and  stations  in  Southern  and  Eastern  waters  might 
best  obtain  repair  and  supply.  Put  it  this  way. 
Wherever  the  Eastern  Woolwich,  to  borrow  Sir  Charles 
Dilke’s  apt  phrase,  may  be  placed,  the  Eastern 
Portsmouth  should  stand  in  the  utmost  south,  an 
arm  outstretched  to  succour.  And  the  two  should  be 
made  one  by  railway, — by  the  Indo-Ceylon  Railway. 
The  other  day  at  the  Society  of  Arts,  Sir  Charles 
Dilke  spoke  of  Ceylon  as  “ an  important  strategic 
point”  and  that  "the  garrisons  of  many  islands  and 
coaling  stations  would  have  to  be  increased  in  time 
of  war  which  would  greatly  add  to  the  burden  of 
the  Navy  at  ail  inopportu  le  moment.”  But  this  is  just 
what  railway  communication  with  India  would 
obviate,  as  troops  could  be  poured  into  Colombo — a 
very  important  coaling  station — whenever  war 
threatened,  without  ever  troubling  the  Navy. 
I have  tried  to  show  that,  financially  and  com- 
mercially, there  isjustification  for  undertaking  an  Indo- 
Ceylon  junction  railway  ; but  it  will  now  be  seen  to  be 
something  more  than  a sound  business  under- 
taking, it  is  a necessary  factor  in  the  defence  of  the 
Empire  under  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  armed 
approximation  of  France  from  the  south-westward 
and  the  extension  of  the  Russo-French  alliance  east- 
ward. 
In  a letter  published  a few  months  ago  in  a London 
paper,  M.de  Lanessau  (late  Goveruor-Generalof  French 
Indo-China)  writes  :— The  important  woiks  done  at 
Colombo  give  her  (i.e.  England)  not  only  a port  of  call 
perfectly  safe  at  all  periods  of  the  year,  but  also  the 
command  of  the  most  antral  points,  ot  all  the  Indian 
Ocean.”  I\I.  de  Lane.ssun,  I lieai-,  is  an  expert  in 
matters  of  tliis  sort,  and  bis  opinion  on  the  strategic 
iinportance  of  our  port  ranks  high  a;nong  the  argu- 
ments for  the  equipment  of  Colombo  as  a naval 
base  on  a scale  commensurate  with  her  geographical 
position  ; and  for  the  construction  (as  a part  of  that 
experiment)  of  the  Indo-Ceylon  railway. 
Finally  we  have  had  the  expression  of  o))iniou  of  the 
present  Governor  of  Ceylon — His  Excellency  Sir  J. 
West  Ridgeway  k.c.b.,  k.c.s  i , who,  in  his  Opening 
Speech  to  this  Legislative  Council  on  Oct.  26th, 
1896,  declared : — 
‘‘  I believe  that  railway  extension  to  the  North  will 
soon  lead  to  railway  communication  with  India,  and 
railway  communication  with  India  will,  I believe, 
remove  any  labour  difficulty  that  may  arise.  I 
believe  that  railway  communication  with  India  would 
be  good  for  trade,  and  that  in  time  of  war  Indian 
trade  would  prefer  the  land  route  to  Colombo  to 
the  risk  and  dangers  of  the  sea  passage  across  the 
Bay  of  Bengal.” 
It  might  not  be  easy  to  fit  the  work  of  a Syndicate 
or  Company— especially  if  adopting  the  metre-gauge 
— into  correspondence  with  the  existing  Ceylon 
Government  lines.  Permission  to  lay  a third  rail, 
and  for  running  powers  would  be  required.  But  I am 
led  to  believe  that  to  a responsible  body  under- 
taking an  independent  metre-line  all  the  way 
from  Madura  to  Colombo,  by  the  const  route,  the 
Goveiiior  of  Ceylon  and  his  Councils  would  offer  no 
objection  especially  if  the  proposal  came  on  at  an 
early  date. 
“ Ways  and  means  ” always  form  an  important 
part  in  the  consideration  of  a great  undertaking 
of  this  kind.  It  is  a matter  of  recent  history,  I 
believe,  that  a Syndicate  promoted  by  a Bombay 
mercantile  house  ami  leading  men  on  the  South 
India  Railway  innile  proposals  for  an  Indo-Ceylon 
Railway  to  the  India  and  Colonial  Office  autboritiei, 
