8t6  the  tropical 
Distribute  j'our  pruning  througliout  tlie  year 
both  in  the  low  and  u[)Couutry  ; send  your  ad- 
vances to  tlie  Coast  and  covet  neither  your  neigh- 
bour’s ox  nor  ass  and  if  1 mistake  not  you’ll 
sleep  the  sleep  of  the  ljust  and  earn  a decent 
dividend. — Youis  faithfully,  FARMER. 
THE  LABOUR  QUESTION. 
CKYLON  PLANTING  DISTRICT.S — “AFTER 
EIGHT  YEAR.S.” 
Sir, — It  is  long  since  I wrote  you,  but  I wi.sh 
to  say  another  word  or  two  about  the  Labour 
M ATTER.  Comn)enting  on  103^  last  letter  3'ou  say 
“Whenever  coolies  are  very  scarce — at  a high 
premium  — the  Law  and  the  Law  Courts  go 
Wrong  somehow  in  the  planters’  estimation.”  That 
may  t)0.  But  at  the  present  time  I absolnldy 
deny  that  there  is  any  scareity  of  labour  in  Ceylon. 
It  may  be  that  the  Oovernment  is  sliort  of  coolies. 
The  disgraceful  state  of  the  main  roads  in  the 
planting  districts  points  directly  to  tliis  conclu- 
sion. But  the  planters  are  certainly  not  short- 
handed.  I have  been  travelling  constantly  for 
two  months,  and  I have  not  seen  a single  estate 
■weedy — nor  have  I heard  of  Hush  being  lost,  but  I 
have’ seen  ravines  being  cleaned,  and  roads  being 
titivated.  True,  it  is  the  dry  season  when  weeds 
are  not  in  evidence  ; but,  dry  or  wet,  these  are 
not  works  that  would  be  carried  on  if  labour 
was  scarce.  As  to  the  “Law  and  the  Law  Courts 
going  wrong”  they  went  so  very  wrong  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Ilbert  Judge*  that  we  got 
the  Penal  Code  which  was  su]iposed  to  juit 
averything  so  very  plainly,  that  the  punishment  so 
exactly  litted  the  crime,  as  to  make  it  impossible 
for  the  veriest  tyro  of  a Police  Magistrate  to  make 
an  error.  'I'lie  Penal  Codeisstill  in  force,  is  it  not? 
And  still  a cooly  has  but  to  appeal  tosecurea  rever- 
sal of  a well-deserved  sentence.  Scarcity  of  labour  is 
a Very  gu)od  cry  for  those— and  there  are  always 
some — who  cannot  got  coolies,  but  as  a matter 
of  fact  it  is  .all  mon  ceil  vt  mademoiselle  Fdisc 
Martin  ! A kink  in  the  judicial  brain  .accounts 
largely  for  the  trouble,  as  it  did  in  the  time  of 
the  Ilbert  bill,  when  labour  was  certainl}-  not 
scarce. 
That  coolies  are  unsettled  all  over  the  country, 
and  that  “ .advances”  have  gone  up  to  scandalous 
figures,  is  only  too  tiue,  but  many  c.auses  contii- 
bute  to  this  state  of  atl'airs.  Among  others  I 
would  mention  creepers,  conductors,  tea-makers, 
the  oi)cr.ations  of  a cert.ain  large  firm,  and,  not 
least  of  all,  want  of  loyal  co-operation  among  the 
planters  themselves.  1 was  much  struck  at  the 
isolated  sort  of  way  in  which  neighbouring  men 
were  working,  and  talking  to  an  old  friend 
on  the  matter  1 was  reminding  him  how  in 
’78  and  ’7t*,  after  the  famine,  when  the  clietties 
were  trying  to  keep  u))  the  ])rice  of  rice,  m'c  all 
combined,  and  o:ich  District  Association  fixed  the 
price  from  mouth  to  mouth  until  rice  fell  to  its 
nermal  figure.  “ Those  d.ays  are  ]i.ast,”  he  said, 
“there’s  no  cohesion  .and  no  cooperation  among 
planters  nowadays.  It’s  each  for  himself  and 
the  devil  take  tlie  hindmost.”  “But  surely  the 
P.  A.  could  regulate  to  some  extent  the  rate  of 
advances?”  “No  good,  old  m.an ; no  good.  The 
P.  A.  is  only  ti  talking  sho]).”  Ichabod  1 I thought ; 
and  was  sad. 
* I have  not  come  into  contact  with  the  creeper  ; 
but  what  I have  rearl  about  him  has  made  me 
* No Mr.  Ilbert  was  not  a Judge,  but  legal  mem- 
ber of  the  Viceroy’s  Council,  audit  was  the  “Ilbert 
lljill  ’’  that  made  him  known.— Ed.  T.A. 
AGRICULTURIST.  [June  i,  1897. 
feel  towards  him  much  as  Mr.  Potter  of  Texas 
felt  tow.ards  Dukes  and  Dudes.  However,  what- 
ever his  personality,  the  f.act  of  his  position 
being  an  irresponsible  one  is  quite  sufficient 
for  a k.angany  to  make  capital  out  of  and  turn 
to  his  own  advantage.  It  appears  to  me,  too, 
that  jrl.anters  as  a rule— of  course  there  are  ex- 
ceptions — are  not  in  touch  with  their  kangfinies 
as  they  used  to  be,  and  that  far  more  is  left 
to  the  conductor  and  the  tea-maker  than  was 
in  years  gone  by.  I was  very  much  astonished 
at  the  advance  in  the  position  of  these  two 
servants  of  tlie  estate  since  my  day.  And  to 
my  mind  this  l.argely  accounts  for  the  “tricky 
and  cheating  disposition  which  is  spreading 
among  k.anganies  and  coolies.”  These  words  I 
quote  from  ,a  lecent  Observer  ; ot  course  Rama- 
samy  will  get  the  better  of  his  master  if  he 
can  in  fair  light  : but  1 submit  Ibat  as  a rule 
ho  is  not,  or  was  not,  of  a “ tricky  and  cheatr 
ing  disposition.  ” This  lie  gets  from  the  conductor 
and  the  tea-maker.  These  gentry  read  the 
newspapers,  discuss  them  with  the  kanga- 
nies  and  concoct  schemes  for  raising  advan- 
ces, sharing  the  spoil  between  them.  Emis- 
saries from — say  Balangoda — who  are  sent  on 
the  crimp,  .as  often  .as  not  work  through 
the  tea-maker  who,  needless  to  say,  is  not  any 
poorer  by  the  transaction  ; of  this  1 am  well 
assured.  Other  kangninies  who  are  not  asnxiou 
to  le'.ve  a comfortable  district  for  the  hardships 
of  new  clearing  work  feel,  nevertheless,  that 
they  are  left  out  in  the  cold  in  the  matter  of 
advances,  and  I know  of  one  district  where  many 
head  kanganies  are  banded  together  in  a sort  of 
union  to  force  up  advances.  An  old  planter  tne 
other  day  told  me  that  he  knew  th.at  thousands 
and  thousands  of  rupees  given  out  as  “Coast 
advances”  went  only  to  enrich  local  boulique- 
keejiers.  It  is  a thousand  pities  that  some  big 
head  kangany  can’t  be  “jugged”  for  obtaining 
money  under  false  pretences ; but  to  hope  for 
such  things  is  like  crying  for  the  moon.  In  view 
ot  the  free  credit  given  to  kanganies,  of  the 
absolute  back  of  security  in  the  matter  of  Coast 
.advances,  and  of  the  fact  that  no  interest  is 
charged  on  such  loans,  the  planter  is  entitled  to 
special  protection  in  such  cases  as  the  following 
Avhich  1 quote  from  the  Observer  of  31st  March  : 
“A  kangany  interviews  a jilanter  about  bring- 
ing him  a gang*  of  coolies  ; but  first  their  debts 
must  be  paid,  these  debts  consist  say  of  Rl,000 
to  the  estate  they  were  on,  and  Rl,000  of 
outside  boutiijue  and  chettydebts.  “The  latter  must 
be  2>aid  and  the  money  is  wanted  for  them-,  but 
inasmuch  as  the  estate  8u)ierintendent  refu.sed  a 
tundu,  he,  the  kangani,  having  given  ))ioper 
notice,  does  not  mean  to  jiay  the  Rl,00U  due 
to  the  est.ate — but  will  let  the  owner  wliistle  for 
it  !”  Possibly  the  Superintendent  committed  an 
error  of  judgment  in  refusing  the  “ tundu.” 
Certainly  the  kangani  deliberatel3"  contem|Jated 
a crime  (moralli/)  in  evading  his  debt,  though 
Icyally  he  was  only  approach.able  by  civil  action. 
It  would  be  interessing  to  know  how  long  that 
Rl,000  had  been  outstanding  without  interest  : 
also  bow  much  the  k.angani  had  made  in  re- 
lending it.  I remember  a case  coming  before 
me  once  in  which  one  cooly  had  a claim  against 
another  for  an  incredible  sum.  All  the  kanganies 
were  wiine«ses  and  thought  it  unjust  that  th.e 
defendant  should  .ap))eal  to  master.  I found  that 
the  poor  wretch  had  paid  his  debt  over  and 
over  and  over  .again  ; hut  it  bad  originally  been 
outstanding  for  tbree  months  and  the  interest 
had  been  agreed  on  at  the  rate  of  50  cents.  i»er 
rupee  per  month,  or  000  jicr  cent  per  annum  1!I 
