6o8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March i, 1898 . 
TEA ESTATE EXPENDITURE. 
“IS THERE ROOM FOR ECONOMISING?” 
The above question we find is being seriously 
asked in Agency and Estate Inspecting circles. 
“Is enough work being got out of tl-.e well-paid 
labour force ?” is the more immediate form of 
enquiry, and comparisons unfavourable to the 
present time are made with the era of coffee 
and with the early days of tea. It is said — with 
how much truth we know not — that tlie big 
wave ot prosperity which came in about ten 
years ago relaxed the care, efficiency and economy 
of estate working in far too many instances and 
that there is urgent need now for iiarking back 
and returning to the old style and quantity of 
work. This is, however, we suspect more easily 
said than carried out. Wliere there has been a 
relaxation of the close scrutiny and continuous 
work distinguishing the hard times of a past 
decade, the explanation may perhaps be found 
in the increasing scarcity of coolies and the 
greater difficulty of keeping them contented and 
permanently settled. If putting extra pressure 
to secure more work, leads to a demand for 
“ tundus,” the latter state of that plantation 
and Superintendent may be worse than the first. 
Still, we are apparently entering on a year likely 
to be distinguished by an abundant supiily of 
labour, and that should just be the season 
for attempting to work back to the old methods 
where it is felt there has been undue relaxa- 
tion, slackness or extravagance. In this con- 
nection we are reminded of the trouble which 
has arisen at the Straits through the poor jiro- 
spects of Liberian Coffee. Early in January, a 
Straits contemporary published a very gloomy 
account from the pen of an experienced i)lantei', 
of the outlook for Liberian Coffee in Malaya : 
he threatened certain weak estates with going to 
the wall altogether and declared that the only 
way for the better estates to cope with declin- 
ino' prices was by reforming “the hours of labour.” 
After a dark picture of the approaching crisis, 
the writer, evidently an ex-Ceylon ])lanter, deals 
as follows with the economy which he deems 
essential • — 
The most practicable economy that I know of 
is the changing of the working hours from 6 a.m. 
to 2 p.m., as at present, to from 6 a.m. to 10-30 a.m. 
and, again, in the evening from 1-30 p. m. to 5-30 p.m. 
giving the coolies, conductors, and superintendent 
three hours’ rest in the heat of the day. It is a well 
known fact that, when the superintendent goes home 
for breakfast, the coolies sit down_ under the coffee 
trees. Then, why not have them in their lines where 
they can also get a good meal, and go out fresh 
in the cool of the evening. I positively state now 
that I have proved that I can get 30 per cent 
more out of my labour in this way : and I ask 
any superintendent whether he feels very fit to look 
after his work in a burning sun after a heavy mea! 
and “ perhaps” a bottle of beer. I want two hours 
rest at least, and so does any other man, and, what 
is more, most of them take it. This question was 
brought before the Selangor Planters’ Association 
a few days ago, and it required the casting vote 
of the chairman to decide against the motion for 
working morning and evening. Many men there 
who voted against it stated that they knew it was 
the best thing to do. One man said his lines were 
too far away; he was a cricketer. Another man said 
rain came on in the evening; therefore, he would 
vote against the change; he was a golfer. Another 
said his coolies would not turn out again ; he was 
a player of some other game. So a good motion was 
lost • a change that would save the proprietors of. 
estates 30 per cent on the labour expenditure and 
halve their bills for doctors and medicine. In the 
face of the labour difficnlty, individual estates cannot 
make the change unless it were made general : but, 
if two-thirds of the estates agreed to make the change, 
it could he done, and some of the others, who are 
now again.st it, might be made to do it. Once a 
week is unite enough for a man to get away to his 
club and his golf , and any man who has not the 
interest of the estate at heart enough to make him 
walk round it in the evenings, whether his coolies 
are working or not, is not the sort of planter wo 
used to know in Ceylon. 
^\e do not think the sy.stem condemned above 
has any parallel in Ceylon : tea pliickers 
certainly do not end their day’s work liere at 2 r.M. 
and the hours altogether in our tea districts 
are regulated after a more satisfactory fasliion 
than in the Straits. Rut still, that there is 
room here as in the Straits, for the application 
of economy in one shape or other, cannot be 
denied at least in a considerable numbei of cases. 
Not many of our working planters now, ])erliaps, 
can recall the dark days of 1866 which followed on 
“ black Friday,” the fall of Overend Gurney 
& Co., in London; but those who Jo will remember 
the valuable discussion on “ Estate Expenditure” 
wliicli resulted, A mere selection filled some 
sixty pages of our “Handbook” and in a final 
summing-up, Mr. George M"all sliorved in detail 
how between 1849-55 and 1862-5, estate expen- 
diture had increased 54 per cent, tiie cost (per 
cwt. of colfee) of “ccoly work” having risen from 
12s ll'2d to 19s 4Td and the average rate of 
coolies’ pay including kanganies from 7‘46d to 
8'56d, while 27'7 days of a cooly were required 
for each cwt. wdiere 20'8 days’ labour Iiad sufficed 
in the earlier period ! Nor must it be supposed that 
crops had fallen off— the average rather having risen 
in this period from 5 -8 cwt. to 6 -2 cwt. of coffee 
per acre. Among other preliminary steps tliai 
gave a practical turn to tlie discussion of 1866, 
was the offer of two jirizes by the Planters’ 
Association for the best (first and second) Essay. s. 
These were wmn by Mr. P. D. Millie and E. 
Woodhouse anil the beading of both ran : — 
HE. MILLIES ESSAY. 
The following remarks on increased expenditure on 
estates, its causes aud remedy, may be confined to two 
general headings : — 
1st. — On Increased General Expenditure. 
2 nd.— On Increased Expenditure connected with 
Coolie Labor. 
MR, WOODHOUSE’s essay. 
“ To he or not to he, that is the question." — Hamlet. 
“ The causes of the great increase of Expenditure 
on Coffee estates, and the means to be adopted for 
• reducing it.” 
Can it be said that our Tea Enterprise has ex- 
isted long enough to warrant the expectation 
of useful Essays if prizes are now ottered? If 
there is a pressing need for economy in certain 
directions and if Colombo Merchants, Agents 
and Estate Inspectors feel that a marked change 
for the worse has gradually crept in, then we say 
there ought to be considerable scope for enquiry, 
rellection and practical suggestions towards re- 
form as would warrant a call for Prize Essays. 
Much happens in a dozen years in a colony like 
Ceylon and with a tropical cultivation like that of 
coffee and tea. Now, Mr. Wall’s comparison in 
1866 only covered a period ot ten to thirteen 
yeais ; yet the result was eminently beneficial. 
The tea industry of Ceylon may be said to 
have begun with 1,080 acres planted in 1875 ; 
but in 1885 this had grown to 102,000 acres 
and by 1895 we had 305,000 acres planted out. 
Now, we suppo.se the returns for 1898 (whicU 
