April r, 1898 
THE TROPICALAGRICULTURIST. 
693 
LABOUR FEDERATION AND COAST 
ADVANCES IN CEYLON. 
Report of the Joint Committee of the Ceylon 
Chamber of Commerce and the Planter. 3 ’ Association 
of Ceylon appointed to consider the question of Coast 
Advances to Estates Kanganies and Coolies with a 
view to their reduction. 
The Joint Committee of the Chamber of Commerce 
and the Planters’ of Ceylon have received the follow- 
ing replies to their recommedations, viz.; — 11 replies 
from Colombo Agency Firms, 16 from District As- 
sociations, and 4 from Managers of Companies. Of 
these 25 were in favour tf recommendation (a), and 
3 against it; 27 in favour of (b), and 3 against; 28 
in favour of (c), and 1 against ; 13 in favour of (d), and 
13 against , 25 in favour of fe), and 4 against. 
The Joint Committee finally recommend the adop- 
tion of the following resolutions: — 
(a) To make Coast Advances a matter of yearly 
settlement, this not implying that outstanding ad- 
vances can in all cases be fully recovered, but that 
on all Estates there be a yearly reckoning and adjust- 
ment of advances as between Estates and Kanganies 
and Coolies. 
(ii) To adopt a system of Monthly Payment of 
Coolie wages within say 35 to 40 days, and in any 
events to make payments every two months. 
(e) To send advances direct to the Coast as far 
as possible, and to consult the convenience of the 
previous employer before taking on any local labour. 
The Committee would further suggest the desi- 
rability of recovering a certain proportion of advances 
each pay day when practicable. 
The Committee have advisedly omitted recommen- 
dations (d) and (e), the former because it has been 
disapproved of ; the latter because, on full considera- 
tion, it appears to the Committee inadvisable to 
continue a suggestion which seems to approve of 
the interference of the executive with the Police 
Magistrate. 
The Committee, in conclusion, would, in the interest 
of all concerned, recommend these resolutions to 
all Resident Proprietors and Superintendents ; and 
would urge upon Agency Firms and Managers of 
Companies to assist, s* far as lies in their power, 
in carrying them out, as the Committee are of 
opinion that, in many instances, it lies to a great 
extent with them to give practical effect to the Com- 
mittee's suggestions. 
Resolved ; — “ That the rules of the proposed Fed- 
eration, and the accompanying memorandum of the 
Joint Committee re coast advances be printed, and 
copies sent to the Hon. Secretary of every District 
Association for distribution to all planters in the 
respective districts with a request that each planter 
be invited to enroll himself as a member of the 
Federation.” 
1 .^ ■ - 
MEXICO AND ITS DEVELOPMENT 
BY CEYLON PLANTERS. 
One rosnlb of the establishment of an arti- 
ficial, disnonest rupee in India and Ceylon has, 
undoubtedly, been to send capitalists hitherto 
interested in the East, to seek investments in 
“silver” countries (i the Far West. Messrs. 
H. K. Rutherford, G. A. Talbot, and other gentle- 
men well-known in Ceylon have given attention 
to Brazil and invested freely in extensive collee 
property there ; Mr. Huntly Tilling, Mr. J. L. 
Shand, Mr. R. P. Macfarlane and others have 
made an investment in flosta Rica ; and now an 
influential Syndicate of Ceylon men have — accord- 
ing to our London Correspondent— completed the 
purchase of coffee property in Mexico. It is well 
that these facts, and many more simihar to them, 
should be brought under the notice of Mr Chamber- 
lain and Lord George Hamilton to give them 
ome idea of what India and Ceylon have lost, 
SS" 
and are losing, through the transfer of capital 
and ])lanting enterprise to America, which would 
surely have been given to the East had the Cur- 
rency not been tampered with. 
Of all American lands, it is likely that Mexico will 
prove the most attractive from this time onwards to 
our planters and capitalists. It has made wonder- 
ful strides in progress during the past twenty 
years under President Diaz— a born ruler of men, 
a firm and wise administrator. A generation ago, 
scarcely a road in Mexico was safe from banditti, 
who robbed and murdered with impunity. Now 
order and justice everywhere prevail, and as a 
London contempor.ary puts it “ today, great rail- 
ways, connected with the American trunk lines, 
traverse the country, thousands of tourists from the 
United States make the spring excursions to 
Mexico to enjoy a bracing climate and a life more 
picturesque in incident and colour than more 
northern climes afford, and travel in every partis — 
by the admission of Americans— more secure 
than in some of the South-Western States and Ter- 
ritories of the Union.” Then horv few of us realize 
what a great country Mexico is with its 767,000 
square miles (equal to thirty Ceylon’s), magni- 
ficent climate on the extensive plateaux, enor- 
mous mineral we.alth and rich agricultural regions. 
Two-thirds of the vdiole silver stock of the world 
— says the ' Spectator— \\».?, come from Mexican 
Mines ; and at present general prosperity prevails 
with cheap living in view of a plentiful silver 
currrency. 
Of course we, in Ceylon, are most interested 
in the planting development of certain Mexi- 
can districts. Our Corre.spondent, Mr. W. J. 
Forsyth (formerly of Maturatta and Uva) 
has kept the readers of the Observer and 
Tropical Aqricidtwist for a long series of years 
back, fairly well acquainted with the coffee 
planting enterprise of Guatemal.a and Western 
Mexico ; and later Mr. Laing Malcomson (who 
was also for a short time in Ceylon) has ap- 
peared in London as a promoter of investments 
in Mexico. Very wisely, the gentlemen who 
turned their attention to coffee in Mexico sent 
out trustworthy agents of their own in Messrs. 
Naftel, Clark, Fort, &c. and as a consequence 
“Tapia” estate in Cordoba district has been 
purchased. Of this investment we are sure to 
have some information later on. Meantime, we 
are a good deal to blame for reglecting to notice 
before now a very interesting practical book on 
“ Mexico, its Progress and Commercial Possibili- 
ties” by Mr. E. J. Howell, F.S..S., kindly handed to 
us by Mr. W. IS. Saunders on his return some tinre 
ago from England. We are told how Mexico em- 
braces every climate from the temperate to the tro- 
pical, and how, with the exception of a narrow 
border of sea-coast, it is a lofty table-land between 
two oceans, rising to 4,000 and even 8,000 feet 
above sea-level, having therefore hot, temperate 
and cold zones and divisions. We must not on the 
present occasion do more than refer to the chap- 
ters referrino- to the sub-tropical products — coffee, 
cacao and rubber — in which we are most in- 
terested ; and we cannot do better than quote 
as follows from our author : — 
Coffee.— If there is one product for which Mexico 
offers the best conditions for its perfect growth, in 
the matter of soil, climate, and altitude, it is coffee. 
Experience has proved that the best flavoured and 
heaviest coffee is produced by these conditions, to- 
gether with a proper cultivation and preparation (or 
curing) for the market. All the coast States of 
Southern Mexico, of both the Gulf and the Pacific 
Coast, have excellent soil and climate for the growing 
