PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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LPELLICO. 882
4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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working expenses of a purely passenger line, such as is the Kalutara line, invariably bear a much higher proportion to the receipts than is the case with a line for goods traffic.
Regarding the Haputalé extension, the general manager has taken as a guide the working expenses of the Nanu-oya section, and has added thereto a sufficient sum to cover the cost of running the extra traffic on the main line, besides providing for renewing the permanent way.
The
13. We will now set out the calculations we have made regarding the estimated receipts, taking as the basis the returns of produce supplied by the estates for the down traffic, and for the up traffic twice the amount of the down traffic. This latter estimate is considered more reliable than any returns of up traffic received from the estates, which simply include the two items of rice and manure brought up for the estates. experience gained on the railway, especially that portion of it above Pérádeniya, shows clearly that the ordinary up traffic amounts to three times the down traffic. In order to ensure a perfectly trustworthy basis, we have not taken this rate, though we have little doubt that were we to take a higher proportion than that which we have decided upon, the result would be justified. In the following figures the average for five years has been taken as regards coffee, and the average of three years in the case of cinchona, because it was only within that period that this latter product reached a sufficient age to yield a harvest :—.
Down Traffic.
Coffee
Cinchona
Tes
Up Traffic.
To of 18,274
of 18,274
TOBB.
Rupees.
7,716 @ Rs. 22.85
176,310
362 Rs. 34.40
12,452
1,092
Rs. 31.50
34,398
223,160
=
16,443
Rs. 31.50 1,827 @ Rs. 18.10
517,955
•
33,068
=
Rs. 774,183
After providing, therefore, for meeting the annual liabilities, which will amount to Rs. 557,000, there remains a surplus balance of Rs. 217,183, equal to a profit of 3-8 per cent. on the capital expenditure. (See Appendix B.)
14. It may be expected that we should, after hearing evidence on the subject, add some information as to the prospects of coffee and cinchons, as we have done in the case of tea, in the Province of Uva. But, before doing so, it cannot be inopportune to quote so impartial and competent an authority as the director of the Botanical Gardens, who thus writes in his Administration Report, dated 1st January 1886, on the subject of After referring to the decrease of the area coffee cultivation generally in the island. under cultivation, he adds :-" It is, however, a mistake to suppose that coffee culti- vation in Ceylon is an industry doomed to extinction; on the contrary, it may be expected that the rapid diminution of the last few years will now be checked. Bad " and thoroughly unprofitable coffee has been now sacrificed generally without scruple to "make way for tea; but planters hesitate to do away with coffee in better condition. Their action is, in my opinion, to be encouraged as wise, for a few years may not improbably develope a state of things in which planters will find it to their advantage "to have other products besides tea on the land.”
(C
LE
16
15. As regards Uva, particularly, there is a strong feeling among the planters in the Province, not only that the present prospects of coffee are better than they have been for some years past, better, according to one planter of long standing, than any season since 1878, but that no falling off in crop is to be expected for some years to come. Short crops in recent years are attributed quite as much, if not more, to unfavourable seasona as to leaf disease, and the evidence shows that the attacks of the latter are becoming less virulent each year.
16. We are not in a position, nor were the witnesses we questioned on the subject, to state for what period of years coffee may be relied upon to afford traffic for the railway. We can only express our belief, that, should the yield of coffee fall off from the average of the past five years, on which our calculations are based, there is every reasonable anticipation that in this, the richest portion of the island as regards soil, and one of the most favoured as regards climatic advantages, other products (especially tea and cinchona) will, taking acre for acre, give as good or larger returns than coffee. The statement, quoted in the 10th paragraph of the Secretary of State's despatch, that the yield of coffee
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had fallen from 11 cwts. to 4 cwts., is a mistaken one. The yield was never 11 cwts., and so long ago as 1874 the then appointed Railway Commission recommended that 5 cwts. per acre be the rate allowed for Uva.
17. Cinchons is thoroughly well established, and its cultivation is being extended. The rapid increase of yield during the past three years is well worthy of note. It is expected that in the future the export of bark from Uva will considerably exceed the average of past years.
18. As has already been stated, by means of circulars we have sought for information from the proprietors and superintendents of estates as to their using the railway for the transport of their produce, should it be extended to Haputalé. With hardly an exception, the replies set out that the line will be so used for this purpose. Several of the super- intendents add that they will do so even though the charges are bigher than the cart rates, and these statements have been supported with explanatory details given to us by the witnesses.
19. The scale of charges proposed by the general manager (see Appendix C.) for the Haputalé extension is based on the present scale for Nanu-oya. It provides a tariff lower than the cart rates. But should the railway rates equal, or even exceed, the cart rates to a not unreasonable extent-the evidence before us goes as high as 10 per cent.- the unequalled and great advantages of quick and safe transport would practically compel the plauter in his own interest to use the railway. Even now, in the case of coffee, a direct loss of ten shillings per cwt. (equal to from 7 per cent. to 10 per cent.) is sustained by the planter in Uva, owing entirely to the long transport by road, and although the damage arising from tampering with the coffee while en route to Colombo has greatly diminished, through the system of Government cart registration, still it has not been, and cannot be, entirely avoided. The necessity for quick transport will be greatly enhanced in the case of tea.
At
20. We have hitherto specially treated the subject under reference from the point of view of the past and existing condition of the Province of Uva; but, in considering its future prospects as giving traffic to the railway, we should mention that under two beadings the evidence shows that a material increase in receipts may be relied upon, the present time, owing to the cost of transport, the expense of using manure is so great as to be practically prohibitive: the cost of transport is equal to the cost of the article itself. All the experienced planters whom we examined on the subject stated that if they could get manure landed at Haputalé at the proposed rate (Rs. 18 10 per ton), it would be systematically and largely used. This would more especially be the case as regards tea, in the cultivation of which the use of manure would give more certain results than in the case of coffee.
21. The other prospective advantage arises from the fact that in the cultivation of tea far more labour is required, and the employment is all the year round. This means that there will be an increased passenger traffic as the cultivation of tea extends, and an increased up traffic in the supplies for a larger estate population, as well as an up traffic in boxes, lead, nails, &c., amounting to 25 per cent. on the nett quantity of the tea produced. Coffee and cinchona being despatched in bags, give no such traffic to the railway.
22." It has been pointed out to us that the opening of the line to Uva will give a great impetus to trade and to cultivation in that Province. The certainty of transport at known rates would naturally influence the capitalist in investing his money in what is reputed to be the most promising part of the Colony. The land available, however, cannot be of great extent, unless the Government dispose of some of its large reserves, but portions of the patanas, or open lands, are stated to be suitable for tea.
Nuwara Eliya, 17th April, 1886,
H 2
1
CECIL C. SMITH,
W. H. RAVENSCROFT,
F. C. H. CLARKE,
R. B. DOWNALL.
T. N. CHRISTIE. W. BOWDEN SMITH,
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APPENDIX.
A.
The General Manager (Mr. Pearce).
The Chief Engineer (Mr. Waring).
A. T. Karslake, Esq.
A. T. Rettie, Esq.
J. Westland, Esq.
C. Agar, Esq.
List of Witnesses.
A. Orchard, Esq.
J. Bisset, Esq.
A. E. Scovell, Esq.
C. S. Armstrong, Esq. James Irvine, Esq.