CEYLON

Hokitika Guardian, 30 July 1930, Page 7

CEYLON

LECTURE BY- PROFESSOR WALL

Although Ceylon is but 250 miles long and 150 miles wide it supports a population of 5,000,000, of which the number of whites is only 8000. These figures were quoted by Professor Arnold Wall during the course of a lantern lecture on Ceylon in the W.E.’A. Christchurch rooms on Saturday evening.

I Tea growing was now the principal ! industry on the island, said the, leej turn*. Until the ’eighties coffee held I that position but it became affected j with a leaf disease which it was found | impossible to combat. There was also j a steady output of rubber, cocoa, cin- , namon and pineapples. The tea plantations were controlled for the most part by companies which employed large numbers of coolies to work in the fields attending the tea trees. The | trees were continually being pruned and weeded. They were grown aboov three feet apart and the ground in between had to be well manured for the i beso results. Only the small leaves were picked . and there were taken to factories where the stalks were picked off, the leaves were dried almost to a toasting point and then graded. The whole work took about thirty-six hours. The coolies worked all the year round on the plantations and for seven days, in the week, However, they were treated very well and. were always happy. When Professor Wall was on the island Ghandi made an appearance and was given a riotous welcome, hut whether he had made any inroads in the happiness of the labourers it wps hard to sav.

The low country was covered by forest. Wild animals abounded, with the result that the population was crammed in particular centres. In the bush on the mountain sides there was a profusion of the most beautiful flowers imaginable and trees similar to the New Zealand rata were seen. On the whole the forest was not unlike that on the West Coast. From what lie saw Professor Wall considered that' in some respects Ceylon was.the piost beautiful place in the world..' Some delicious 'fruits were, to Tie. tasted.; and the land was .a, great source-of- gems, notably rubies. One of the exeat tourist attractions was the site of the Lest Cities of Ceylon, ruins that dated from 1500 B.C. There were j immense temples, palaces arid other brick ouildings, some of which were bell shaped and up to 400 feet in height. The roads on the island were very good said Professor, Wall, apd there was consequently a great deal of motor traffic, a rather strange result of this being, the presence of bowsers in the jungle. All the labour was done by coolies, who worked slowly, but without stopping, for long periods. The natives seemed to have remarkable stamina, though the3 r . would not use long handles for working, always squatting to dig, An example of the endurance of the natives was the performance of one man who ran nearly seventy miles without resting. Europeans could not stand up to the heat like the natives and had to sleep from midday to three ooloek, while the sun was at its hottest.