vary
from 9</. per diem lor coolies to Rl for those who perform the
boring and blasting operations. In the Pasdum Korale there is a system
of payment for labour by shares in the profits, after all preliminary
expenses defrayed by the capitalist have been reimbursed.
The
hill in which Mr. De Mel's mine has been opened—Mr. W. A. Fernando
having another at a higher elevation than De Mel's with a depth of 330
feet—seems to be permeated in its whole extent by generally horizontal
veins of the richest plumbago, associated with beautifully snow-white
crystalline to semi-opaque quartz, the latter occasionally showing
specks of garnet and bands of soapstone, and Mr. De Mel brings to the
surface practically pure plumbago. As regards the generality of pits,
he agrees with the estimate of Mr. \Y. W. Mitchell (who has probably
purchased, prepaied and shipped to America as well as Europe more
plumbago than any European merchant who ever resided in Ceylon) that
the extraneous matter in the shape of earth and rock brought to the
pit's mouth is equal to one-half of the whole, about 10 to 15 per cent
being the proportion carried to Colombo and separated from the ore in
the preparing yards. Mr. Fernando's estimate, however, of foreign
matter brought to Colombo is 5 per cent for pieces of quartz round
which plumbago adheres, and 2$ per cent for minute fragments of silica,
iron, &c, mixed with the smaller pieces and dust. Any person who^
has witnessed and appreciated the difficulty and the expensiveness of
the processes whereby small fragments of rock are separated from the
lower classes of plumbago in Ceylon can well imagine the obstacles to
profitable separation of the mineral fr^m rock in America, where there
are no masses but only scales of the mineral distributed throughout
the rock.
Then
followed a notice of a mass of plumbago only 14 lb. short of 6 cwt.
which De Mel exhibited when the Prince of Wales visited Colombo, and
the statement that large masses are sometimes although pure carbon yet
of such hard consistency as to be commercially valueless. Mr Ferguson
suggested that this form of plumbago and not the softer kind should be
used for sculpturing elephants and other objects. Then followed a
description of the various systems in force in the three Provinces to
which plumbago mining is practically confined. In the North-Western
Province all the mines are on private property. In the Southern
Province only licenses to dig are charged, at the rate of Rio per
annum, but no rent. In the Western Province, besides the charge for
licenses, a rent-royalty of one-tenth of the plumbago dug or its
equivalent value is levied, which adds considerably to the revenue. Sir
Wm. Gregory in 1873 announced that the policy of the Government would
be to lease and not to sell plumbago lands, so as to prevent a monopoly
in the hands of the rich. Mr. Saunders is, however, in favour of
selling such lands outright, but only in small lots, lie quotes in
favour of his view the results of a sale in 1880, when a lot of I acre,
1 rood and 13 perches realized R8,i5o. As a general rule the
rent-royalty exacted in the Western Province is somewhat below the sum
of K5 per ton charged ou export, so that the total impost on such
plumbago is Rio per ton. Owners of private mines, and diggers on
Government lands in the Southern Province, pay only R5. Mr. Ferguson
said of the leasing system:—
The
merit of the system, provided the rent-royalty is moderate, is, that
the lessee of the land pays only and just in proportion to the
productiveness of the land he has leased, payment being accepted in
money or in kind. At the end of each year the lease can be either
renewed or abandoned, and plumbago lands which have been for a certain
time abandoned, and which evidently do not contain appreciable
quantities of the metal, are sold on the terms applied to ordinary
Crown lands.
At
present as sources of plumbago the North-Western Province seems
entitled to first rank, the Western following as a good second, while
the Southern is a distant third, the Galle Customs returns showing an
export of one-tenth of the whole plumbago sent away against nine-tenths
from Colombo. Three-fourths oi
