A VISITOR FROM CEYLON

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 90, 9 November 1932, Page 5

A VISITOR FROM CEYLON

TEA PLANTERS’TOUR , INTERESTING IMPRESSIONS GIVEN A visitor from Ceylon, Mr W, J. Roche, is at present on holiday in Christchurch. A native of Ireland, he has been 14 years in Ceylon, most o£ that time having been spent on the; rubber plantations of the low country* Now lie is a tea planter at Ottery* Tikoya. Most New Zealanders think of Ceylon as almost entirely a producer of tea; but Mr Roche points out that coconuts and rubber are also most important products of that island. The disturbances in China, where a. substitute for coconut oil is produced, had led to a better market for Ceylon copra and desiccated coconut. Appealing for greater support for Empire grown tea, Mr Roche said that Ceylon’s exports of tea had talleu off by 50 per cent., while Java’s* exports bad increased by 15G per cent* “Next to Great Britain, New Zealand is the best tea drinking country in the world," said Mr Roche. “Then, conies Australia. Ireland and Australia have the best tea palate, th» toi mer using the best quality of tea, in the world. It pays to buy good tea, which contains a minimum of tannin, and goes lour times as far as inferior, tea.” Rubber Outlook Brighter Mr Roche said that in Ceylon the* acreage used in rubber production, was about equal to that used for tea planting, these comprising between them almost the whole of the European productive area. The rubber was grown 'principally on the lower levels. as it could not survive above about 20UO feet. "We represent about 10 per cent, of the cultivated rubber production of the world,” continued Mr Roche. “The main part of the remainder comes from the Malay States and the Dutch East Indies. South America produces Para rubber, which is a wild rubber, net cultivated. Rubber i s increasing in price now and it looks as if the worst is over, so far as this product is concerned.’’ Mr Roche visited Nelson on bis way to Christchurch, and .noticed that the mats used in the cathedral there were made of a new sponge rubber. In England, powdered rubber for use on roads was in an experimental stage; and if it proved successful it would revolutionise the whole rubber industry. It had been used in London ou the approach to Blackfriars bridge, which carried some of the most heavy traffic in the world. There was also a likelihood of its being , used round the Cenotaph.

Indian Labouji in Ceylon “The principal labour we employ in Ceylon are Tamil workers emigrated from southern India,” said Mr Roche. “They are a very happy and contented people, and they work ham. They earn about 10s or 15s a month and their keep. The whole family emigrates from India, and the children are better workers than their parents; but, under the law of Ceylon they must not he worked until they are over 12 years of age. These Indian children are very bright and intelligent; but they lose those characteristics as they grow up, for some reason or other. The minimum age at which they are now permitted to marry is It; previously they could marry at any time at all, lu yeais being the usual age. ‘ i like Ceylon very much: but I would much rather be in New Zealand. 1 have been all over the world, and 1 have never been in such a pleasant place as this. I had intended to go home in ten days’ time, but 1 have cancelled my passage and now 1 am staying another mouth. "In Ceylon, the people have the greatest admiration for New Zealanders, who are held up as a model. We in Ceylon pride ourselves on our hospitality, hut when I go back from New Zealand 1 am going to tell them that they do not know what hospitality means ’’ concluded Mr Roche.