in Ceylon, as to those who are already engaged in cultivation, the Labour Question is important. In 1904, 76,963 coolies came from Southern India, and 56,246 returned. All coolies on arrival are sent to Ragama Camp, eight miles from Colombo, whence, after a detention of twenty-four hours, they are despatched to their destination. The coolies are contented and peaceable. Medical aid is provided in every district. There are sixty-six hospitals and 371 outdoor dispensaries in the island. As a contribution to medical expenses, an export duty is collected of 10 cents per hundredweight on coffee, tea, and cacao, and 5 cents per hundredweight on cinchona. Drugs are supplied at cost price to superintendents of estates. The rates paid for medicines at public dispensaries would hardly satisfy a private chemist, 5 cents an ounce being the authorized charge for an ordinary mixture, 2 cents for a lotion, and 2 cents per square inch for a blister!
A Commission has just reported on the subject of education, on which legislation will be proposed during the coming session. In the meantime it is known that 21 per cent. of the population are able to read and write in some language.
It would require more space than can here be given to do justice to the various questions affecting this fascinating island, but enough has been said to show that its prosperity is apparently stable, and that it presents possibilities of profit and pleasure to intending investors or seekers after archæological interest or perfection of natural beauties.
