Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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The shells obtained in the Ceylon fisheries do not possess sufficient thickness of lustrous nacre for use as mother-of-pearl, and are mostly used for camp-filling. A few are burned and converted into chunam, i.e.: prepared lime for building purposes, or to be used by natives for chewing with the betel-nut. Forty or fifty years ago, before the large receipts of mother-of-pearl from Australia and the southern Pacific, there was a good market for the shell for button manufacture and the like, but since 1875 only the choicest have been used for this purpose, and these are worth only about $25 per ton delivered in Europe.

It will be observed that up to the close of the season of 1906, the Ceylon fisheries were operated by the colonial government as a state monopoly. In 1904, proposals were made to the British colonial office by a London syndicate with a view to leasing the fisheries for a term of years. The original suggestion was that they should be leased for thirty years in consideration of an annual rental of £13,000 or Rs.195,000, together with a share of the net profits after payment of a reasonable rate of interest on the investment; and later it was suggested that the rental be Rs.100,000 a year and twenty per cent. of the profits after seven per cent. on capital had been paid to the shareholders. But the government preferred a definite money payment without any rights to share in the profits realized; and after lengthy negotiations this was fixed at Rs.310,000 annually, with certain preliminary payments. Accordingly, on November 30, 1905, a preliminary agreement was executed between the crown agents for the colonies, acting on behalf of the government of Ceylon, and representatives of the Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers, Limited. On February 27, 1906, this agreement was confirmed and made effective by special ordinance^[156] of the governor and legislative council of Ceylon, and the crown agents were authorized to execute the lease as of January 1, 1906.