April i, 1884.] 



THS TRO PICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



707 



posal is unsupported by any evideuce whatever showing 

 that what in two differtjut yeara has been rejected as 

 uuadvisable, has now become t'ldly advisable. They view 

 it with regret, because, as victim of this purely fiscal 

 measure, ouo of the principal products of our East Ind- 

 ian possessions has been selected, the cultivation of 

 which could hitherto be only carried on by the utmost 

 exertion. In fact, planters in Java have to bear, besides 

 the import duty in this country, five iidditional and 

 different taxes in that Island, while their rivals in British 

 India, now so fonnidable, though they have to i)ay in 

 the mother country a higher import duty than that now 

 sugi^e.^ted here, are, on the otht-r liand wholly free and 

 untvauunelled in their ijlanting operations. The British 

 authorities follow a soimd policy regarding tea-growing 

 in their colonies. They levy duties on the consumer but 

 leave the producer wholly untaxed, and even energetic- 

 ally encourage production. The Dutch treasury not only 

 taxes the product but the producer as well, and now that 

 this burden threatens to become heavier still, the under- 

 signed protest agivin.st it. Moreover, the present time is 

 au unfortunate one to choose for laying on tea heavier 

 charges than those now prevailing. In 1S68 and 1^70 the 

 proposerl increase<l tUity could have been more justifiably 

 imposed than now. The average price of Java tea was 

 then 77 z and G2g, but now it is no higher than 40 cents 

 per half kilogramme. Katm-ally, the increase suggested 

 would now press much more heavily, and, that too, on 

 Java tea in particular, than then. As the tea sold here 

 consists half of that from Java and only the inferior 

 qualities uf it are available to consumers in the Nether- 

 lands;, whi''j tiic few better kinds are exported to the 

 Levant, the increase of the import duty would drive 

 most of the Java tea out of our markets, if it does not 

 make the production of the same impossible tn many of 

 our Java planters. TVa from Java is so seldom classified 

 among tlie better <pialities of that article that some 

 planters there can reahze nut more than 20 cents per 

 kilo, for their product. Such persons will thus be biirdened 

 with a duty of 100 per cent in the mother country I 

 More probably they will abandon the cultivation of that 

 product. Those, however, who endeavour to ilefend the 

 suggested enhanced duty by pointing to Britain, that 

 preeminently tea-drinking country, where the import duty 

 amounts to about 07 guilders per half kilogramme, will 

 simply bring out more prominently into notice the 

 sounder policy of the liritish in taxing consumers only, 

 while the Nethcrlanders tax botli consumers and 

 producers, to which arrangement the undersigned have 

 objected above. In Java, the tea planter pays no less 

 than five imposts, namely, ground rent, assessment, poll- 

 tax, license lax, and export duty. In Assam, on the 

 contrary, laml is grautfd to tea planters on 99 years 

 leases free of quit rent on one-fourth of the area during 

 tlie whole of this period, and on three-fourths during 15 

 years, and on payment then for the ten following years 

 and the remaining 74 years, of amounts respectively 

 equivalent to oili and GSj cents per bouw. The land 

 leased luidcr these conditions amounts to 338,000 acres, 

 or 221,000 bouws. Moreover, 402,825 acres or 230,1100 

 bouws have been made over to the tea planters in free 

 ownership at prices of from 1| to 5 rupees per acre, on 

 the express understaiuling that the Slate would never 

 tlemand any land tax on the same. Finally, tea planters 

 there are exempt from the license tax. AV'hen it is also 

 borne in mind that, besides the 100,000 acres under cultiv- 

 ation in Assam, ten times that quantity are available to 

 the planters, and that iresh estati'sare continually being 

 laid out, the differeju-o of the conditions under which 

 planters work in Assam and Java truly becomes strikingly 

 evident. A few years ago many of the now nourishing 

 tea estates in Java were unproductive forest, misafe for 

 the wliole population from beasts of pi'ey harbouring 

 therein, whil-e at the present time work and wages are 

 abundantly given on them, to women and children es- 

 pecially. Yet planting enterprize of this kind has to hear 

 heavy taxation both m the colony and mother country. 

 The satisfactory results of the British system are 

 clearly manifest, when Java in 1858 produced two 

 to three million kilogrammes of tc;i, the pro- 

 dncHou not having since risen much ;d)ove these figures. 

 Jiritish India yielded 35(t.0U0 kilos. AVhat the yield there 



is now may be inferred from the fact that in 1882 it 

 amounted to 2/ million kiilos. Against this untaxed com- 

 petition the t^xed planters of Java have now to carry 

 on their cultivation." 



The petitioners, in conclusion, point out that the sug- 

 gested enhanced duty is the more unadvisable now, owing 

 to the danger impending over tea-growing in Java from 

 the increasing production of tea in Assam, and that the 

 abandonment of the cultivation of that article iu Java 

 would be a great loss to tho people, from the prosperity 

 it spreads wherever it is established. Hence tiiey pray 

 the States General to withhold sanction from tite pro- 

 posal to increase tlie import duty on tea in Holland to 

 GO guilders per hundred kilogrammes. 



The Java planters might have strengthened their 

 case by referring to the additional and formidable' com- 

 petition of Ceyiou. We have an export duty, to be 

 sure ; but it is only 5 cents of a rupee, tay Id, per 

 1121b. 



THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY, 



The North Borneo Herald of the 31st December 

 contains the following review of the prospects of 

 the British North Borneo Company for tho present 

 year : — 



The old year out and the new year in. Tlie old one 

 has passed away. Its record is perhaps not so brilliant 

 as we expected, but, before forming a definite opinion, 

 we must wait for the various oflScial reports which will 

 no doubt, foou appear. In a new country, in tht! tropics, 

 where European outdoor labour is impossible, 'progress 

 does not make such rapid strides as in, let us Fay, Aus- 

 tralia or Canada. The forest (or, are we to call it, tho 

 jvngU ?) is, however, falling fast before the planter's axo 

 in tho Haudakan district, and tlie principal company there 

 established is, at last, taking vigorous steps to developo 

 the resources of the large tracts of land it has acijuired, 

 utilizing the soil by piautiug and the forest growtli by 

 expf-U'ting timber. 



Tho energetic Agent of tho Australian Borneo Com- 

 pany of Melbourne, after tiavelling incessjntly through 

 all parts of the country avaihibh* fur cultivation during 

 half the past year, has selected and paid the first in- 

 stalment on close upon 100,(IU0 acres in dilfereut local- 

 ities, at Banguey island and on thr Kast Cost. 



In the Government Experimental Uarilen at Silam fifty 

 acres are now under cultivation with coti'ee (Ai'abica and 

 Libt-rian,) cocoa, cardamoms, cinchonas, and te:i, and 

 another thirty are ready cleared. The various plants, with 

 few exception*-, are doing well, experience has bec.-n gained 

 and seedlings have been distributed amongst English and 

 Chinese planters. 



Trade was not good durini; 1S.S3, and there was a large 

 falling otf in the quantity ol gutia exported. There have 

 however, recently arrived from Sarawak over 100 sea 

 Dyaks, who have discovered a good gutta district in the 

 Kinabatangan, and the result of their energy will become 

 apparent in the trade returns of the new j'car. 



Tho want of increase in the trade was to some extent 

 due to the absence of native collectors of jungle pro- 

 duce, the Sultan of Sulu, whence formerly large numbers 

 came over, having taken steps to put a stop to emigra- 

 tion by making a permit compulsory, for which a fee is 

 charged. Apart from this, trade in all Malayan coun- 

 tries appears to have been inditferent during the past 

 year, and we hear complaints from our neighbours in 

 Labuan and Sarawak and elsewhere. 



Samples of rock sent for assay to England on the re- 

 commendation of Mr. A. H. Everett have given indic- 

 ations of silver and copper. The ore is the same as tiiat 

 which has been profitably worked by an English com- 

 pany in Sarawak. It was found near Tanibuyuk:in, a 

 Kjjur of the mountain Xinabalu, iu the neighbourhood of 

 Kuilat. In the interests of the Company and liuvern- 

 ment, it is sincerely to be hoped that some little energy 

 will be shown iu following up this hidicatiou. Professor 

 Milne, of tho Imperial \'oIlege, Tokio, Japan, recently 



