184 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



hear that made Tea gardens can be bought there cheap, 

 and under these circumstances Tea will probably pay the 

 purchasers well. 



JOHORE. 



H.H. the Maharajah there has started a small Tea garden, 

 but as there are in it only two acres of Tea, the whole thing 

 is quite an experiment yet. The climate is said to be 

 favourable, and land easily acquired. Cheap labour is the 

 difficulty. May it long continue so ! There is too much 

 Tea already ; the low prices ruling result simply from 

 supply exceeding demand. Thus I hope Johore will not 

 produce Tea. The following is from the Tea Gazette : 



TEA IN JOHORE. 



We have lately published several articles on the subject of Tea in 

 Johore and the prospects of Tea plantations in the Malay Peninsula. 

 The soil and climate are all that can be desired for the successful 

 'cultivation of the Tea plant ; there is abundance of land lying idle 

 which can be obtained on advantageous terms ; but all hopes of 

 establishing the Tea industry on a prosperous footing are frustrated by 

 the want of cheap Indian labour. A correspondent writes on this 

 subject to the Ceylon Observer as follows : 



" I was pretty well disgusted with Johore at first. I got such 

 fever as nearly finished me up twice. A new comer from Ceylon says 

 he had Wellawaya fever and all other fevers in Ceylon, but he never 

 felt anything to come near the severity of Johore fever. Liberian 

 coffee does first-class in the low country. Cocoa is being tried with 

 apparent success. Tea is also promising. You may have seen about 

 some samples sold in London, at a high figure. All this is nice 

 enough, but what's the good of it when we have not a plentiful supply 

 of labour over which we can have complete control ? So you see, the 

 burden of my letter is an indefinite supply of labour." 



Strenuous efforts are, however, being made to arrange with the 

 Government for the importation of labourers from this country, which, 

 if successful, will inevitably result in the cultivation on a large scale of 

 the Tea plant in Johore. In another column will be found a description 

 of the Maharajah of Johore's experimental Tea plantation at Tanjong 

 Putri, Johore. 



