CH. IV] TRANSPORT AND CAPITAL 19 



in considerable quantities, though it is quite unprovided with a 

 proper system of roads. 



Apart from this " natural " water carriage, there is also a 

 very important form of water transport, in artificially made 

 ditches or canals. This is very well seen in the coastal lands 

 of the Federated Malay States, where the great sugar estates 

 have cut extensive systems of canals, upon which the sugar 

 cane is dragged to the factory in low open boats, and manure 

 and other products are also transported. This method of trans- 

 port is very valuable, and gives these estates a measurable 

 advantage over those of the West Indies and Java, where the 

 cane has to be carried by rail or by cart. Canals are largely 

 developed in India, Ceylon (where they were made in Dutch 

 times), Guiana, and elsewhere, and form a valuable means of 

 transport for any but very perishable goods. 



Capital. This subject only requires a very brief mention, 

 but must not be omitted, as agriculture largely depends upon 

 the proper supply of capital ; so long as no capital is forthcoming, 

 so long can there be nothing but the smallest peasant industries, 

 so long can there be no, export trade worth mentioning, and so 

 long might the country, so far as the remainder of the world is 

 concerned, just as well be non-existent. 



The great bulk of the capital sunk in large agricultural 

 enterprises in the tropics is of course from Europe or America. 

 The planting enterprises of Ceylon, India, Java, Hawaii, and 

 other places are mainly financed from " home." At the same 

 time, there is a small and steadily increasing amount of local 

 capital available in the more wealthy tropical countries, like 

 India, Ceylon, and Java, and this capital is showing an increasing 

 tendency to invest in agricultural industries. 



Capital will not be invested in any country until there are 

 satisfactory conditions as regards land, labour, and transport. 

 As will be pointed out elsewhere, these conditions were first 

 fully satisfied in the old slavery days in the West Indies, and 

 the great sugar industry sprang up there. With the abolition 

 of slavery, labour ceased to be in a satisfactory state, and 

 Ceylon, with plentiful cheap labour at her very doors, took the 

 place of the West Indies as a field for the investment of British 



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