200 QUIT RENTS. 



supplying ships is enormous ; at all times, 

 indeed, it is much higher than at most other ports 

 in India. The plantations of cloves, nutmegs, 

 pepper, coffee, sugar, and rice, which could then 

 be raised throughout the island with advantage, 

 would moreover render it a far greater acquisi- 

 tion to the British government than it is at pre- 

 sent. 



" We have hitherto treated this important 

 subject on grounds of justice to the settlement 

 itself, and advantage to the government. We 

 shall now argue by analogy. Our neighbours 

 at Rhio, profiting by the unwise and illiberal 

 system adopted here with regard to lands, have 

 rendered the island of Bintang (which we believe 

 is double the size of Singapore) a very valuable 

 and fertile possession. We have been given to 

 understand that no less than sixty thousand 

 peculs of pepper are annually raised on that 

 island ; nearly the whole of which is under 

 cultivation by Chinese. Besides these pro- 

 ductions, raw dammer, wood oil, bark, and 

 timber, are obtained. The gambir is mostly 

 exported to Java, and the pepper to this port. 

 From these articles the Rhio government derive 

 a moderate revenue by means of farms. 



" Here is an example set by a neighbouring 

 settlement, generally considered inferior to this. 



