LAND GRANTS 53 



kampong lands, and that these rights are sometimes extremely 

 troublesome. There is a scale fixed by Government showing 

 the rates at which these fruit trees growing wild in the jungle 

 must be acquired. By means of private bargaining, however, 

 the trees can sometimes be acquired at half, or less than half, 

 these scale rates. These fruit trees are not necessarily trees 

 bearing fruits, but include such trees as the Ficus elastica, 

 which the natives have been in the habit of tapping for rubber 

 on their own account. Their presence is a great hindrance to 

 the operations of felling, and more especially of burning, as 

 they must not be wilfully injured. The natives have also a 

 right to walk into the plantation and visit these trees .whenever 

 they feel inclined to do so, and this is very undesirable. It is, 

 therefore, much better to endeavour to acquire the trees, if 

 possible, at a reasonable figure. 



At least one large company came to grief over this matter. 

 The property was a large one, in a good district of Sumatra. 

 There was a very large number of Ficus elastica trees on the 

 property, and a glowing report was obtained, which stated, 

 among other things, that a large output of rubber, amounting 

 to many thousands of pounds per annum, could be obtained 

 by tapping these trees. The revenue from this source, it was 

 estimated, would be amply sufficient to pay fair dividends till 

 a large area was brought to bearing under Hevea rubber. The 

 Ficus elastica trees were there all right, but when the manage- 

 ment of the company started to tap them they were warned off. 

 They then, for the first time, ascertained that these trees were 

 the sole property of the natives, whose rights were guarded by 

 the laws of the Netherlands Indies. They then became ac- 

 quainted with the fact that, if they desired to tap these trees 

 for the purpose of obtaining a revenue, this tapping could only 

 be done after purchasing the trees according to the scale fixed 

 by the Government. 



As it was essential to the company's existence that the trees 

 should be secured in order to have the means of obtaining the 

 revenue stated in the prospectus, instructions were sent to 

 buy up the trees from the natives. These negotiations took a 

 considerable time. The number of the trees was very large, 

 and the purchase money made a heavy drain on the limited 

 capital originally provided for the purpose of clearing the 



