be induced to work in sufl&cient numbers for even this- 

 work to be carried on without check. 



ECONOMIC 

 SIZE OF 

 PLANTATIONS. 



NECESSARY 

 CAPITAL. 



BEARING 

 STAGE. 



The labour problem is one not difficult of solu- 

 tion. The country is teeming with people, but until 

 the labour question engages the attention of the 

 Government sufficient labour will not be easy to get. 



Plantations of less than 250 acres are not ad- 

 visable in this country. The area is about the right 

 size to keep one European profitably employed. The 

 climate is against the small proprietor who proposes 

 to make a home here. The above area would pay 

 for a manager when the owner considered it necessary 

 to seek a change of climate. 



The capital necessary to bring the areas into full 

 bearing is : In the case of rubber, £20 per acre; 

 Cocoa, £20 per acre; coffee, £\^ per acre. With a 

 total acreage of 250 this would cover all necessary 

 buildings and machinery. 



Were rubber planted with coffee as a catch-crop 

 (and this is the only economical way of growing 

 rubber), and the proceeds from the coffee used to 

 reduce the capital expenditure on the rubber, the 

 ;(;20 per acre might be materially reduced. This 

 would, of course, depend upon the crops of coffee 

 secured, and also largely upon the market. 



A planter experienced in the crops of this country 

 might reduce the above figures, but it is not safe for 

 others to count on doing so. 



The coffee would be in full bearing at three years 

 from seed, Para rubber would commence to bear In 

 five years, but would not be giving large returns 

 until the eighth year. Cocoa commences to bear at 

 five years. We have yet to prove at what age it 

 becomes really remunerative. 



I have already referred to the present-day un- 

 certainty of the coffee yields. We got 2/^K>. of 

 parchment coffee per tree before leaf disease came 

 Some estates get this amount now, but not regularly, 

 year after year, as we used to. Many estates rarely 

 get a good crop so that it is very difficult to give any 



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