RUBBER PLANTING 123 



for employment on plantations are readily available at 

 low wages. These two countries also provide a large 

 number of emigrants to other parts of the Eastern 

 Tropics which are less favoured in this respect, owing 

 to the indolence or small numbers of the native popula- 

 tion. Even in India a good deal depends upon the 

 position and healthiness of the plantation. In every 

 country some estates are always well supplied with 

 labour, whilst others are exposed to constant difficulties 

 in this respect. 



Ceylon has also a considerable native population, 

 and the number of Sinhalese labourers on rubber estates 

 is increasing. The supply is however by no means 

 equal to the demand, and the deficit is made up 

 exclusively by immigrant Tamils and kindred races 

 from the neighbouring peninsula. In Sumatra the 

 labour employed on the rubber estates is principally 

 immigrant Javanese, emigration being permitted by the 

 Government of the Dutch colonies subject to certain 

 regulations. The Malay Peninsula is comparatively 

 thinly populated, and the Malays do not take kindly to 

 regular work on plantations. There is also a consider- 

 able Chinese population, of which many are employed 

 in the mining industry ; but Chinese labour has not 

 been found entirely satisfactory for harvesting rubber, 

 although the Chinese are widely employed in clearing 

 and planting. In addition to a certain number of 

 Chinese, Javanese and Malays, the rubber estates are 

 principally supplied with indentured labour from 



