4 COCONUT CULTIVATION 



the natives. This will account for most of the 

 coconut estates in Malaya being in the hands of 

 Malays or Chinese. The plantings are more or 

 less limited to the Kampongs, or villages, in 

 regions near the sea, or on neighbouring islands. 

 The titles usually take the form of mukim 

 permits, or short agricultural leases, for blocks 

 often as small as five acres, and, in order to 

 obtain an estate of any magnitude, it may be 

 necessary to embrace 200 or 300 holdings. This 

 is mentioned to show that at the present time 

 in Malaya, even though in the whole territory it 

 is estimated there are about 150,000 acres under 

 coconuts, it is difficult to find a plantation in 

 bearing of 500 acres and upwards held under 

 single ownership, or under a modern title readily 

 negotiable. The Government does not look with 

 favour upon natives parting with their holdings, 

 and even when one has overcome the difficulty 

 of getting actual owners' (not squatters') signa- 

 tures to a sale agreement, official transfer may 

 be delayed, or even refused, on the ground of 

 non-compliance in the past with cultivation 

 covenants, or more likely of quit rents in arrear. 

 Therefore, it behoves one to move cautiously 

 when dealing with schemes sent here for flotation. 



" Before parting with any cash, a few perti- 

 nent questions .to ask are : 



" (1) Is the estate in one block ? if not, in 

 how many blocks, and are they contiguous ? 



" (2) How many owners are there ? 



"(3) If native-owned, have signatures been 



