12 COCONUT CULTIVATION 



"In the Straits and F.M. States there is a 

 native population of 2,650,000. The total im- 

 ports and exports of the Straits amount to 

 86,324,495 and the F.M.S. to 21,324,678.* 

 Extreme poverty, as seen in the West, is there 

 unknown. Clothing and food are cheap and trade 

 generally good. Educate these people to save 

 a portion of their earnings by an easy deposit 

 system, with a bank that would in turn lend 

 to the agriculturist, native or European, and a 

 perfect system of industrial finance is established. 



TIMBER 



"The Eastern States of Malaya, including 

 Johore, offer some attractive fields to the 

 capitalist planter in concessions that are well 

 timbered, and such timber is readily saleable 

 in China, and at a good profit. While it is true 

 that the European may not find the timber 

 business as profitable as a Chinaman would, it 

 is a point worthy of note that in the Eastern 

 States Johore in particular Chinese contrac- 

 tors are to be found who, in exchange for the 

 timber they remove, will fell, clear, and plant 

 up an estate ; or will hand over an estate planted 

 up in exchange for a first and second light catch 

 crop. The Chinaman, however, often tries to get 

 the better of the bargain, and though such 

 arrangements frequently lead to trouble, many 

 are successful, and, with watchful handling, prove 

 most economical. 



* Figures in 1911. 



