The Cost of an Estate 9 



Calculation of cost of a plantation of 500 

 hectares : 



Marks 



(1) 500 hectares of land, at 5 marks per 



hectare 2,500 



(2) Survey fees and registration (average) ... 1,000 



(3) Boats for getting about one sloop, one 



row boat 6,000 



(4) Expenses for keeping boats in order (six 



years) 1,800 



(5) Tools for six years: spades, hoes, machetes, 



axes, &c. i, 800 



(6) Fifty labourers and their keep for three 



years ... ... ... ... ... 5,ooo 



(7) Another batch of fifty more labourers ... 5,000 



(8) Wages of the labourers, at 6 marks per 



month total ... 21,600 



(9) Seed-nuts 1,500 



(10) Dwelling-house, store, boat-shed, tool-shed, 



coolie lines ... ... ... ... 10,000 



(n) Wages for one assistant 200 marks per 



month, and free station ... ... 14,400 



(12) Emoluments and living for the principal... 18,000 



Total 88,600 



All of this amounts in English money to less 

 than ,4,500. A most promising prospect 

 indeed. The time when the first crop is to be 

 expected is given at the seventh year, but this 

 cannot amount to much, perhaps a few nuts 

 per tree. 



The Germans, as can be seen in the notes on 

 Samoa, NeW Guinea, &c. (p. 119), have shown 

 the most extraordinary activity and enter- 

 prise of late in bringing some of the islands 

 they acquired under systematic cultivation. 



