RAMIE CULTIVATION IN PERAK. 107 



per month there is no reason why ramie culture should not be 

 successful. 



There is another side to this question, and that is for the 

 planter to also be the manufacturer of the finished product, in 

 the same way as sugar planters are ; but there is at present 

 absolutely no information published from which any estimate 

 could be made as to the cost of manufacture. Every detail 

 would have to be worked out by the planter himself : firstly, in 

 regard to j^i'ocesses and, secondly, as to the machinery which 

 would turn out the fibre in the form most easily saleable to the 

 spinners at home. 



6th January, 1897. 



(Signed) L. Wray, Jun. 



(The British Resident, to the Resident- General.) 



Resident - General, — 



You m;iy like to see this. Please return it to Bie. 



2. It is disapiiointing. I had hoped that ramie cultivation mipjht 

 prove a success liere, but according to Mr. Wray's estimate there would be 

 a loss of $ J 8.30 per acre at present prices. 



(Signed) W. H. Treacher. 

 mil January, 1897. 



In the mean time Mr. E. Mathieu addressed the following 

 letter to the Resident - General : — 



SiGLAP Estate, Singapore, 



l^th December, 189G. 



To F. A. SWETTENHAM, EsQ., 



Resident -General of the Protected States, 



Sir, Kuala Lumpur. 



I have the honour to beg your acceptance of the accompanying 

 brochure on Farts ahuut Ramie, a re -issue of contributions by Mr. Ridley 

 and myself to the Straits Times. 



A letter of Messrs. Dunlop Bros. & Co., 49, Fenchurch Street, 

 London, to the Government of Jamaica says, under date June 15th, 

 1896 — -"Since we last wrote to you the demand for ramie has consid- 

 erably increased. Not so much in a speculative manner as in a steady, 

 firm demand brought about by manufacturers in a large way of business 

 who require constant supplies of the artitsle to meet certain demands 

 which have arisen for a class of material that could really only be made 

 from rhea fibre. Nor it is likely that this demand will only be spasmodic, 

 because it arises froTu the efforts of the English manufacturers to coiuijete 

 with cheap artificial silk, which is being made and sold in this country 



3 



