RAMIE CULTIVATION IN PERAK. Ill 



JNovv, Sir, 1 hope I have succeeded in making this much clear, tir.st, 

 the economic production of ribbons is an impossibility, second, if they 

 could be economically prodiiced thei'e is no outlet for them. 



The question may now be narrowed to this. Can clean, dry, par- 

 tially de - gummed fibre, ready for the spinner, be produced in Malaya at 

 a cost not exceeding say IS 180 per ton delivered in London, and find a 

 market in London at the same price as China -grass, viz., £32 to £35 per 

 ton. And to this question I answer — In a suitable locality (on a river) 

 clean, dry, de -gummed fibre equal to China -grass can bo produced iu 

 Malaya for about S 150, and put in liOndon at a total cost of $ 180, or there- 

 abouts. In support of this statement, I beg to send you, under separate 

 cover, an estimate of costs and returns of a 500 acre ramie estate. 



This estimate, of which only fifty copies have been printed, has just 

 come to my hands from the printers. It is for private circulation only, 

 and I sell it at $100 a copy. You are welcome to consult it, and return 

 it to me when done with, unless Government feel sufficiently interested 

 in the matter to take it. As far as I know, no such work has ever yet 

 been attempted, the nearest approach to it being a Mexican document 

 wholly unreliable and incomplete. 



You will see that the scale of wages is put down at S6 per month, but 

 that is with the proviso, expressly stated in the introduction, that all work 

 should be organised on the contract system, as in Deli. If you examine 

 the sums allowed for the different items of work, you will find (supposing 

 an average good soil and sutficiently pulverulent), I think, that all my 

 figures are high : draining, '' changkoling," etc., afford a margin which 

 allows the diligent coolie to increase his days earnings by one -third. 

 Again, in the decorticating mill (vide Faure's prospectus) two mens' out- 

 put on one machine should be from 160 to 200 pounds of dry fibre per day. 

 I pay them in the estimate 50 cents per hundredweight, so that if they 

 turn out say 180 pounds their earnings are 80 cents, or 40 cents each per 

 day. Second, with the estimate you will find Faure's jjropectus. I am 

 unable to send you samples of the fibre as it comes out of the machine, as 

 I require them to answer enquiries from other cjuarters. I have received 

 these samples from Jamaica, from London, Lemoges and Sumatra, where 

 one machine was at work some time ago. A new one has just arrived by 

 last French mail, and I have been asked to see it at work when the time 

 comes. The maker is quite disposed to send me one to make a public 

 trial, but even if I should order it out I have no ramie to feed it with, and 

 there is none to be had. 



Not being able to shew you the fibre as it comes out of the machine, 

 I must ask you to take my word for this, that it not only delignates per- 

 fectly (i.e., takes out the inner wood) but also decorticates (i.e., rubs off 

 the pellicle) and leaves nothing but the fibre in just the same state of 

 division as the China -grass; but you must bear in mind that China -grass 

 comes to Europe after soaking in hot water with ashes, which does away 

 with the slightly greenish colour of the fibre when wet. 



We have got in the " Faure " machine a tool which actually turns 

 out, for half a cent per pound (labour cost) a produce equal to China -grass 

 of a value of £ 30 to £32 per ton. 



The question is now can we reach tiie spinner with this product ? 

 Not yet. He does not even allow China -grass to reach him, precisely, 

 always, on account of the gum. We, therefore, have to unguni our fibre, 

 or at least partially ungum it, and here 1 give you an extract from a letter 



