8 VISIT TO PUKET, ETC. 



Commissioner told me he had put a stop to clearing hill sides 

 for hill padi. SlM BEE said he had stopped it. Jungle fires are 

 still frequent and there is no timber to speak of left near Tong- 

 kah. SlM Bee talks of a Forest Department under an Officer 

 from Bangkok. A beginning has been made to put the main 

 road to Naito (the other mining centre) into repair and a mile 

 and a half has been done. A new road is also being made in 

 the direction of Pa Prak, the old telegraph trace made by the 

 former Commissioner, with poles and wires still standing, being 

 abandoned as bad. New poles have been ordered and the wire 

 will shortly arrive. I was assured that the line would be in 

 working order in a few months. The trace goes through 

 Kesiim. Punga, Ghirbee and Trang to Na-kon when it joins the 

 line from Kedah to Siam. 



Cultivation does not seem to be encouraged and no one 

 cares to plant so long as mining pays so much better. The 

 mines absorb all the labour. Rice, fruit and provisions of all 

 kinds are imported. It is a splendid place for coconuts but 

 hardly any are planted. Fruit and vegetables come from Pen- 

 ang. I went to see the Judge sitting in Court. He is not over- 

 worked. There are about two cases a day. Only five people 

 were present including a prosperous looking Chinese interpreter. 

 We then went to the Court below which is presided over by the 

 Ampiir who takes all petty cases and preliminary enquiries. 

 Most cases are compromised. There is said to be little crime 

 or disorder. Everybody is hard at work making money at the 

 mines. The Ampiirs are poorly paid and it cannot be wonder- 

 ed at that they supplement their salaries. 



After lunch I started for the mining town at Naito. We 

 were escorted by two Siamese armed Police mounted on 

 little Siamese ponies which trotted behind the carriage. At the 

 place where the good road ends and a bridge is to be built we 

 got into a Java pony-trap. From this point the state of the 

 road is too awful for words, big stones, ruts and holes. It is 

 certainly the worst road I ever attempted to drive over but we 

 got along somehow — generally at a walk. When it was hilly 

 we got out and walked. The jolting was frightful. Naito is 

 about six miles off and we passed through open grass country 

 with scrub on which buffaloes were grazing. The whole coun- 



Jour. Straits Branch 



