i8 



effected in this direction by inducing the people of the various 

 districts of the State to exchange seed padi through their head- 

 men, and I will give instructions to the District Officers on the 

 subject. 



Secretary of 26. In your letter under reply you asked for a report on the 

 State's Des- system of rice cultivation practised in Pahang, and as the late 

 patc " Resident, Mr. BUTLER, had called for lull information from the 



District Officers on this subject, I have attempted with the help 

 of their reports to furnish the information required. I gather, 

 however, from the extract from the despatch which you enclosed 

 that the information specially desired by the Secretary of State 

 had reference to the statement made by Mr. Clifford that great 

 waste of valuable timber was taking place owing to the cultivation 

 of hill padi by Malays. 



No serious 27. This is a matter which has often been discussed in Perak 

 to timb d ° ne anC ^ e ^ sewnere 5 an ^» a ft er enquiry and careful personal observa- 

 o irroer, t[ orij both in Perak and Pahang, I am glad to state that I cannot 

 lind sufficient reason for the apprehension to which the statement 

 in question has given rise. In support of my opinion I will quote 

 the following passages from the reports of the District Officers of 

 Pekan and Temerloh, who have served for many years in Pahang 

 and have had special opportunities of studying the subject, Mr. 

 Fleming having been on different occasions in charge of each of 

 the four districts of the State. 



Mr.Fleming's 28. Mr. F. C. FLEMING, District Officer, Pekan. writes: — "I do 

 opinion. " not consider that much valuable timber is destroyed in the dis- 

 trict by the cultivation of hill padi. The natives usually prefer 

 "to clear secondary jungle for the purpose, and as this form of 

 "cultivation has probably existed since Malays first came to the 

 "State there is plenty of secondary jungle available along the 

 "banks of the main rivers and streams. The practice of clearing 

 "virgin jungle for the cultivation of hill padi has been discouraged 

 "in this district as far as possible." 



Mr. Town- Mr. E F. ToWNLEY, the District Officer at Temerloh, writes as 

 ley's opinion, follows : — " There is no doubt that a large quantity of valuable 

 "timber has been and is destroyed every year, more especially by 

 " Sakais, who very rarely cultivate the same piece of ground twice, 

 "but prefer to make new clearings in virgin jungle. The Malays 

 " on the other hand prefer to clear secondary jungle." 



With reference to the first part of this statement I would refer 

 you to my paragraph 32 below. 



No damage 29. I have long held the view that so long as the cultivation 

 by hill ^w* f j^]] p a d{\ % restricted to secondary jungle it does no harm, pro- 

 secondary vided that where wet padi or plough land is available the Malays 

 jungle. ' are not allowed to shirk the labour of cultivating it in favour of 

 hill clearings. This was the rule in the Kuala Kangsar district 

 of Perak in 1887 and 1888, when I was in charge of the Land 

 Department there and went fully into the question. 



