»9 



30. It is well recognized that the country Malays will not settle Malays will 

 permanently unless thev can plant padi, and there are places in Re settle 



V» 1 1 • 1 1 • . j / • ■ 1 i_ i_* • , 1 1 . without padi 



rahang where inhabited truit plantations exist, but where no wet ]and 

 padi fields or plough lands are within reach. Adjoining such 

 places, which are usually in hilly country, will be found consider- 

 able tracts of secondary jungle of which portions have been culti- 

 vated annually for many years, and the periodical cultivation of 

 these areas entails absolutely no destruction of valuable timber. 



31. The area of hill padi under cultivation throughout the State Area of hill 

 is estimated at 5,420 acres, or less than 8£ square miles. The land ^tnd^reTof 

 used for this purpose is allowed to grow up in jungle for a period secondary 



of from 4 to 7 years after each crop, and can be planted on an forest 

 average once in six years. available. 



To provide a sufficient reserve to allow the land a rest of rive 

 years after each clearing the area necessary to supply the present 

 demand would be 32,520 acres, or under 51 square miles, repre- 

 senting about i/28oth of the area of the whole State, which ij 

 according to the latest estimate over 14,000 square miles in extent 



These figures afford a practical illustration of the true state o. 

 affairs, and I am quite sate in stating that a very great deal more 

 than 51 square miles of secondary jungle,, which was originally 

 cleared for padi planting long before British protection was intro- 

 duced, is available, and this land carries no valuable timber. 



32. Sakais, as Mr. TOWNLEY states, generally — though not Damage to 

 always — clear virgin forest and so destroy a good deal of the more g^^^ 

 valuable kinds of timber; but, they usually take more than one ; n?s 

 crop of maize, yams and other produce off the land before aban- 

 doning it, and their clearings are almost, without exception, in 



such inaccessible places that' the timber destroyed would not, at 

 any rate for a great number of years, find its way to the market 

 even if it were preserved. 



Definite instructions have been issued to the District Officers to 

 refuse to issue licences to Malays for the temporary cultivation of 

 virgin forest, but the Government is not at present in a position 

 to successfully regulate the planting operations of these hill tribes 

 and the damage done by them is not, I think, sufficient to justify 

 our interference. 



EXTRACT PROM REPORT OF Mr. R. DERRY, 

 SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PLANTA- 

 TIONS, PERAK, FOR THE YEAR 1900. 



Para Rubber [Hevea braztliensis). 



The result of a parcel of this rubber sent to London for sale 

 was received early in the year, all the best quality rubber, 327 lbs., 

 sold at the rate of $s. \od. per 1!) , and the scrap. 33 lbs., at 2s. 6d 



