67 



Mr. Baker's motion is then put to the Meeting and 

 carried unanimously. 



Mr. Macfadyen then proposes: "That with the view 

 of clearing up the position of these loans, Government be 

 asked, as soon as may conveniently be done, to publish in 

 the Gazette an authoritative statement, to be repeated pe- 

 riodically, of the financial position of these loans." 



This is seconded by Mr. Valpy, put to the meeting, and, 

 after two re-counts declared lost by 9 — 8. 



VI. Representation on Council. The Secretary 

 reads the following correspondence: 



21st October, 1908. 



Sir John Anderson, k.c.m.g., 



Governor of the Straits Settlements and 

 High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States, 



Singapore. 



Your Excellency, 



At the last Meeting of this Association, held on the 5th 

 instant a Resolution was considered and passed unanimous- 

 ly, directing me to lay before Your Excellency a petition for 

 granting to the Planting Interests of the Peninsula a 

 greater amount of representation, than is at present accord- 

 ed to them, on the Legislative Council of the Straits Settle- 

 ments, which body at present seems to initiate all legislation 

 affecting our interests, both in the Colony and in the 

 Federated Malay States. 



Restricting my arguments by way of illustration to 

 the interests involved in the cultivation of rubber alone 

 (although of course quite as many acres again are planted 

 up in coconuts, tapioca &c. &c.) I would point out: 



1. That the capital value thereof is not far short of 

 three million sterling for the F. M. S. alone ; 



2. That the area planted up in Rubber in the F. M. S. 

 by the end of last year exceeded 125,000 Acres ; 



3. That the total exports came to 885 tons (of an ap- 

 proximate value of 4 million dollars and yielding in export 

 duty alone nearly $100,000) ; 



4. That the total labour force employed was no less 

 than 58,000. 



These figures, I submit, speak for themselves, al- 

 though they cannot and never will adequately express the 

 value to a tropical country with a large native and alien 

 population of Asiatics, of a steadily growing community of 

 European Planters. 



