i6i 
Extracts  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Inspector  of 
Coconut  trees,  Federated  Malay  States, 
for  the  year  1902. 
3.  In  October,  I was  able  to  make  a partial  inspection  of  the 
districts  of  Kuala  Lumpur,  Klang  and  Kuala  Selangor,  and  owing 
to  the  serious  harm  I found  being  done  by  the  beetles  in  these 
localities,  I deemed  it  best  to  confine  my  attention  to  the  State  of 
Selangor  at  first,  and  with  the  exception  of  a short  visit  to  Negri 
Sembilan,  I have  devoted  my  attention  entirely  to  this  State. 
5.  I found  trees  cut  down  under'instructions  either  lying  on  the_ 
ground  or  half  buried,  rotten  and  simply  full  of  the  grub  and 
beetles,  while  the  stems  that  remained,  perhaps  three  feet  or  so 
above  the  ground,  in  an  equalh^  infected  condition.  In  addition  to 
this,  no  proper  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  authorities  to  have  the 
numerous  rubbish,  refuse  and  manure  heaps  lying  about  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  towns  and  villages  destroyed,  the  dumping  grounds 
in  a most  unsatisfactory  state  and  the  owners  of  cattle  sheds  utterly 
callous  as  to  the  removal  or  where  they  put  their  manure,  in  fact 
the  general  state  of  affairs  was  such  that  no  one  with  any  experi- 
ence at  all  could  have  been  surprised  at  the  inroads  and  havoc  done 
by  the  beetles  to  the  trees  adjacent  with  such  a harvest  of  “ hot- 
beds ” for  breeding  grounds  for  these  pests. 
6.  It  is  true  that  many  of  the  owners  were  shamefully  neglect- 
ful of  their  plantations,  but  the  surroundings  so  conducive  to  the 
harbouring  of  the  beetles,  placed  them  without  doubt  at  a great 
disadvantage.  I may  mention  here  that  the  few  trees  belonging 
to  Government  themselves  were  in  a very  bad  state  and  as  an  ex- 
ample appeared  to  me  to  be  deplorable. 
7.  With  this  state  of  affairs,  by  no  means  exaggerated,  and  the 
evil  spreading,  it  is  easily  accountable  how  some  hard  things  which 
-appeared  in  the  Straits  Times  regarding  the  difficulty  of  coconut 
cultivation  in  the  States  should  be  taken  as  having  more  than  a 
semblance  of  truth  in  it. 
8.  Referring  especially  to  the  localities  where  the  beetles  have 
proved  most  troublesome,  I feel  sure,  slowly  perhaps,  but  surely 
and  in  time,  it  will  be  possible  to  eradicate  the  evil  and  bring  about 
a distinct  change  for  the  better  in  the  appearance  of  the  plantations, 
and  also  I hope  entirely  to  remove  all  grounds  of  complaint  on 
which  the  correspondence  above  alluded  to  was  founded. 
9.  It  is  very  noticeable  how  much  the  plantations  improve  the 
further  you  proceed  from  the  towns  and  villages,  which  strengthens 
the  opinion  which  I first  formed  that  the  evil  to  a great  extent  was 
attributable  to  the  large  quantity  of  grub  in  the  manure  and  rub- 
bish heaps  that  have  been  allowed  to  collect  in  these  vicinities, 
and  the  beetles,  taking  advantage  of  these  breeding  places  and  the 
shelter  made  by  them  in  the  trees  attacked,  have  gradually  spread 
their  way  to  the  plantations  further  away  ; in  a word,  the  planta- 
tions situated  at  any  long  distance  from  the  towns  and  villages 
have  not  been  infected  by  these  pests  in  nearly  as  serious  a degree 
