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LALLANG GRASS POSSESSING GOOD PAPER- 

 MAKING QUALITIES FOUND ON 

 RUBBER PLANTATIONS. 



By Clayton Beadle. 



Lallang (or lalang) grass has come to my notice, more particularly 

 during the last few years, on account of the clearing of rubber estates 

 in the Malay Peninsula from this grass for the purposes of the 

 plantations of rubber trees. It is, of course, regarded by the 

 planter merely as a weed which has to be eradicated. It probably is 

 not known to planters that the utilisation of this grass prior to the 

 introduction of rubber trees formed the subject of a concession fifteen 

 years ago- The idea of cultivating this grass, or even collecting or 

 harvesting it, as a source of profit to the rubber planter would no 

 doubt be scouted ; in fact, catch crops generally may be set aside as 

 being hardly worthy of consideration, at least for the present. 



But it is as well to look ahead, and the time may come in the 

 East when such products as Lallang grass can with advantage be 

 turned to good account. The East will no doubt grow, in fact is 

 growing, as a field for the papermaker. The utilisation of bamboo 

 as a papermaking material in British Burma is receiving serious con- 

 sideration at the hands of the Government. I do not wish to suggest 

 that the time has yet come to consider the utilisation of Lallang in the 

 same direction, but the time may come when such a material will have 

 to be used to meet the increasing demands. All I seek to do in this 

 article is to place on record that which has already been attempted in 

 this direction. 



The Johore Malay Peninsular Papermaking Concession was 

 granted by H. H. the Sultan with the object of utilising Lallang grass 

 for the manufacture of all classes of paper, and in 1902 a pamphlet 

 was published containing a synopsis of this Concession, with reports 

 of the experiments made. The opinions expressed, as set forth in this 

 pamphlet, would lead one to conclude that this grass is superior to 

 esparto as a papermaking material. The date of the granting of the 

 Concession was February 20th, 1891, wherein H. H. the Sultan of 

 Johore conveyed " to the Concessionaire, or to whomsoever he may 

 assign it, a monopoly to utilise for the manufacture of paper, Lallang 

 Grass and all fibrous plants that are indigenous or can be cultivated 

 in the territory of Johore for the term of fifty-five years, free of rent, 

 taxes or import duty of any kind, in consideration of establishing the 

 papermaking industry in the territory, and turning Lallang Grass, 

 known as the pest of the country, into a valuable commercial product." 

 The concession also covered the right to make use of any clay suitable 

 for paper manufacture, " of which class of clay there is abundance 

 throughout the territory." The Concession provided for "grants of 

 5,000 acres of Government land to be taken up in blocks, not exceeding 

 1,000 acres each, for the cultivation of the plantain tree, or other 

 fibrous plants or grasses (other than Lallang) that could be utilised in 

 the manufacture of paper ; a grant of 50 acres of land as a factory 



