447 



Company in the Midlands, who was also prominent in organising 

 a combination of manufactures with a view to taking up the cultiva- 

 vation of the fibre on a large scale in Johore, where it was also intend- 

 ed to decorticate and degum the fibre on the land where it was 

 grown stated that above all other districts he regarded the Straits 

 Settlements as the most favourably situated for ramie cultivation, and 

 the land there capable of producing the largest yields of fibre, and he 

 estimated the quantity of white fibre or filasse obtainable from the 

 variety Boehmeria Nivea as averaging from 45 to 55 per cent., with a 

 yield thereafter of a couple of years growing of about li to i tons of 

 dry fibre to the acre. 



This yield, in his opinion, would increase annually, and he esti- 

 mated accordingly that this estate would be able to sell the product in 

 London at a figure which would undersell fibre cultivated in any other 

 district. 



The property of this combination, the Straits Settlements Eamie 

 Fibre Growing Company, was acquired under a concession granted 

 by the Sultan of Johore, and there is little doubt but that for the un- 

 fortunate death of Mr. MacDonald, which occurred on the property 

 while it was being prepared for planting, ramie cultivation, would now 

 have been an established industry in the Straits Settlements. 



For the purposes of decortication of the fibre, use was to have 

 been made of a decorticator of speaiai design which was the invention 

 and patent of Mr. MacDonald. Many prominent Dundee manufactur- 

 ers had sufficient confidence in the peculiar adaptability of the soil 

 and climate of the Straits Settlements to grow the fibre successfully 

 to support Mr. MacDonald in his venture, but withdrew from the 

 matter on his death. 



Early in the present year, a Syndicate was organised in London, 

 and is still in existence, which has for its ultimate object the extensive 

 growing and decortication of the fibre in Malaya, and small parcels of 

 ramie ribbons grown in Java were sold in January this year, in Hol- 

 land, at £7 per ton. 



The facilities for easy and rapid shipment are apparently the 

 strong points which lead people in Europe interested in ramie culture 

 and manufacture in a great degree to favour the Straits Settlements as 

 a growing area. 



Quotations for Yarns. 



Meantime the price of China grass has averaged £25 to £28 per 

 ton. The principal ramie mills are quite as well able to degum ramie 

 ribbons as China grass, provided the product is clean and dried 

 thoroughly before shipment. 



It should, further, be baled in such a manner that it cannot get 

 damp on the voyage, in order to avoid fermentation, and consequent 

 weakening of the strength of the fibre. Any small growers of the fibre 

 desiring a smaller type of machine than the Faure Decorticator, and 

 at the same time a cheaper one, might be able to obtain one of the 



