and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— December, 1912. 48$ 



situated, directors could request their managers 

 to combine with other estates in the neighbour- 

 hood to lower the rate of pay. 



With regard to crimping, latterly an attempt 

 was made to bring in the discharge ticket system 

 whereby no planter could engage local coolies 

 who had not got a discharge ticket from their 

 last estate. Since, however, coolies are now free 

 the day they arrive on an estate, and can give a 

 month's notice, and claim their discharge tickets 

 at the end of the month, this system would ap- 

 pear to merely absolve planters from taking 

 each other's labour, unless the discharge ticket 

 were withheld, in which case the Government 

 would undoubtedly interfere. 



Now to return to the merits of Europeans 

 versus coolies as regards their present rate of pay. 



When I first came to this district Javanese 

 coolies were earning $7 per month (and the dollar 

 was then, I believe, worth Is lOd), for eight 

 hours' hard work in the fields. Today the same 

 labour is being paid at the rate of §15 per month 

 for four hours' work tapping. It may, of course, 

 be argued that tapping comes under the heading 

 of skilled labour, but with this I disagree. Coolies 

 fresh from Java have been sent out to learn tap- 

 ping for four days with experienced tappers. At 

 the end of these four days they have been put 

 on full tasks and have tapped without a mistake. 



It would appear, therefore, that the coolie is 

 not in all cases so worthy of his hire today as he 

 was formerly. 



Now, with regard to Europeans it is surely 

 unfair to compare planters in Malaya with the 

 tea planters of Ceylon, India, and Java, where 

 the cost of living is approximately one half of 

 the cost of living in Malaya. The tea plantations 

 in these countries are mostly situated at higher 

 elevations, and consequently the climatic con- 

 ditions are much more favourable. Th3 social 

 life, especially in Ceylon, is more agreeable, and 

 they have hill stations where planters can re- 

 cruit their health after a severe attack of fever, 

 and no doubt many deaths are due to the want 

 of such hill stations in Malaya. 



Rents and Taxes. 

 It is true that in the old coffee days planters 

 in Malaya did not receive the salaries they are 

 getting now, but in those days there were not 

 many of them, and since nothing that they plan- 

 ted was profitable, they could hardly expect to re- 

 ceive even adequate salaries from their companies. 



When the price of rubber falls to a very low 

 level it may be necessary to reduce the salaries 

 of Europeans, but in the meantime there are 

 isore important items which can be brought 



down, and not the least of these is the export 

 duty. No one .vill perhaps blame the late Gov- 

 ernor for initiating this export duty with a pros- 

 pect before him of a serious loss in revenue 

 from opium and a decline in revenue from tin, 

 but, with the present prosperous condition of the 

 Federated Malay States investors will indeed 

 have cause to grumble unless it is discontinued. 



The rent alone is in some cases more than 8 

 times as much as it is in Sumatra, where there 

 is no export duty and where the labour and 

 other conditions are most favourable. 



When rubber reaches a low level it is diffi- 

 cult to see how we shall be able to compete 

 with Sumatra under the existing conditions, 

 and if these conditions can be changed, then 

 surely now is the time to do it. 



It does not seem to be a sound argument to 

 say that the conditions under which land is held 

 must be good because it was valued at £3 per 

 acre during a boom period, and in making this 

 statement Sir John Anderson may have forgot- 

 ten that £1 of this sum can be accounted for by 

 the premium payable to Government, expenses 

 of selection, quit rent, survey fees, etc., and that 

 land adjoining a planted area of which it forms 

 part, must have additional value on that account. 



Sir John Anderson greatly assisted planters 

 with labour at a criticial time, and it behoves 

 them to be duly grateful to him, but it is to be 

 hoped that the same assistance will be afforded 

 to them now to put them on more equal terms 

 with the planters of Java and Sumatra. 



Edward W. Bkyce. 

 —India Rubber Journal, Oct, 26. 



RUBBER I N QUE ENSLAND 



At the Queensland Government Agency, 409, 

 Strand, W.C., specimens of rubber grown in 

 tropical Queensland are to be seen. Plenty of 

 good land suitable for rubber growing may be 

 had in the vicinity of most of the northern 

 rivers of Queer sland at from £1 to £5 or £6 per 

 acre, freehold, and purchase arranged for on 

 terms of four or five years. According to Mr H 

 Newport, Instructor in Tropical Agriculture to 

 the Government of Queensland, a worker open- 

 ing up a 20-acre estate, doing the work himself — 

 i.e., paying no labour, and living at not more 

 than 20s. a week— can bring it into bearing for 

 under £-25 per acre, or, allowing for the pur- 

 chase outright (freehold) of the land, about £30 

 per acre. The landed proprietor opening a 500- 

 acre estate, and paying for labour and superin- 

 tendence, etc., would require rather more than 

 double this— via., about £64 per acre.— ff, <g & 

 Mail, Nov, 15, 



