76 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Labour. 



Tamils were coming in freely while we were 

 there. With the good pay they are earning I 

 see no special difficulty ahead. Improved 

 sanitary conditions and a good water supply, 

 which many estates are going to great expense 

 to secure, will add to the attractions, and then 

 the Chinese can always be drawn on though at 

 greater cost, beside Malays and Javanese. With 

 such large areas coming into tapping, com- 

 bined with unhealthy conditions on a good 

 young estate, there are bound to be difficulties 

 for a time, but I should anticipate no permanent 

 trouble in the future, when there is time to get 

 matters adjusted. 



It no doubt adds greatly in the meantime to 

 the troubles and anxiety of the rubber planter, 

 but there are many capable men on the spot 

 who will successfully overcome these. Directors 

 and shareholders of companies and private 

 owners have much to be thankful for. Efficiency 

 of supervision is a marked feature of many 

 estates, so it strikes the visitor. 



ANOTHER STRAITS PLANTER 

 RETIRING. 



MR. R. W. HARRISON'S VIEWS ON 



RUBBER PLANTING. 

 In the course of an interview with our repre- 

 sentative Mr R W Harrison, of Klang, who 

 was going home on retirement, after 25 years of 

 Eastern planting life, gave some interesting 

 particulars of what is now being done in the 

 Straits. 



Labour. 



Asked as to labour conditions Mr Harrison 

 Baid that the greater part of the state of Selau- 

 gor was worked with Tamil Labour. Most places 

 were worked entirely with Tamils who were 

 coming in V6ry freely every week. 



Are they expensive ? 



They are landed on the estates free of cost to 

 themselves, and a man gets from 27 to 30 dollar 

 cents a day, about 47 to 52 rupee cents. They do 

 not stick to the estates they come to too long ; 

 generally about two years, but some stop longer. 



How about other labour? 



The Chinese are taking to estate work very 

 kindly at present and there is a movement on 

 now to import Chinese from China. They are 

 much more expensive than Tamils, but they are 

 more intelligent and require less supervision. 

 On contract work they are cheaper, but on day 

 labour they are much more expensive. They 

 are paid from 50 to 60 dollar cents a day 

 according to the different localities. Javanese 

 are employed to a very great extent in some 

 placos. 1 have .'lever had much direct working 

 with them myself but some people employ 

 Javanese altogether and will not have any other 

 kind of labour. I cannot say why they prefer 

 them. It is, I think, simply a matter of indivi- 

 dual preference. I prefer Tamils to Javauese as 

 workmen. 



Yields : 800 lb. an Acre. 

 What kind of yields are being obtained iu the 

 Straits ? 



I know one block of over 300 acres which will 

 give 800 lb. an acre this year. Quite a lot of 

 estates will give thac amount. As a general 

 average, however, I should not, for purposes of 

 estimating, say more than 4001b. an acre. 

 The Smoking of Rubber. 



Do you think all rubber should be smoked ? 



I, personally, like it better; it is less tacky 

 Rubber is smoked very considerably in the 

 Straits.— All the Amazon rubber, of course, is 

 smoked, but we smoke in a different way. They 

 smoke their latex ; we smoke after coagulation. 

 What we want is a machine to do it in bulk. 

 The Da Costa machine has been used ; but it is 

 too small and has been so far tried more as an 

 experiment than anything else. I think it would 

 be advisable to smoke all rubber and thus stand- 

 ardize the output more— instead of having such 

 a variety of different makes. 



Tapping. 



What kind of tapping is most iu favour just 



now ? 



There is no definito way of tapping ; different 

 methods are used. The system which is being 

 most used at the present time is the half herring 

 bone; but I think that what we shall come to 

 ultimately is either quartering or marking the 

 tree off into thirds. I am inclined to do that 

 myself, finishing onethird of the tree each year. 

 It loaves a bigger surface untapped and there- 

 fore interferes with the natural functions of the 

 tree to a smaller extent. 



The Financial Position. 



Speaking on the financial position of the in- 

 dustry, Mr Harrison said that rubber was an 

 absolutely sound investment for very many years. 

 He expected to see the price of rubber go 

 higher because the supplies were not and would 

 not be equal to the demand. He did not think 

 there would be even a gradual drop for at any 

 rate two years ; and there would not be a big 

 drop for a very great many years. 



THE VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL 

 ASSOCIATIONS. 



"The people of this land are no longer Rip van 

 Winkles, indulging in their sleep of centuries. 

 The time has come when India must wake up or 

 else lag behind all the other races on the globe. 

 China, Korea and Japan are showing the way. 

 Agricultural Associations that are truly co- 

 operative associations of ryots, guided and 

 aided by the able men in the Agricultural De- 

 partment, can, and I am sure will, revolutionise 

 agriculture here, so that the ryot of India can 

 stand shoulder to shoulder with the farmers of 

 other lands, and not only learn from them, but 

 be able to teach them." 



Thus writes the Rev. Geo. Thomssen in the 

 Madras Mail of June 11th. If this be said of 

 India, then what of Ceylon ? It is true that we 

 have a prosperous Central Agricultural So- 

 ciety; but, as the Secretary admitted in his an- 

 nual report, presented at the last general meet- 

 ing the provincial branches, with the mini- 

 mum of exceptions are not furthering the 

 objects of the Society. What is wanted is the 

 formation of organisations known in America 



