and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Dec. , W10 % 567 



RAJAH OF SARAWAK'S RUBBER 

 ORDER. 



WHITE MEN BARRED. 

 Natives Not Allowed to Sell to Europeans. 



A correspondent in Sarawak sends us a copy 

 of the Sarawak Government Gazette dated Nov- 

 ember 1st. It contains the following order : — 

 Sale of Rubber Tree Plantations. 



Whereas I consider it is advisable to discourage the sale 

 or transfer of plantations of rubber trees, I now notify the 

 native inhabitants of Sarawak and settlers of Chinese, 

 Indian, Eurasian or any Eastern nationality throughout the 

 territory of Sarawak who are or have been engaged in 

 planting rubber trees that I do hereby prohibit the sale or 

 transfer by them of any plantation of rubber trees unless 

 permission for such sale and transfer has first been obtained 

 from the Government, and anyone selling or transferring a 

 plantation without such permission will be liable to a tine 

 of five hundred dollars or a penalty at the rate of titty 

 dollars an acre for each acre thus sold and transferred as 

 the Government may in each case decide, and the sale or 

 transfer shall be null and void. 



Further I direct that in the event of permission being 

 granted by the Government for the sale or transfer of such 

 .a plantation a sum representing ten per centum of the 

 purchase price shall be paid to the Government. 



And I further direct that such permission will not in any 

 case be granted to the native inhabitants and settlers to 

 sell or transfer a plantation to any European or Europeans 

 or any individual, firm, or company of white nationality. 



C, Brooke, Eajah. 



Given under my hand and seal this 1st dayof Nov,, 19!0. 

 On another page of the. same issue of the 

 Gazette there is an explanation of the order 

 as follows : — 



The Government order about the sale of Rubber planta- 

 tions planted by the inhabitants of Sarawak is issued with 

 the object of proving on a future day what the absolute 

 and bona tide value may be reduced to when planted by 

 the native races, the real workers of the soil, without the 

 extraneous and surrounding influences connected with 

 companies floated by promoters and supported by share- 

 holders. The object of the Sarawak Government is to 

 develop the cultivation of the land for the good of the inha- 

 bitants in order that they may have the profits and benefit 

 in the possession of such gardens as an inheritance or 

 kesakato their descendants— and this object would not be 

 achieved or realised unless the plantations were protected 

 and strictly prohibited from falling into the hands of the 

 richer and more speculative class of the white races. The 

 above policy maybe criticised and objected to as not being 

 very loyal to the white man's interests, but on the other 

 hand it may be said that by selling wholesale the land of 

 the dark races to foreigners and speculators an injustice 

 is done to the inhabitants of these eastern countries. It 

 may be contended also that the Government has, mo right 

 to place such restriction on the property of others, but the 

 answer is : that the land belongs to the Government and 

 the planters are only squatters or occluders so long as 

 they cultivate and make use of the land, which reverts to 

 Government when the produce is exhausted. 



The produce when brought into the market is free to be 

 bought and sold in any part of the world and the European 

 in all countries will derive the benefit of obtaining the 

 Bubber at a tenth of the price more or less that has to be 

 paid for it at the present time. 



A Britisher's Complaint. 

 Accompanying the above extracts from the 

 Sarawak Gazette is a letter, signed Dare not 

 put my Name, in the course of which the writer 

 expresses his opinion of Sarawak in the follow- 

 ing terms : — It is a country where you are very 

 well looked after by the Rajah himself, especi- 

 ally your private affairs arid money- irjaking. He 

 makes the law in a day and secures 10 percent 

 for himself. He gives free concessions to any- 

 body who likes to plant anything profitable for 

 himself and lays a trap for them later on, such as 

 this ordor No XXV. It was made so suddenly that 

 you can't get out of it in time without incur- 

 ring a heavy penalty. We British subjects have 



planted rubber and spent a deal of money, and 

 now we can t gee a buyer as no man in Sarawak 

 will buy your land and we can't sell it to anybody 

 else. Our intention was to make money and clear 

 out to our native land, but the Rajah wants us 

 to stick here; but if he had said so in the con- 

 cession we should have no ground to complain. 

 Th e inhabitants of Sarawak are mostly British 

 subjects and they are all complaining of the 

 injustice done them. Can you make this matter 

 clear and warn some of the unlucky men who 

 may come to Sarawak to earn their bread and 

 butter. I am in a fix, and so are many others. 

 — Straits Times, Nov. 11 



ROBUSTA COFFEE NOT ALL THAT 

 B T SEEME D. 



Planters in Java who had pinned their faith 

 to Robusta coffee and had extended its cultiva- 

 tion find themselves in a fix, owing to the article 

 not suiting consumers in Europe, who object to 

 its peculiar flavour. Prices for Robusta coffee 

 in Holland have begun to fall and the quota- 

 tions ate likely to go lower still. This new coffee 

 has so far no future, but hitherto has done well 

 as a catch crop on rubber plantations. Among 

 the Javanese, there is a demand for Robusta 

 coffee on account of its cheapness.— Oralis 

 Times. November 5. 



CACAO IN DUTCH GUIANA. 



Consular Agent H L Hirschfield, of Para- 

 maribo, writes that the production of cacao in 

 Dutch Guiana in 1909 was '2,086 - 8 tons, as com- 

 pared with 1,866'1 tone in 1908. The disease 

 known as witch broom is still evident on many 

 estates, but on those where close trimming was 

 resorted to the result was very satisfactory, 

 which, it is hoped, will stimulate all planters 

 to use the same method. — Tea and Coffee Trade 

 Journal, October. 



USE OF COCOA HUSKS FOR 



CI GARETT ES. 



Paris, Nov. 7. — Madame Levillain was on 

 Saturday fined £640 for having made cigars and 

 cigarettes from cocoa husks. The prosecution 

 stated that 3,500,000 of these so-called ciga- 

 rettes had been annually placed on the market. 

 The action was brought under the law that gives 

 the State a monopoly of the manufacture ot 

 tobacco in France. — Australian paper. 



COIR FIBRE INDUSTRY IN THE F.ffl.S. 



With reference to a communication from a cor- 

 respondent to the Straits Times anent the im- 

 portation of coir into the Straits from Ceylon 

 and elsewhere, it may be of interest states our 

 Taiping contemporary, to mention that there is 

 a factory at Kuala Selangor styled the Federal 

 Oil Mills Co., Ltd., which is equipped with the 

 latest appliances for treating coir fibre. We 

 have seen a specimen of coir rug manufactured 

 by them and while the quality issomewhat crude 

 but exceedingly strong, it cannot compete iu 

 price with those manufactured in Travancore. 

 In fact, the selling price of the foreign product 

 is equal to the cost price of the local manufac- 

 ture.— Straits Times, Nov. 4. 



