/MO corn* — Rents, Profits and Labor, 



It may be suspected, however, that tliis high ruleflSfc 

 eunld rmt be paid for many successive seasons w it houi 

 detriment ; ami profits and rents being in a fair 

 proporticjn, no tenant coidd afford tn pay it at all ; 

 and if he did pay it, he would probably very speedily 

 Yield Op his (Mate to his creditor. It is a rate which 

 lio respectable mercantile speculator can pay, and 

 under every view, its payment m ty be considered as 

 the mere expiring endeavour of the spendthrift or the 

 insolvent. 



The native lenders on interest are chiefly Jawi 

 Pukans, Chinee, and Hindoos. 



It is forbidden to the mahometan to take interest 

 far money; and this fact, no doubt, prevents him 

 deriving 1 advantage from the Savings Hank lately 

 established al this Settlement : Bftotigfc it may be 

 doubted whether, if »r» inhibition existed, he 

 viould avail himself of this philanthropic institu- 

 te so long as he could obtain 20 per cent, per an- 

 n. nn without rir k. aorl 60 or 70 without any very great 

 risk. His religious scruples are purely Jesuitical and 

 ne\er prevent him, when avaricious, from Scorning a 

 hard and griping usurer; the term payment, of u 

 certain quantity of product:, l>eing s^nouimoits with 

 that of interest. 



When all the best and middling land shall have 

 been cultivated, t!nn the competition for profits will 

 keep these down' and combined with improvements 

 in cultivation, will most probably raise rents. 



It will appeal 1 from the statement of of cultiva- 

 tion before given, that mueh rent is lost by faulty 

 agriculture ; and it may )»e added, without involving 

 a contradiction, by improved methods of* cultivating 

 for ip this latter case; the land lord has not been 

 taught by competition to see his advantage in a rise 

 of rei*t through i ts opera! ion. The increased proceeds 



