] 50 cohn .—Rents— Capital. 



] raided a sufficiency of rice html still remains unlo- 

 eaUd. hut which cannot be ascertained until such 

 fauicl (which is yet under foresl) shall havehten clear- 

 ed, and roads opened across it; then unle^ Ibe popula- 

 tion ftall also have hern in an equal stale of provi- 

 sion, importations will cense, for the competition of 

 sellers will tend to reduce prices. There is always a 

 fall of price immediately after a full crop here, partly 

 Because the poorer cultivators are more or less pressed 

 tii pay advances made he fore harvest hy speculators, 

 and partly )>eeause new rice is never in great request 

 hy immediate consumers, as it is considered unwhole- 

 some. What the respective cost, of production is of 

 Java, Tcnnasserim, and Acheen rice, at this moment, 

 I have no ready means of ascertaining. Placed here 

 m the order of their supposed market value, the ex- 

 tent to whi«-h!hey can compete in the Malayan market 

 w ith this coast \s produce, or w hat is usually called Ked- 

 dah rice, will, no doubt, depend on that cost, in each ease. 

 Kf ddah used formerly to export 2,000 myansof rice. 

 15 ul the average importations from thencein 1820 were 

 about 100 coi ans only of paddie, and 50 coyans rice. 

 That country is now fast sinking into agricultural in- 

 si-niliranee, although for a while it will probably be 

 a market for bar grata; to counterbalance the fall of 

 prices here from importations from otlier count l ies 

 It, the same year, the average annual supply of poul- 

 try was 80 : GOO. 



It is a theorem w ith some political economists, that 

 H the last land taken into cultivation be rich, capital 

 will be scarce and profits high. But this supposes 

 an unlimited extent and choice of land. Here ihe 

 last lauds which have been taken under culture are 

 of various d^-rees of fertility; yet capital sufficient for 

 carrying cultivation rapidly on, is by no means scarce, 

 and profits may be considered high. It is probabh; 



