366 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889, 
or anyone else who wishes to see the result of the 
system should see these thing- for yourselves, and draw 
your own conclusion from real facts. In direct reply 
to your query, the loss of leaf is fiom iiO to 8d per cent, 
taking adjoining estates for comparison. 
—Local "Times." Sigieiya. 
♦ 
MINING- IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 
To the Editor of the " North-China Daily News." 
Dear Sib, — The collapse of the Rawaug Mine in 
Seiaugor affords an opportunity of mentioning a fact 
whicu is apparently omy known to a very few of the 
investor.- in cue mining ventures in the Malay Pauinsul,*, 
who reside in Onina. Id is this ; that the experience 
gained has shown that what is true in other pans 01 
the world is equally true iu regard to the Malay 
peninsula, viz., that alluvial mining will pay Chinese 
but will not pay Europeans, and that the only kinds ot 
mining that will pay Europeans tners, as elsewhere, 
are either tin lodes, or gold-bearing quartz reefs, at 
least so far as these two metals are concerned. 
When mining engineers erst went to the Straits to 
prospect, a lew years ago, tney were all aware o£ this 
fact as an understood axiom ot mining, but they one 
ana al', i.e., those from Australia, as well as these 
from Cornwall and elsewhere, were so astonished at 
the apparent richness of tue alluvial deposits which 
th«y saw being worKed by tne Cuiuese in Perak aud 
Selangor, that they thought these were entirety ex- 
ceptional and would pay European companies. They 
knew tnat wherever tnere are large alluvial deposits 
of mineral, that there must be a matrix not tar off, 
but they considered that t..e alluvial deposits were so 
rich tnat it was not worth while to tane any trouble 
to hunt for the source, i.e., the matrix, or lode. All 
the engineers employeu by the foreign companies in 
Cniua, Australia, and England, went to work in these 
two States on alluvial deposits only. One company only, 
Tue Pcrak Tin Mining and Smelting Co. formed here 
at Shanghai, secured «s a part ot its concession a 
block of land at Selama, then believed to contain a 
lode, but the engineer wno selected it, like all the rest, 
thought the blocus containing the alluvial deposits So 
rich that he went to work at tnese only. Experience 
has so tar shown that this mistake is the cause of all 
the failures on the part ot t oreigu compauies to carry 
on successful mining operations in the .walay peninsula. 
Some companies arrived at this result quiokly, some 
slowly, some by the use, more or less, of Oninese 
methods, but with the same result. 
A few of these companies still survive, but without 
so far as can be learut, any prospect of lasting success. 
Tne Peuiusula, trotn Province Wellesley to Singapore, 
is one vast jungle with only small clearings here aud 
there where mining and agricultural operations are 
carried on. The country is however rapidiy becoming 
more accessible by means of roads, and railways, and 
the improved navigation of rivers. New discoveries are 
being constantly made, and many explorers and pros- 
pectors are at work, under the enlightened and liberal 
protection of the Straits Government and the Resid- 
ents of the Protected States. Perak and Selangor 
having for so many jears past exported such enormous 
quantities of tin, its pie=ence there is a proved fact, 
but European prospectors are now striving to discover 
the lodes, or sources from which all these alluvial de- 
posits have come, with a view to wotking these by 
foreign compauies, leaving the alluvial deposits to the 
Ohiueae. 
The Chinese in the Straits are far ahead of their 
nationals in China iu mining matters, by reason of 
their having adopted the use of steam pumps, of which 
there are now a very large number, owned and worked 
by Chinese, in I'erak and Seiaugor. They use no 
other kinds ot machinery, but without these pumps 
they could not have worked eveu tne alluvial deposits. 
It seems very probable that iu the course of time the 
baiue sort ot experience may be gone through in 
regard to gold, the presence of whicu metal in an 
alluvial form throughout a great part of the peninsula, 
has long been Known. Efforts are beiug maue at pre- 
ut to discover gold-bearing quartz roofs, iu the 
neighbourhood of the places where alluvial gol d 
can always be found. It is extremely probable tha* 
such reels will be lound, and if foreign companies 
work them and leave tne alluvial deposits alone there 
is no reason why they should not be as success- 
ful there as in Australia, and other parts of the 
world. It is stated that already gold-bearing quartz 
reefs have been found, and an Australian company 
has been started to work one of these with a 
capital of a million. The famous Mount Bischoff 
tin mine in Tasmania which, for so many years, has 
paid dividends ot ab mt four hundred per cent per 
annum upon its paid up capital, is a lode mine 
worked upon the most scientific system by foreign 
enginee s, wi h foreigu machinery, aud has achieved 
ttns wonderful s .cjess altuoagh it is situated at 
an immense distance from the English market, has to 
pay very high rates of wages, and is said, by mining 
engineers who have visited it, to work upon produce 
which does not coutaiu a very high percentage of tin 
No such success (if in fact any success; has been 
achieved by the attempts to work the alluvial deposits 
of tin found in certain parts of Austialia. The same 
mo.-ul may p,-roaps he n jt map t y appli.d to Chioa. 
Tnat coal and mineral ueposita of great extent and 
richness exist in Cnina is univeisally believed. The 
Cnint-se have worked some of these in various parts of 
tne Empire probably for ages past, and are doing so 
n w, but all the.r working is mere B unate scratching, 
a d not mining at all. They have no appliances ror 
pumping, and tin retore cannot fa et more than a few feet 
below the surf .ce, and they have no appliances for 
crushing mineral-bearing rocks, and toerefore cannot 
deal w.th lodes, or reefs. The consequence is that 
although a large amount of metal has been slowly and 
expensively obtained from alluvial, or surface work- 
ing- in various parts of China, the real mineral wealth 
of the country is still untouched, and must continue 
to be until trained engineers, and suitable machi- 
nery are employed to develop it. Theie is now only 
one scientific .Ly made aud successful mine in China — 
the Kaiping coal mine in the north of China — made by 
Mr. Tong Kinsmg with the assistance of foreigu min- 
ing eng.ueers, and by means of foreign machinery. 
Nov tnat railways hive been sanctioned it is 
reasonable to expect that the Government will soon 
take steps to realise some of the euoroious wealth 
that lies ready to their hands by developing the coal 
and mineral resources of the country m the only way 
in wtich such resources can bo developed, viz , the 
formation and working of real mines by means of 
skilled engineers, and suitable machinery. — Yours, etc, 
W. V. Deummond. 
Shanghai, September 7th 1889. 
+ 
Coffee Ctops. — It is cheering after hearing 
such poor accounts of some, aud especially the 
higher, divisions of Uva in respect of autumn 
blossoms, to learn that on the lower estates, a 
proportion of blossom appeared and set, assuring 
a oertain quantity of spring crop. We may be 
sure every attention will be given to bearing coffee 
in Ceylon this year and the utmost care taken to 
bring the crop to maturity. We trust also to see 
experiments made freely in cultivation after the 
fashion which, notwithstanding leaf-disease, borer 
and bug, has been found successful in Mysore. 
— In this connection we are much pleased to learn 
from Mr. Hamlin of his continued satisfaction with 
the large coffee clearing in Kondesale, Dumbara 
Valley : 140 acres have here been planted with 
fresh seed under the shade of Fieus glomerata (which 
sheds ils leaves in the monsoon) — part is two years 
old and last year's clearing already requires 
topping. True on Kondesale the field has been 
interspersed with cacao in case the coffee should 
fail; but Mr. Hamlin has no doubt of the latter 
succeeding and will then probably open for coffee 
alone, using fresh seed and the ficus shade of 
course. 
