120 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1887. 
ture and income, and immediate return for investment 
made and work begun. The Government must show that 
it has faith in the country, and that no mere paltry 
question of a few thousand pounds shall stand in 
the way of opening the country, of giving mail 
communication, and inducing capital to come in and 
to continue in the country. Those who shrug their 
shoulders and smile with a touch of incredulous pity 
for those whose confidence is based upon experience 
and ascertained information should seriously set to 
the task of grasping the situation ; and if, after due 
examination, they come to the conclusion that the 
Northern Territory is a white elephant, let it be 
distinctly proposed to the Imperial Government to 
take it back on payment of all its just debts and 
liabilities. He had not the slightest doubt that the 
Imperial Government would consent if the Legislature 
petitioned for resumption, and he was morally 
certain Victoria would take it over bag and baggage, 
public debt, and railway tomorrow. He did not 
imagine for a moment that South Australia would 
fling away such a magnificent heritage. He urged 
that the Parliament of South Australia must find 
time to consider and pass good and adapted laws. 
Legislation^ now neglected. The land laws, mining 
lews, and the law relating to health are sadlv in 
arrear. The people in the Territory have been knock- 
ing importunately at the door for years, but they get 
jammed on to the end of the session and nothing 
can be done. Then lcok at the so called-Justice 
Act. They have had to let loose two murderers caught 
red-handed with the blood of their victims, because 
of a defect in the Act, because having been tried by 
an incompetent Ouurt they could not be tried by a 
competent Court. The Northern Territory wants a 
careful revisal and amendment of the laws and Cus- 
toms duties, so as to secure an industrial, cultivating, 
delving, prosperous population. The racial question 
must be dealt with. Whatever may be our views 
with regard to the best class of labour, the principles 
must be laid down and procedure must be regulated 
by legislation. Among the great many things to be 
done were (1) the Transcontinental Railway, (2) the 
lighting of the entrances to the harbour, (3) proper 
quarantine provisions, (4) protection for the cable 
and telegraph line, and (5) the premier position of 
of Port Darwin to be steadily kept before the Im- 
perial Government. All these press for attention. 
The Minister is willing to give them all attention, 
though they may not all be approved as they are 
represented or possible of immediate settlement.— 
South Australian Register. 
[The northern portion of South Australia and Queens- 
land ought to be governed as Crown Colonies, so that 
Indian labour might be introduced for the cultivation 
of the soil.— Ed.] 
* _ 
EXPEEIENCE OF COOLIE LIFE IN 
SUMATEA. 
A DELI TOBACCO PLANTATION. 
We have just found in our archives an unsigned 
article on " Coolie life on a Sumatra Tobacco Estate." 
The tone of the article is manly and straightforward 
and it is evidently written by an impartial observer. 
There are so many points in it which cannot fail to 
be of interest to Tobacco Planters coming to this 
country that we are constrained to publish it for their 
benefit, although it loses somewhat of the force and 
value from our ignorance of its author. 
Most of your readers are probably aware of the ex- 
istence of a small spot in Sumatra called Deli. It is situ* 
ated on the north-west coast, at about 3.37 N. and 
9S.27 E. As this place is one of the great destinations 
of Chinese emigrants, and as much lias been written 
about the immorality of the means by which coolies are 
obtained, the bondage in which they are hold, and the 
cruel manner in which they are treated, it is my inten- 
tion, as far as lies in my power, to Jay before your read- 
ers a plain, impartial statement of what I have seen of 
the Chinese coolies' life in Deli during a period of five 
ytaifi ' residence in that place. It will be necessary, in 
order to make plain the position of the Chinese coolies 
in Deli, to give a short sketch of Deli itself, and of the 
cultivation and manufacture of the tobacco plant there. 
Deli is accessible by steamer in two days and nights from 
Singapore, and in a night and a day from Penang. 
Messrs. Holt have a commodious steamer the "Gany- 
mede" running from Singapore, and a Chinese firm have 
one from Penang. Upon reaching the mouth of the Deli 
river, a sampan conveys the visitor in about one hour up 
to the town of Laboean the port of Deli. There is little 
to charm the eye here, it is simply one btreet along the 
river bank, crowded on each side with a curious mixture 
of Chinese business houses and Malay attap-roofed ttne- 
meuts, dotted here and there with a somewhat cleaner 
and more imposing specimen of building inhabited by the 
few Dutch officials who, much to their disgust, are 
stationed here. The town is frequently under water 
to the extent of a foot to a foot and a half in depth 
from the overflow of the Deli river, which for pollution 
nearly rivals our much-abused Thames. Naturally, 
under such circumstances Laboean is not considered a 
healthy town; no planter stays longer in it than he can 
help, and during that time avoids drinking water. Yet 
I must say that those who are emp!oyed in the two 
European firms and Government Offices in the town 
do not complain of ill-health ; however, a speaking 
fact is that the bulk of Government officials have, 
within the last few years, shifted further up the 
country to a town called Medan, of which more here- 
after. There is one hotel at Liboean of which the 
less the said the better. A two hours' drive over a 
road which would be a disgrace in any civilised country, 
and which, by comparison, make the splendid roads 
of Hongkong appear to be an extravagant waste of 
money, brings one to the town of Medan, after pasing 
through on each side, plantations of that shapely tvee, 
the nutmeg, the gardens containing which are mostly 
let out to the Chinese who seem to make money 
where Europeans fail. Medan is just the opposite 
of Laboean. Clean, fairly built, and rapidly improving, 
with a club, a theatre, a large hotel (for so small a 
place) the head-quarters of the Dutch Government, 
the offices of the Great Deli Maatschappy, the resid- 
ences of the Assistant Resident and the Commandant 
of the troops ; the civil and military hospitals ; 
Europeans, Chinese and Indian stores, all indicate 
prosperity in this rising spot; From here branch out 
roads to every part of the tobacco growing districts, 
and when the railway, so much talked about comes, 
there isnot the slightest doubt that Bledan will be 
the head-quarters of all business in the country. The 
staff of officials consists of a Resident, or Assistant 
Resident, a Controleur, a Dutch interpreter, a Bailiff, 
and the usual number of under officials, also a prison 
and policemen, but such a prison and such policemen 
it would be difficult to find elsewhere. The military 
force is under a Commandant, generally in rank a 
major, whose position makes him a popular personage. 
The tobacco-growing districts are three at present : 
Deli, Lanket, and Serdang, but as the working of 
tobacco is pretty much the same in each, it will be 
necessary to describe one estate to give a fair sample 
to all. I shall do this in what appears to me the 
most practical way of dividing the subject into : — 1st. 
The land. 2nd. The Coolie. 3rd. An outline of the 
work, from the opening of the division to the packing 
of the tobacco. 4th. The European staff. 5th. General 
remarks. 
THE LAND. 
To procure the right to cultivate a maiden piece 
much worry and more bribery has to be got through. 
The intending planter has first to seek his land amidst 
all the discomforts of hard living walks through dense 
forests teeming with leeches, mosquitoes and ferocious 
ants, weary hours of plodding through swamps and 
rivers not to mention encounters with plants prickty 
and tenacious. Woe to the prospector who does not 
keep a sharp look out ahead. Nature has a hundred 
sly traps to arrest the intruder on her virgin domain, 
ropes of graceful, trailing plants, pit falls of rotten 
trees, nets of tangled creepers teeming with garrisons 
of stinging ants, and last, but not least, cunning 
fishing linos of rajttan slyly swinging up against one, 
