766 
THE , TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1888. 
PLANTING IN NETHERLANDS INDIA : 
Chinese swarming into java. 
Teems fob lea>ing land in nobth bokneo. 
(Translated for the " Straits Times.") 
lathe district of Oharingin in Java which had been 
laid waste and depopulated by the volcanic outburst 
at Krakatau five years ago, jungle has been overspread- 
ing the land. Tigers have in consequence increased 
and multiplied, notwithstanding the high rewards set 
upon them by Government. They havo struck such 
terror among the people, that the latter have forsaken 
several districts, and removed elsewhere. It is ex- 
pected that the tigers will follow them up. 
The Bntavia Nieuwsblati says that all the buildings 
at the petroleum springs in Langkat, now worked 
u uler a concession from the native authorities, have 
been burned down. The resulting pecuniary losses 
are something serious. The Government has spent 
a large amount on plant and machinery for testing 
the wells. A mining engineer has since gone to the 
spot to inquire into the matter, and see what can be 
done. Hitherto the enterprise had been mostly car- 
ried on at Government expense, the concessionary 
having had little to say. It remains to be seen whe- 
ther the Govern:iaent will feel inclined to go on with 
the undertaking. The presence of petroleum in the 
district has been proved beyond question. But it has 
not \et been determined whether the quantity avail- 
able will pay for working the deposits. 
The States General have passed the Bill for trans- 
ferring the mail contract in the India Archipelago 
from the N. I. S. N. Company to a Dutch syndicate. 
The Java Bode says that the news has been hailed 
with some satisfaction by the mercantile community at 
Bitavia, from hope that the change may prove an 
impr vomt-nt upon the existing order of things. The 
virtual monopoly exercised by the N. I. S. N. Com- 
pany has not been relished by them. 
The plunging community in Java are growing res- 
tive under the load of taxation weighing upon them. 
Appeals to the Government to lighten the burden 
have invariably come to nothing. Petitions for re- 
dress found their way into official pigeonholes for good. 
The lessees of Crown Land not only complain of the 
heavy incidence of the taxes, hut also resent uncalled 
for hindrances and obstacles in the way of their lines 
of business enterprise. The Home authorities talk 
glibly enough of reform and improvement, but seldom 
go beyond a flow of words. The planters looking for 
deeds not words, become discouraged and long for a 
change. Many of them have in consequence turned 
their gaze upon British North Borneo. Those who ven- 
tured there, found the prospects so attractive, that they 
took to the country, and sent word to their fellows, 
announcing it to be veritable land of promise. Others 
came bick with nothing but praise of the fertility of 
the country, and the liberality of the Government in 
land matters. The managers of the Batavia Nieuws- 
bkid fancying that the accounts they brought were too 
glowing, wrote to the Government of British North 
Borneo to inquire how, and on what terms, land was 
leased there. The reply ran as follows : — 
Land and Survey Department, SandakaD, 
9 th Feb. 1888. 
Sir, — I am requested by His Excellency the Governor 
to acknowledge your letter of the 17th January and to 
give you in reply all information respecting Land in 
British North Borneo. 
The price of country lands over 100 acres in extent 
in British North Borneo is $1 per acre, in return for 
which a Lease is granted fiee from Bent for 999 years, 
or, should the buyer prefer it, he may pay 50 cent per 
acre and ten cent per acre rent per annum, with the 
option of redeeming the Bent charge at any time by 
ptying $1 per acre. One-third of the purchase money 
must be paid at the time of selection and the balanoa 
within twelve months or on the signing of the Lease. 
The land will be surveyed by the Government at the 
expense of the Lessee on the printed scale of Fees (vide 
Land Registrations.) 
All land is bold subject to improvement, viz. :— 
planting must commence within 18 mouths and one 
third of the acreage should be opened within twelve 
years. 
There are no export duties on estate produce at pre- 
sent, and in the case of tobacco it has been specially 
provided that there shail be no export duty before the 
1st January 1892, and that for 20 years after that date 
the duty, if charged, shall not exceed one dollar cent 
per English pound. 
The import duties apply chiefly to Liquor, Opium, 
and Tobacco, and the export duties are chiefly on 
jungle pioduce. Tools etc. are free of duty. 
Labour is fairly plentiful. The last steamer from Sin- 
gapore brought 320 Chinese for the Tobacco estates. In 
Sandakan, Chinese labourers are obtainable at S9: 
and Malays at $}8 : to $9 : per mo ith. There is a 
strong desire to obtain direct communication with 
China. It will shortly be a necessity, and, once com- 
menced, labour will be easily obtainable at low rates, as 
the distance is only five days steam from Hongkong. 
There are three European Firms in Sandakan who 
would arrange for estate requirements in the way of 
Tools etc : and would buy produce. The Treasury does 
the banking business, but it is understood that a Bank- 
ing Company are about to establish themselves at Sanda- 
kan with branches at tbeoutports. 
The chief products of British North Borneo are to- 
bacco, pepper, sago, and coffee. The three first have 
been cultivated for some hundreds of years, and latterly 
attenion has been drawn to the high quality of the 
Estate Tobacco while the high price of pepper is stimu- 
lating that planting industry. Liberian Coffee appears 
to be well suited to the climate and the Experimental 
Garden at Silam and Mr. Christian's Estate at Kud it 
afford valuable evidence that it will be a profitable cul- 
tivation. 
The rapid development of the Timber Trade and the 
facility thereby afforded to landowners to sell their 
timber to wood. cutters should decrease the cost of es- 
tate opening, if near the water frontage. How much 
capital is required is a question I do not feel able to 
go into, in the limits of this letter. I will merely say 
that a planter can begin opening his land the day 
his selection is approved of by His Excellency the 
Governor. The Government wish to see the land 
cultivated and afford all reasonable facility for pros, 
pecting, and the Land Office (and officials generally) 
afford all information in their power. 
Communication with Singapore is maintained by 
four regular trading steamer, these are supplemented 
by occasional steamers, — and from Sandakan Bay two 
timber ships have already, this year, left for China 
ports and two others are now loading. 
I send you a map of the Territory whereon I have 
marked the principal stations by a red flag. 
I also send you copies of the Land Regulations in 
Dutch and English, and shall be glad to supply you 
at any future time with further information which 
you may also obtain from our Agents, Messrs. A. L. 
Johnston & Co., Singapore, who have a supply of maps 
etc. for sale. — Your obedient servant, Henby Walker, 
Commissioner of Lands. 
In Java, the land is leased out on obstructive con- 
ditions. A lease from Government may run for 
no longer than 75 years. There is no chance what- 
ever of securing ownership rights. Payment of the 
price in one lump-sum is out of the question. Lands 
are either offered or applied for, and granted on lease 
at a yearly rent fixed from time to time. The present 
minimum rate is 2 86 per acre yearly. In British North 
Borneo, for that amount, the same area of land may bs 
obtained on lease for 999 years without any risk of the 
rent being raised. The planter in Java is excused from 
payment of land-tax during the first six months of 
occupancy. But he has to bear fiscal burdens, not- 
withstanding. He has to meet outlay on a coolie poll- 
tax, and a license tax. His produce has to pay toll. 
High railway charges and export duties form a grie- 
vous drain on his finances. A horse tax and other 
levies remind him unpleasantly that the Government 
has not done with squeezing yet. Year after year the 
fiscal screw gets a few more turns, simply because he 
happens to be a lessee. In British North Borneo, after 
