August r, 1893.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
89 
PLANTING AND MINING IN PEEAK 
STEAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
The Administration Report for 1892 of the British 
Besident, Mr. F. A. Swettenhatn, is a very able 
State Paper and aSorda a great deal of information 
under every head. It oovera some 22 pages, br- 
Eides 30 pages of etatisticsl appendioes. We ara 
chif-fly interested in the Planting and Mining por- 
tions, though it is satisfactory to note the flourishing 
state of the revenue as shown in the opening para 
graphs: — 
The Revenue of Perak for the year 1892 amounted 
to $2,689,565, a sum $331,593 above the Estimates 
and $364,584 more than was received in ]89l. There 
are eight districts in Perak, and all of them except 
Selama share in the increase. The sources of Revenue 
are classified under fifteen heads, and all except 
three have realised more than was expected. The 
principal increases are Customs $232,171, Interest 
846,384 and Land Revenue $40,224. Licenses, Fees 
of Office, and Railway Receipts have failed to realise 
the Estimates by a sum amounting in all to only 
$35,517. This year's Revenue exceeded the Expendi- 
ture by $640,075. 
LAND AND AGIIICULTURE. 
Urder this bea iing we said :— The Land Revenue 
ooUeoted in 1891 amounted to |92,603, whilst last jear 
it gave $152,900, an increase of S60,297 over the 
revenue of the previous year and $40,224 more than 
the estimate. 
Within the last three year? the area of cultivated 
rice Und has been largely iocreaaed, uew land opened 
and old abandoned fields re-onltivated, but it must 
be remembered that importfld rioe is cheap, that our 
agricultural population is email and the people are 
naturally lazy, while the fact that mining runs along- 
Bide of and often into padi cultivation, and is itself 
a far more lucrative and attractive pursuit, tends 
rather to rednce than increase the area of rice fields. 
Of the old fields there is a far larger extent now 
under cultivation thun was the case when the Resi- 
dential system was first instituted, and this ground is 
being cultivated, not by new arriva's but by Perak 
Malays who for years haye neglected to work on it. 
The principal causes of this improvement are the in- 
creased aoiivity of Europeen and Native Officers, the 
construction of uew roads and the lEsue of orders by 
Government in 1890 rogula'ing the times for clearing 
the fields and commenoing planting operations. 
In Krian and Lower Perak it is different. There 
large tracts of virgin forest have been converted into 
rioe fiiildfl, plantations of sugar, pepper, coconuts and 
other tropical products, and even in the heart of Kinta, 
the principal mining district in the State, a good 
deal of successful planting has been done, mainly by 
foreign Malays. 
The Government may fairly tske credit for the fact 
that iu Krian there are now 37,000 acres of rice, 23,000 
of sugar, and 20,000 acres of fruit trees, indigo, nipah 
and other products, while the settlement of S'tiawan, 
in Lower Perak, alongside the Colony's territory at 
the DindiDgp, promises in time to become an eqnaUy 
BUCoeBsfnl agricultural colony. Whenever the Govern- 
ment is prepared to road and irrigate suitable land there 
will not be wanting colonists to work it. and the culti- 
vation of rioe can by this means be greatly increased, 
but this does not concern the people already in the 
State, and it is hardly likely that colonists will be 
induced to come and settle in Perak unless the terms 
offered ate attrnctive pnd unless there is a strong 
probability that they will be able to better themselves. 
People will give neither their labour nor their capital 
for the pleasure of living in a Malay State, however 
superior its administration. The fact that the leading 
stations and the pnblio buildings are well kept and 
pleasant to look at will not greatly influence the padi 
planters of the coast, who may not realise the difference 
between a Protected and an unprotected Malay State. 
Twenty years ago Perak was not a pleasant place to 
live in, but I never beard of any number of the Perak 
people leaving it tor the neighboaring British eettle- 
menti. 
The settlers we get now, whether from neighbouring 
States, from Sumatra, Borneo, Siam or other places, 
are only got with trouble and on the assurances 
of their friends thit it is worth their while ti emi- 
grate to a place where they will be welcomed and 
where they are likely to live in greater comfort tnd 
make more money than in their native places. 
EUROPEAN PLANTING: PBPPBE AND COFFEE. 
Tho jiepper garden at Ohigargala, in Kuala Kang- 
sar distriot, undertaken with Government asdintance, 
is now an assured success and • valuable property. 
It will export 200 pikuls tbia year and probably double 
that quantity next yfar.* Many other pepper gardens 
have been startei in different parts of the State and 
all those that are properly o^red for will gucceed. 
The Wa'erloo Estate (»boat 300 acres of Arabian 
coffee) and the Kumuning Estate, ajout tho same 
quantity of Liberian coffee both belonging to Euro- 
pean owners and under European management appear 
to be successful investmecits. 
Other Europeans have applied for and obtained 
blocks of land on very easy terms but they have taken 
no steps to pUnt. Why it is difficult to say ; the 
soil is good, rainf»ll and water supply satisfactory 
thpre are excellent roads in all directions, even into 
the hills— constructed purely as an inducement to 
planters — rice is cheap and the price oF labour, if 
high, is not prohibitive. This last is the only ob- 
jection I know of, and I think the supply might 
be increased and the wage rate reduced if there were 
any extensive demand for Indian agricultural labour. 
I understand that at Waterloo both Chinese and 
Malajs are employed and give satisfaetioc. 
It is interesting to know that the coffee planted 
about fifteen ye^rs ago at Slim by Mesirs. Smith and 
Innes, and abandoned for ten years, — though sur- 
rounded by thick jungle and lalang> grass, is still 
strong and healthy and bearing heavily ; coooa trees 
planted at the earns time and place appear to be also 
doing well. 
In 1891 the Government alienated 229 town lota 
and 4,192 acres of agricultural land. In 1892 the 
figures were— town lots, 476 j agrionltaral land, 8,030 
acres. 
Population and Iusissation. 
Returns of Arrivals and Departures are kept only 
at the two principal ports of the State, Port Weld 
and Telak Anson, and they shew that the arrivals 
hivo exceeded the departure by 21,563, and the 
population of the State at the present time is pro- 
bably not less than 23ri,000. The numbers and 
nationalities were aa follows : — 
ABBITAIiS 
Pi ca 
strict. 
iropea 
arasia 
0) 
QQ 
<0 
g 
m 
la 
m 
a 
•B 
"3 
(3 
IS 
o 
a 
a 
o 
1,021 
30,213 
5,293 
8^30 
44,857 
Lower Perak 
21,108 
6,P60 
3,597 
31,665 
Total 
1,021 
51,321 
12,153 
11,927 
76,422 
DEPARTOBEB 
940 
22,496 
4,811 
7,447 
35,694 
Lower Perak 
10,685 
5,605 
2,975 
19,166 
Totil 
940 
33,081 
10,416 
10,422 
54,859 
RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION, 
To the existing eight miles of railway in Larnt 
have been added another nine miles, constructed at 
a coat of $308,965, while railway earveys have been 
carried north to Selama (another 18 miles) and east 
to Kuala Kangsar and Ipoh, 5r> miles. On the Kinta 
Valley Railway, from Ipoh to Teluk Anson (50 miles), 
a sum of $788,989 baa been already spent (to 31«t 
December, 1892,) and 30 miles will be opened to traiBo 
* NoTB.— One pikul =1 cwt. 0 qrs. 21-833 lb. 
Three pikuls=3 owt. U qrg. 8 lb= 1 bhara 
ld4-5tb pikalsmsl ton. 
