THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1893. 
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO NEWS : COFFEE. 
(British North Borneo Herald ) 
We understand that a small sample of Liberian 
coffee prown on the Trading and Plantinjr Co.'b Segaliad 
estate has been valaed in London at 89 -90/ per cwt. 
Oaptain Beeslnn who is low prospectiogf the 
Knmponp (Pallae) river for gold report* vetiinfi; coloar 
all the vny up and the samplee improving as begot 
jbigher. He has frocured a numher of specimens 
which he will bring with him to SanHaban on his 
return from Tuaku which is the last of the rivers he 
Was rent to explore. 
The cultivation of coffee is gradually extending 
amongst the squatters at Kndat. Several applicationit 
for land at |1 per acre, adjoining the country road 
have been received. Ooe larger ipplicatiou for 2.000 
acres to be selected at Bauguey has been fo'warded 
to the Land OfBce. The high prices realized in 
Singapore by consignments have opened the eyta of 
the squatters ; who, hitherto, preferred to direct most 
of their attention and t'me to fruit pl«nting. But 
now that tobacco estate managers find that their 
Gooliea spend too much of their farninga in buying 
plantains and pineapples, the export of these fruits 
to land concessions in the Bay ii forbidden and 
orchards are at a diicoant, so the coffee trees receive 
more care now. 
The total tobacco f>hipm«nt for the reison of 1892-3 
from ProTince Alcock is a? yet uncertain but 4,91« 
bales weighing 786,880 Dutch lb. may bo taken as an 
approximate figure. 
A Hongkong firm, is laid to ke ocf^tiating for a 
lease of the Sikwati oil spring, the samples of oil 
having been favourably reported. 
QUININE DEPRESSED. 
The interest in qainiue from a speculation point 
of view seems to have subsided. Nobody at the pre- 
sent time can be found who is willing to buy the salt 
B8 an investment, notwitbitanciing that the market, 
80 far as future prospects go, seems to be in better 
shape than it has been on many occasions when the 
epeoalation fever w»b at its height. There is no good 
reason to doubt that the manufacturers have reached a 
final oonelosion not to sell as freely for future delivery 
»sthey have been in the habit of doitg in the not very 
remote past. The fact that tbey will not accept orders 
for deliveries extending over sixty days is proof 
of this. There is aho very good reason to believe that 
there exists an understanding among the producers to 
keep prices up to the present level, and there is 
ground for the presumption that they have entered 
into an alliance to keep the price of bark down. The 
returns from recent bark sales seem to show that. 
There are strong features in the bark situati3n, wbich 
ought, in the ordinary course of events, to be re- 
flected by the quinine mtrket, but tbe facts are that 
telling prices have ■weakened steadily thoueh gradually 
during the last few weeks, and the margin between 
znanufaotarera' and second hand prices has incieafeJ 
until at the present time the difference is fully one 
cent per ounce. That is to say, while none of the 
manufacturers' agents is at liberty to accept less than 
twenty cents per ounce, second hand holders have 
taken or are said to be willing to take nineteen centi 
and it is even intimated that a firm offer of eighteen 
and three-quarter cents would not be declined. In 
Beeking a cause for this depression there are two or 
three things to he considered. These are the falling 
off of actual consumption, tbe absence of speculation 
interest and the anxiety of holders to dispose of their 
stocks. Perhaps the financial distress wbioh is such a 
.'parked feature of the commercial situation today, 
.'induces some holders, at least, to turn their quinine 
-into money. Tbe Government statistics giving the 
imports for the past rine months show receipts during 
-that time of nearly 550,000 ounces in excess of the 
quantity brought in dnriug the corresponding period a 
year ago, a good deal of this represents manufacturers 
deliTe'ries direct to consumern, but no small part of 
-it was bought on speculation, and remains unsold. — 
JDmglReporter. 
CHINESE EillGRATJON TO AFRICA. 
OoDEul Fraeer at Eiuogobow reports to Lord 
BoBebery : — 
New fields for Chinese labour have Ittrly beea opened 
in Africa, both East and West. It was lately reported 
by a newspaper tliat there wtre 500 rmployed on 
the Congo Ktilway in tbe west. As regardt the E«M 
Coast, on August lOlh appeared io the IterUnrr Tuyt- 
blatt and Hand.els-/eitiin§ an interastiov letter, a 
transl-'tion of which mad^ by me into Erglisb ap- 
peared in tbe Uonghoru/ iJaily Press of»Ootob«r 29ih. 
It appears from this that on July 25th tbe British 
steamer ■■Fliotshire," chartered to convey ('hioMe 
labourers for the German Kast African Cnmpao* and 
the German Plantation Oompany. brcugbt to Baira- 
moyo direct from Singapore 240 Cbinamur), '>4:i 
Javabese men, and 25 Javanete womeo. It is iutrnded 
to employ these men in tbe cultivaiion t>f tobaeoo, 
cotton, coffee, cocoa, vaoilla, rice, indigo aod pcrbapt 
opium. Chinese may also find empluymeat, it id 
expected as boure-servante, boatmen, smiths, market 
gardeners, wabbermeo, and cooks, and alto as police- 
men for harbour, toll, cr co^tom-house, or plaotatioo 
purposes. 
The regulations proa;ulgated by Goveracr Barou 
von Soden, to come in force on May Itt 1602 res- 
trict the la- ding of Eastern .Aaiatis labonrers to 
the ports of iJar-i s-Ssleaiu, Batamoyo, Tanga, 
Paogaui, Kilwa, and L'udi. Provision is msile by 
regulations, which it is tu be hoped will be ttringently 
unforced, to ensure that they are voluntary emigrauts ; 
that they shall be properly treated, and that tbey 
shall be sent home at the expiry oif tbeir cunlraets. 
" Theae regalations," Hays tbe /Jai/y I'ltts, in an 
editorial article, " muHt in the main command general 
approval ; and it is gratifying to find tbe German 
Government txhibiting such solicitude for the proper 
treatment of the Asiatic emigrants in tbe East African 
Territory." 
In September a steamer also took coolies from Maeao 
for Airica; and a letter was received here from a 
perscn in Bongkocg, inquiring about the prospeeti of 
reviving the Ohii)ebe emigrat'oii t« Cuba and Poru. 
It is to be hoped that with greater knowledge of and 
interest in the condition of the Chinese abroad, which 
tbe Chinese Government has lately evicced, and the 
patriotic zeal or national pride which its repreaenta- 
tives in foieign countries have of late shown ao 
conspicuously, that tbe strictest po8»ib!o measures will 
be taken to prevent the ill-treatment of the emigrante 
inthesi and oiher far-away coiners of tbe world and on 
the way ibitLer. 
THE TRADE IN CASSIA AND ANISE OILS. 
In 1892 there was a most remarkable development 
in the export trade of itar-aniseed and the essential 
oils of aniseed and caieit from tbe Cbioese port of 
Pakhoi, reports our Oonsnl there. In the former 
article tbe advance tai been from £15,185 io value 
to £35,579, or cors'derably over 100 per cent and in 
the latter tbe export has more than trebled, reacbioga 
value of £41,408 as against £13,074 in 1891. Obineee tra- 
ders who alone have any knowledge of tbe trade in star- 
aniseed and essential oih, assert that thi4 extraordinary 
increase is due solely to increased production, and 
further state that every alternate year there is a large 
increase in the trade. Tbis latter staiemeLt is, however 
only partially verified by the Customs returns for 
pas* years in the case of f tar-anieeed, ard co5 at all 
in that of the essential oils. The consul if, therefore 
inclined to accouLt for tbe great increase io purt at 
any rate to a change of route, and believes that wbereai 
in past year these goods have been sent in native 
boats to Mac'o by the West River last year, possibly 
owing to inc'e^sed taxation by that route, the trade 
has been (diverted to Pakhoi. The e^^sential oils of 
aniseed and cassia are mainly destined for export to 
Europe, where the demand, stimulated no doubt by 
the hekvy fall in silver has greatly increased. Inqairiea 
have been made by Enropcaa firms with a view to 
