686; 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRIGULTUMST. (AwuL 2, 1894. 
11'04 percent, while the prolit on the capital accoant 
of the Klang to Kuala Lumpur Hue alouc was 
approximately 19 per cent, 
Ab to Extensions, — 
The first of the three gectioDs of tho Ula Selangor 
ExtenBioB— viz., that froa Kuala Lumpnr to R«waog, 
20 miles — was completed, and wa? opened by H. E. tho 
Governor, accompanieil by H. H. the c>ultao, oo (he 
7lh of November, and one trHiu etcb way whs run over 
it to the end of the year. It was almnst 17 monthg 
overdue, and was nut fully balloBted when taken 
over. Shortly after the section was opened two of 
the emta'ikment« nlippcd, luit not eo ecrioutily as to 
iukerfere with traffic. The traffic showed ei^uB of a 
steady increase, and tbore osn be no doubt tbat the 
line will prove a financial succe.ss. The Contractors, 
Meesra. Oampb"!! & Oo , came to the conclusion that 
it would not bo pjBKibh' for them to carry out their 
contracta with the expcditiru required l>y (he Govern- 
ment, and as the Iosh ooca^^ioDrd by the delay was 
great, I deemed it my duty to orgijlhatthecontraots 
be taken out of their hands. This was approvcil of 
by His Excellency, und liberal tcrma were arranged 
in Singapore with Messrs. Caoiiibell Co. The 
Serendah 8ec<ion of 4j( miles, the completion of which 
was 12 months overdue Ht tho cod of the year, and the 
Kuala Eubu Section, 13i niile^, which was to have 
been completed in April, 1893, are now being pushed 
on departmefitally. On their Pompl'>ii n depends 
largely tho laying out of tho two towrs ot Serendah 
and Kuala Kubn, as building operation) there are 
ret^rdo'i by the diflaonltits ot tianfpirt, 
Mr. Watliias reports as f Hows : — " Survey wo'k dur- 
ing (be year has been principally confined toexploiation 
work on the main range of thp Pf-ninsula, wi h a view to 
the extension of the Selangor Government Railway into 
Pahang. Considerable progress has been made with 
the survey over the Ginting Peraa gap, the results 
of which have been made the subject of several 
special reports to Government. This route, which is 
assumed to be about 87 miles long, follows the line 
now under construction to Pudoh thence through 
the rich mining district of Sungei Besi to Cheras, 
then following the valley of the River Langat in a 
northerly and north-easterly direction it passes the 
village of Ulu Langat, and follows tlie River 
Langat paet Lui to its source at Ginting Peras, 
which is crossed at an elevation of about l .'iOO feet. 
Descending into Jelebu the route runs past Glami, 
Till and Rawit, through the concession of the Jelebu 
Mining Company to the iiiver Triang, thence it 
follows the Kiver Triange to Pelangi, a point about 
40 miles from Ginting Peras and from this point it 
follows a north-easterly direction to Temerlo at the 
mouth of the River Semantan on the Pahang River, 
which it ia proposed to make the terminus of (ho 
Selangor Government Railway in Pahang." 
On the eubjeot of Education, Mr. Birch has some 
seasible remarks: — 
Vernacular education is in my opinion useful in so 
far as it makes tho Malay regular and cleauly in his 
habits; but, where it exalts boys, as it of tec does, 
above the level of the calling of their fathers, who 
for the most part will always remain small agricultu- 
rists or fishermen, it does more harm than good. It 
ia of course necessary to create a class of interpreters, 
schoolmasters, clerks and policemen ; but the edu- 
cation now afforded only effects that object to a 
limited extent, and it would be preferable to establish 
a thoroughly good boarding-school in Koala Lumpnr 
where a higher education could be given to the 
highest scholars of the vernacular schools than to 
scatter broadcast over the country, schools for which 
it is difficult to find efficient masters. 
And fioally the closing paragraph of the Acting 
Besident ehows how well he haa identified him- 
telf with the fortunes of Selangor: — 
The year was one of great prosperity. Selangor 
was not affected by the wave of commercial depres- 
sion that disturbed the Colony. It was able to 
shew, like the sister State of Perak, that it could 
lead substantial help to its poorer neighbours ; it 
carried oia, without assistance from outside and at a 
cost oi hiii 9i milli9Q of dQllare, its poliey q{ railway 
and telegraph extension : its rcveaaes produced • 
far larger sum than ha^l over been previously collected 
aud I am glad to be able to aid that the sanguine 
estimates of its probable revenue in 1>*93, wbich I 
framed and of which II. E Governor res/dily ap- 
proved, are being more than tealibed. 
We cannot help taking a close interest im lb« 
development cf the Malayan Peninsula more par- 
ticularly in its plaolalir u seltleinente : the recent 
trip of two Ceylon men— Mcs-ra. W. Forsyth and 
J. G. Fort— has given us later information, the 
practical portion of which, as related to a con- 
temporary, we are embodying in the Tropical 
AijricuUnritt. Very soon we cball no doabt have 
fresh Administrative B^porte from both Perak and 
Selangor, and it will be intcroEting to e'c what 
changes and progreEi^ anolbcr year has brought forth. 
NOTRS ON TROPICAL PRODUCT. 
Certain tropical productp. tbpir managemeot and 
proapecls— are usefnlly dircnssed and in considerable 
variety by our well-known friend Mr. Thomas 
C;hrifty, in a scries of chatty nofe wbich will be 
fonnd in our Tropical ylrjriculliirint. He has even 
some advice to give about the introluotion of 
< cyloa tea into America aud v<?r7 go^d advice 
it ip, BO far as it gee'. Of a certain tea trade 
in Germany, we have some repuUive detaile, and 
we trust with Mr. Christy, that an rfiectual s'op 
may be viry speedily put to thie trade. What 
is Eaid about rubber, might induoe Csylon grower* 
with any appreciable supply (but, alas, there are 
none euch) — to put tbemBelves into eommnnioe- 
tion with rubber maoulacturarB for tbiir mutual 
benefit. Mr. Christy's report on Fibres beara out 
what \v« have learnt elsewhere and is very dis- 
couraging. " Snakes alive " Bcems to be the moral 
of his lively paragraph on snakee and mcquitoes 
one way to get rid of the latter we have alwsye 
understood is to have no water-pond or pool near 
the bungalow, bo as to give (hem no means of 
malliplying ! What is said about packages and 
lead in the tea will attract the attention of oar 
tea planters. 
THE AMALGAMATION OF TEA 
COMPAMES 
in Assam goes on apace. The Luokimpore Oom- 
psny is absorbed in the Majuli, the Cbubwa haa 
swallowed up the Nonoi, and the celebrnted Go- 
toonga Estate has become a part of the more 
famous Moabund Company. — Nilgin News. 
♦ 
TABLET TEA 
which, nnlike brick te», is made from the finest 
quality of duet, showi a msrked increase. Two Ba<- 
siati firms are the only makers of brick tea in Ki'-- 
kiatig. One of theai has at pr^.sent the monopoly 
here of the manufacture of the tablet tea, which ie 
finding a market even outside Russia, in Germany 
aud France. Last year's report spoke of it ai "the 
best and most convenient form of tea that one ran 
poBbibly imagine for travellere, backwood-men, or 
armies in the field." There would seem to be no 
reason, however, why whole leaf tea should not be 
compresfei into nearly the s»me eompBSs by suitable 
machinery, much as some kinds of tobacco are trf a'el 
and in ttat case, the le»f bsirg unbroken, one would 
expect the aroma to be better retained. By an ar- 
rangement of the mould the cake could possi'^ly 
be divided into rations, and thus economy of space 
in the traveller's box, tiie army commis5ariat, and 
the man-of-war's storeroom would be combined with 
fiaiplioity ia U99. Samples of brick and of tablet 
tea are forwarded with this report for the inspec- 
tio'j of anyone interested in the eubjeot. The manu- 
facture is only carried on here in Angost, Septstnbsri 
ftocl Ooiobei, -^Kiukiang Consul e Beport, 
