1 6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. July 2, ,894. 
The following statement, which is correctly based 
on last year's Indian immigration return, gives the 
actual expenses incurred on Gula eKtate. 
Indian Immigration Office, Taiping, May 11th, 
1894. 
COST OP STATUTE IMMIGRANTS LAB3UK: BASED ON' 
PRRAK 1893 ANNUAL BEPORT. 
dols. cts, 
100 coolies cost 1,800 dols , less 600 
dols. which is collected as passage mo- 
ney = 1,200 dols. divided over three 
years 100 00 
Gula hospital expenses, including 
apothecary, dresser, food, medicine-, 
burials, &c , dols. 2,465 70. Depreciation 
of hospital buildings, dols. 234 30 = 
dols. 2,700. This must be divided 
amongst 1,700 persons who a^e on the 
estate, which gives dol- l - 59 each per- 
son If divided only amongst those who 
work every day, vix , 1,050 persons, it 
would be dols. 2 57 each per annum .. 257 00 
Deaths 3 7-100 per cent ... 18 40 
Desertion 19 per cent, each cooly 
probably owing dols. 4 ... 70 00 
... 751 40 
The average outturn per diem (310) 
working days was 86 per cent, in 1893 
amongst the estate immigrants, so that 
the extras (as above) would give dols. 
8'73 per head or an average of 2 82-100 
cents per diem. Statute labour includ- 
ing men at 14 and 16 cents,, and 20 per 
cent of women at 10 and 12 cents = 14* 
cents., so that, including everything, 
statute labour costs per diem ... 17 32-190cts 
Gula is a large estate of 6,000 acres, 1,612 acres 
of which are planted with sugar cane. There are 
about 1,700 Tamils on this estate, including women, 
with a daily average outturn of 1,050 labourers, 
C95 of whom were statute immigrants. Statute 
labour receive as pay : men 14 to 16 cents, women 10 
to 12 cents a day; putting women down at 20 per 
cent., this gives an average of 14| cents wages a 
day. The hospital expenses, of course, are a dead 
loss, and you will observe that the whole expenses are 
only divided amongst the actual workers, who only 
worked on 310 days last year. This, I think, is more 
than fair ; but, even with all this added, it only brings 
the cost of statute labour up to 17 32-100 cents of a 
dollar a day, or just a trifle over half what Mr. For- 
sythe puts it at. 
To shew where Mr. Forsythe has gone wrong is 
I think, easy. He has been principally guided by what 
he saw and heard in the Kinta district, where no- 
thing but mining is carried on; there labour is 30 to 
35 cents ; but even this will, I think, as soon as the 
railways is opened, be reduced. At present the 
place is at least 50 miles from anywhere, and 
naturally food and labour is very dear. Free Tamil 
labour on Gula estate is 25 cents, on Kaniuniug 
coffee estate it is 28 cents, the reason for this being, 
that it is 12 miles off the nearst town — Kuala 
Kangsar. If other estates be opened in this 
locality no doubt labour would go to the price 
paid for it in Kuala Kangsar, viz., 25 cents. In 
Taiping, the chief town of Perak, 25 cents is usually 
paid for day labour. All over the Krian district, where 
there is a very large number of Tamils, labour is 
only 20 cents (F. W. D. price.) On Waterloo,* Sir 
Graeme Blphinstone's place, 30 cents is paid, and on 
Padang Rengas, also Sir Grceme's, 25 centa. 
* Note received from Manager of Waterloo : — Waterloo 
estate, 16 miles from Taiping by road, 12J from K.K. 
Men if working 20 11, days per mouth 30 cents, other- 
wise 25 free labour, Women 15, children 10, no statute 
labour. Hospital free since about six mouths ago. — 
Arthur Luttens. 
To sum up, I would put free Tamil labour at nit 
more than 25 cents and statute at 17£ cents, and 
statute labourers once becoming free Will geueially 
stay on the estate they were brought to and work for 
from 2U to 22 cents willingly This, with tbe dollar 
at two shillings, is by no means a ruinous rate. — 
I am, A-c, A li Wwuwnm 
Assistant Indiau Immigration Agent, Perat- 
TAKINO UP LAND IN SELANGoR. 
Sir,— I see by an article in your paper lunt you 
consider the terms on which land can be held in 
Selangor are unsatisfactory. &ni not such a* to 
attract planter*. This opinion is. I think, based on 
information given you bv Mr. For»ythe Now Mr. 
Forsythe is the best judge of what" t-rms will suit 
him aid what will not; and if he is of opinion 
that tbey are not favourable enough he has every 
right to hold it. Bat as, in iny opinion, the con- 
ditions of terms arc favourable tl luo*e who wish 
to plant there, though they may not be for those 
who desire to t»ke up land and bold it with a view 
to selling it asain, I eive the terms on which 1 
aud my partners hold lani there — namely, a quarter 
of the block to be open-d in five years ; ijuii 
rent 25 dollar cents an acre per annum, or $3 pre- 
mium and 10 cents quit rent. A |>ermit to open 
is first given, and on fulfilment by the lessee of tbene 
terms the permit is cancelled, and a graut or leas^i 
of the land in perpetuity is issued by Gowi nuic-nt. 
I believe that the Indian terms of hind beam m 
are leasehold, coupled with stipulations regarding 
acreage to be opened ; the object of leasehold, mill 
this provisio is to ensure the immediate development 
of the country as opposed to the taking up of laud 
with the obje:t either of selling again at an enbam t<1 
rate, or of opening at some future time; and I cannot 
say that the system is a good one to attain that 
•object, and more favourable to bona fide plan era than 
the Ceylon system of land sales, which often enhances 
the price pai I for land by the planter to a great degr<-e. 
With regard to timber being a Government mouo. 
poly, the timber belongs to the occupier solely a d 
absolutely, the Government no even havirg the right 
to cut the planter's timber fox its own requirements. 
There h ive been many instances of prosecutions 
ending in favor of the planter in this connection. 
With regard to labor, there are difficulties in this 
respect in the Straits, a<» there are in any new dis- 
trict which employs free labor; but our "experience 
is that tbe Government is alway< most will ng and 
ready to help planters in their labor arrang»cients ; 
and, ms most of the work of the P W.D. aud Govern- 
ment railway is done by contractors, and not depirt- 
mentally, it cannot be taid to crimp the pUnters' 
coolies any more than the Government of I'eylon. 
The rate of wages for these is 25 dol'ar cents, 
which at the present rate of exchange is equal to 
40 rupee cents 
As a proof that the difficulties of getting labor are 
not insurmountable, I may add that Mr. Carey has 
in less than two years collected a force of over 300 
free immigrant Tamil laborers. — Yours, &c, 
G. A. Talbot. 
— "Times of Ceylon.'' 
* 
Kew Bulletis. — The number for May contains 
n itices on Lioorice, Oooa, Sugir-cane, Cofiee, and 
o her tropical agricultural products, together with 
notes on the flora of the Aldabra Islands, north 
of Madagascar. The genera are substantially the 
^ame as those of East Tropioal Africa, and the 
adjoining islands. Mr. Rolfe continues his Daoades 
of New Orchids, including D. Ssnderianum, Rolfe 
Borneo), D. glomeratum, Rolfe (Moluccas), Thunia 
Brymeriana, Rolfe (Burma), Ccelogye Mossife. Rolfe 
(Nilgbiri Hills). Cattleya Bro wnii, Rolfe (Minas 
Gsraes), Sirrastylis modesta, Rolfe, Nov, Gen. et 
Spec, New Granada, and othere.— Gardeners 1 
Chronicle. 
