50 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 1> 1900. 
PLANTING IN LOWER PBRAK. 
This purely agricultural district is makinn; 
steady progress. The revenue has attain in- 
creased by 10 percent., ot which more than one 
half is due to a permanent increase in land rents. 
It will be remembered that some 14,000 acies 
were alienated in the previous year for sugar, coco- 
nut and rubber cultivation. In 1899 a further 640 
acres were granted to Tek Kwi with 1,280 acres in 
reserve, and another 300 acres to Kai niarasamy 
with a reserve of 200 acres, in addition to 1,056 
applications for native holdings which were enter - 
tained for an area comprising some 7,000 .acres. I 
have said that this is a purely agricultural dis- 
trict and so it has always been, but during the 
year 18 applications, comprising some 275 acres, 
have been lodged for mining land at Pasir Laut, 
marking a quite new departure in the develop- 
ment of this district. The opening of Mr. Turner's 
new estate ot 1,100 iicres is making trreat strides. 
—Official Report. [This is the new Sugar Fiania- 
tion of Mr. Turner's Syndicate who mean one 
day to try sugar in North-East Ceylon. — Ed. T A."] 
KUALA LUMPUK. 
It Was not anticipated, as a reference to last 
year's report will show, that any substantial rise 
in the revenue of this district would take place, 
nevertheless the revenue for 1898 was slightly ex- 
ceeded in 1899. The depression in agricultuie, 
particularly as regards products cultivated under 
European supervision in Selangor, is a matter of 
common knowledge, and it is therefore gratifying 
to find that rents on European estates have not 
fallen into arrears, with one exception. — Official 
Report. 
KUALA SELANGOK. 
This district does not show such encouraging re- 
sults. The revenue not only fell far short of the esti- 
mate, but was less than that collected in 1898. The 
Collector of Land Revenue explains thit rent and 
arrears, amounting to ^2,443, were not paid on one 
large estate, but 1 cannot reconcile his statement 
that this sum will become payable in 1900, witii 
another to the effect that the total arrears brought 
forward into the 1900 rent rolls amount to only 
$331.20. Possil)ly there is some special arrange- 
ment of which I have not been informed. A sum 
of $349 has been written off as irrecoverable. 
Licenses show an iricrease, but estimates for this 
district appear to have been somewhat over-san- 
guine. The cultivation of coconuts is largely on 
the increase, but wild pig are doing enormous 
damage. The District Officer says: "The Selan- 
gor Coconut Oil Company Mill has been in work- 
ing order throughout the year. This district does 
not supply sufficient copra to ena'ile the factory to 
keep going, but a certain amount is imported into 
Kuala Selangor from Jeram, Bernam and Telok 
Anson. I understand from the Manager, Mr. RS 
Meikle, that there is a ready sale for the 'poonac,' 
the refuse of the copra when the oil has been ex- 
tracted. It is used for feeding horses, cattle and 
pigs, and is, I believe, extremely nourishing. Most 
of it is shipped to Australia, but a portion is sold 
locallyandin Kuala Lumpur.'' I agree with the 
District Officer that it is a question whether the 
Government should not offer special advantages in 
order to encourage European capitalists to take uf) 
land in this district for sugar and other products 
similar to those grown in the Krian district of 
Vnr^M..— Official itcport. 
A VISIT TO HULTSDORP MILLS. 
THE NEW DEVELOPMENT IN MANURE 
WORKS, CHEMICAL LABORATORY, kc. 
Hulftsdorp Mills were probably the 
first established in Asia for the 
manufacture of coconnt oil, eoir-niatting, 
etc. The late Mr, David Wilson may 
be said to have been their founder, and 
the " Price Candle Company" had at one 
time a good deal to do with them. They 
afterwards became the property of Messrs. 
Antony Gibbs & Sons, of London, who, in 
1885, appointed Messrs. Freudenberg & Co. — 
at that time a Colombo Firm of twelre years' 
standing— their Managers and Agents. So 
much by way of introduction to the follow- 
ing :— 
Comparatively few residents in ouburban 
Colombo are aware of the large extent 
of ground covered by the mills and store- 
houses of Fort firms, in the region alongside 
the canal between the Kelaniganga and St. 
Sebastian; establishments of which the largesi 
and oldest is so well-known by the 
name Hulftsdorp. Of such mil's there 
is none, moreover, more extensive or 
more picturesquely situated than this one, 
which is owned by Messrs. Freudenberg 
& Company, occupying as it does 
an area of fully 12§ acres, across an interest- 
ing bit of water as one approaches from 
Maradana. The mills are bounded by 
the canal along which produce, fire- 
wood, etc., are brought by natives for 
disposal to the mills. Several landing 
jetties are visible, and the eelection of on» 
of these, whenever there are goods to be de- 
posited, is made by the authority in charge, 
according to the location of the store to which 
the produce will be transferred. 
Calling the other morning, soon after 8 
a.m., at which hour Mr. Walter Freudenberg 
is accustomed to go his rounds, our repre- 
sentative was shown over the various build- 
ings by this chief I'epresentative (in Ceylon) 
of Messrs. Freudenberg's well-known Firm, 
accompanied by his able assistants— Mr. 
Brandis, who is in charge of the Hulfts- 
dorp buildings, and Dr. Koller, the expert 
German chemist, late lecturer at Geneva tJni- 
versitv, who superintends the numerous 
chemical operations which are constantly 
being required. 
Over the khaki- coloured gateway, one's 
attention is arrested by the date 1835 at 
which 
THE FIRST MILLS 
were built here— before entering the actual 
precincts. Before us was a large open space, 
looking comparatively quiet, no shipments 
of goods being at the moment in progress, 
but one which is bounded by a long array of 
warehouses and stores full of produce ready 
for sale or shipment. Across this we 
proceeded to inspect a new 400 horse-power 
engine, made by Messrs. John Fowler, of 
Leeds, ^he biggest mill-engine of its kind in 
Ceylon. It was put up in a remarkably 
short space of time, only 17 days being spent 
in the job — the foundations having been care- 
fully prepared ; the latter gave some trouble, 
both rock and water being found at no 
great depth. This engine was erected in 
