Sept. 1, 1000. J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST 167 
Gaya Bay, which he described as a noble harbour ; 
and it would be ditticult to conceive any place in 
JJorneo better adapted to an important trade centre. 
It was praciioally on the hi£;h way of steamers 
passing between Europe and all the intervening 
poits, and China, as well as the Philippines and 
Japan. It was felt that the trade which would be 
developed by the 110 miles of railway terminating 
at Jesselton could not fail to attract the passing 
steamers to a port which was not only easy of access, 
but safe for all classes of vessels. Reverting to 
the subject cf exports, he stated that more tlian 
one-half was under tlie head of tobacco. The first 
crop of tobacco exported in 1887 was valued at only 
£471, whereas the crop exported in the past year 
was valued at £186,454. The initial difficulties of 
management, climate and labour had been over- 
come, and the cost of the production of tobacco in 
Borneo compared most favourably with that of 
Sumatra. It was estimated that the railway would 
open up something like 200,000 acres of land suit- 
able for the growth of tobacco. The telegra|)h 
system was still being extended, about .350 miles 
were working, and another 100 miles were in course 
of construction. The traffiis so far had not been 
great, but the telegraph was invaluable to the 
Government, and more than paid for itself as a 
utilitarian and economic work. — London Times, 
Aug. 1. 
SUGAR CULTIVATION IN THE STRAITS. 
With reference to sugar cultivation in Perak, this 
form of cultivation is confined to the three coa5t 
districts of Ktian, Matang and Lower Perak, which 
I will deal with seriatam : 
Kbian.— The total area of land alienated for the 
cultivation of sugar in this district amounts to 3o,3^\i 
acres. Many applications for land for sugar cultiva- 
tion were received during the j'ear, but, owing to the 
proclamation of irrigation areas, iu connection with 
the irrigation scheme for fostering the cultivation of 
rice, little, if any, more sugar land remains available 
in this district. Th^ amount of sugar (brown and 
white) exported during the year was 276,689 pikuls, 
valued at $1,282,237. There are 26 sugar estates in 
Krian, of which the largest is Gala, belonging to an 
European Company, and comprising an area of 9,512 
acres, while there is a Chinese-owned estate of 4,500 
acres, and there are four other estates, also owned 
by Chinese, comprising an approximate area of '2,000 
acres each: the total area under actual cultivation is 
estimated at 15,779 acres. Ten of the estates have mills 
worked by steam-power, and the machinery at Gula 
is of the best and latest description : the remaining 
mills are worked by buffaloes, but, in two cases, 
cattle will shortly be replaced by steam power. The 
. labour force employed consists of 4,121 Chinese coolies 
partly working on wages and partly on a system of 
sub-leases, and 3,597 Indians, of whom about half are 
indentured immigrants, and the remainder free 
labourers, 
Matang. — There are 12 sugar estates in (he Matang 
Pistviot, of which the largest comprises an area of 
1,854 acres. The total area of land alienated for sugar 
cultivation in this district amounts to 6,500 acres, and 
j it is unlikely tbat this area will be largely increased, 
as most of the available sugar land has been included 
' in an irrigation area, in connection with the cultiva- 
tion of rica. The cultivation of sugar m the Matang 
district only began in 1897, and consequently little of 
the produce has yet been exported : the total quan- 
tity last year amounted to 2,056 pikuls. A complete 
factory capable of dealiug with 24,OC0 tons of sugar- 
cane is bein? erected on an estate owned by Sir J W 
Ramsden, and it is probable that most of the cane 
produced in Matang will be sentto this factory. 
Lower Perak. — The cultivation of sugar-cane in 
Lower Perak is still in its infancy, but it is probable 
• that, witliin the next few years, the area of land under 
this form of cultivation will be larger thau tbat of any 
district in Perak, as there are vast tracts of available 
State land still unalienated, approximately estimated 
by the District Magistrate at 180,000 acres, lying bet- 
ween the Perak and Bernam rivers, all of which is more 
or less suitable for ^ugnr cultivation. An European 
Company, of which Sir J. W. Ramsdenis the principal 
shareholder, aod whose local representative is Mr. 
John Turner, General Manager of the Penang Sugar 
Estates Company, has recently acquired ll.OUO acres of 
land from the Government, and has commenced opera- 
tions on a large scale, the staff consisting of three 
Europeans, under whom about 600 labourers, Tamils 
and Javciuese, are now employed. Very complete machi- 
nary has been ordered, and will shortly be sent out 
from England, and the factory erected on this estate 
will probably serve as a centre to which most of the 
smaller planters, both European and Chinese, will 
send their raw produce, — 0/ncial Bejiort 
< a» 
PROPOSED BOUNTY ON GREEN TEA. 
THE INDIAN TEA ASSOCIATION. 
The following circular has been issued to mem- 
bers by the Indian Tea Association, Royal Ex- 
change Building, dated Calcutta, 7th 'August 
1900 :— 
Dear Sir, — I am directed by the (ieneral Com- 
mitte of the Indian Tea Association to address 
you respecting the following resolution which has 
been unanimously adopteil by the Committee of 
the Association in London, viz.: — 
" That Iv, anna per lb. up to a niaxinmin of 
200,000 lbs. to be manufactured this season, be 
allowed out ot the funds of the levy (Araeri'-an 
and Foreign Market Fund) on shipments of green 
tea for the American market and shipped there 
direct from India, such funds to be distri'juted 
as a bounty at the discretion of the Calcutta 
Committee." 
The General Committee have been asked by the 
London Committee to make all necessary arrange- 
ments for carrying this resolution into effect. 
They have considered the nature ot these arrange- 
ments, and have come to the following conclu- 
sions :— («) That as a lirst step all Tea Estates 
in the membership of the A.ssociation, desirous of 
making green tea in consideration of the bounty, 
be asked to furnish the Committee with four 
ounce samples of the teas they propose to manu- 
facture ; at the same time stating the quantity 
they intend to make this season. (6) Such sam- 
ples, when received by the Committee, will be sub- 
mitted to one or more experts in green tea for 
opinion as to their suitability for the American 
market. (In giving their opinion the experts will 
have regard to standard samples of the green teas 
now used in America. These samples are shortly 
to be received from London,) (a) On receiving 
tiie report of the experts on all the samples sub- 
mitted to them the Committee will proceed to 
allot the bounty on account of those teas the 
samples of which are declared suitable ; and will 
make known the allotment to those interested. 
(d) When the teas manufactured by those Com- 
panies or Estates whose samples have been ac- 
cepted, have arrived in Calcutta, the Committee 
will require to be informed of the fact ; and it will 
be necessary for samples of the teas to be 
drawn in Calcutta for submission to the experts 
for comparison with the original samples. (e) 
On the Committee receiving a satisfactory report 
from the experts upon these further samples, and 
also proof that the teas have been shipped to 
