276 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULrURIST. [Oct. 1 1902. 
date my information takes me, tiiere are only 
signs of a steadily increasing prosperity, there 
is notliing to suggest a retrograde movement. 
I am anxious to kuow what has liappened since 
then. Messrs. Fyers and Graydon agree about 
the railway " going nowhere in particular." 
They seem to have lost sight of its object, if 
they ever knew it, like a good many non-observant 
men have done. Consul Arthur Keyset' in his 1899 
Report, alter saying that the development of the 
country as yet is only in its infancy, goes on to say 
" at Bsaufort" (where the railway runs) "and for 
many miles round, the country is unpopulated 
and the land is without cultivation. Beyond the 
present cutting of the E-ailway lie vast ranges as 
far as the eye can reach. On the further side of 
these hills is the country which it is proposed to 
open up. . . ■ This splendid stretch oi countxy 
is full of possibilities of development, and the 
railway is apparently being constructed in order to 
afford capitalists opportunity to investigate them. 
There is no road, only a jungle path." He points 
out that the cost is likely to be considerable and 
the engineering difficulties great. 
In conclusion, I may say, 1 have no connection 
whatsoever with British North Borneo, nor with any- 
one connected witli it and that I have not even the 
pleasure of knowing Mr W D Gibbon. I merely 
place the knowledge I have gathered together at 
your disposal for the benefit of your readers, lest 
they should be led away by your contemporary's 
remarks without a careful investigation of the case. 
As I am only quoting, what I have said will lose 
none of its value if I do not sign my name. — I am. 
Sir, yours faithfully, 
A. 
[Consular Reports should certainly be reliable ; 
for British Consuls are not only men of honour, 
but strictly responsible for what they report. 
Here is what the " Statesman's Year Book " for 
1902 states : -- 
" About 1,000,000 acres have been alienated by the 
Government on leases of 999 years for tobacco plan- 
ting, pepper, coffee, and jungle products. There are 
12 estates planting tobacco, 43 oo:See and coconuts, 
3 Manilla hemp, 3 pepper and gambler. 
1898. 1899, 1900. 
Dollars. Dollars. Dollars* 
Revenue proper ... .505,369 546,129 688,026 
Expenditure ... 633,051 568,347 1,386,055 
Exports ... 2,881,851 3,439,560 3,336,621 
Imports ... 2,419,087 2,456,998 3,178,922 
The revenue includes sums realised by land sales' 
and the expenditure includes payments on account 
of railways, telegraphs, and other public works, 
amounting for the year 1900 to 983,186 dollars. 
Most of the trade is carried on through Singapore 
with Great Britain and the colonies. The chief pro- 
ducts are timber, sago, rice, gums, coflFee, pepper, 
gambier, gutta-percha, tapioca, sweet potatoes, and 
tobacco which is being planted on a large scale. 
Coal and gold have been found. The exports com- 
prise mostly jungle and sea produce, wax, birds'-nests 
(edible), coco-nats, gutta-percha, sago, tobacco, rattans, 
india-rubber, seed pearls, beche-de-mer, &c. A 
flourishing timber trade is stated to have been opened 
with China. Exports of leaf tobacco in 1900, 8,625 
bftles, valued at 92,OO0Z. Shipping entered 1900, 
110,908 tons ; cleared, 111,3S5 tons ; nearly all 
British. Borneo is now connected by cable with the 
outer world by a branch of the cable between Labuan 
and Singapore. A telegraph line has been constructed 
from Menumbok, where the cable reaches land, to 
Sandakan, where there is also a telephone 
exchange. A railway is in course of construction 
.{(901 ^{Hoei Bay iu^Q (he iaiierior, fcow (beie 
to Jesselton in Gaza Bay. It is expected that the 
whole length of 110 miles will be open for traffia 
before the middle of the year 1902." 
—Ed. T.A.-\ 
FIRST SNIPE OF THE SEASON. 
Kurunegala, Sept, 7. 
Dkar. Editor,— May I, again this year, 
claim the honour of having -shot the first 
snipe of the season ? I got one this morn- 
ing at 7-30.- Yours, etc, 
A. W. WARBURTON-GUAY. 
[This is very early ; has a snipe ever been 
shot in Oeylon before the end of August ? — 
Ed. T.A.] 
THE PRODUCTION OF THE COCONUT 
PALM. 
Sept. 8. 
Dear Sir,— I was much interested in 
" Traders ' letter on the above subject. I 
agree with him that the local consumption 
of coconuts has ^rown enormously during 
the last quarter of a century ; but I doubt 
if that alone explains the inelasticity of 
the exports of the products of the coconut 
palm. There never has been a year since 
the British occupation in which hundreds, 
and even thousands, of coconut plants 
have not been put down by villagers and 
small proprietors ; and during the last 30 
to 40 years the acreage under coconuts 
must have quite doubled, I am afraid the 
deficiency in fruit is due to backwardness 
in cultivation. Only the trees immediately 
round the villager's hut bear heavily : his 
garden is neglected. Even headmen, and 
proprietors of tens and hundreds of acres, 
do little in the way of cultivation. The 
trees look after themselves ; they are un- 
manured ; and their crops decrease or 
stand stationary. It is the exception, and 
not the rule, to plough coconut land, to 
weed round the trees, to manure them at 
regular intervals. Hence, I believe, the dis- 
appointing outturn, as exhibited in the ex- 
port tables you publish. 
COCOS NUCIFERA. 
[Again, in many cases of small native 
gardens, the planting is so close, that if 
half the palms were cut down, the crops 
would be larger.— Ed. T,A.\ 
PLANTING POTS. 
Sept. 12, 
Dear Sib,— I have just seen "Planter's" 
query re planting pots. They are on the 
same principle as a flower pot, only narrower 
and have no bottom. These are laid down 
like planting baskets in nurseries for coffee, 
filled with earth and seeds put in. At plant- 
ing they are carried to the field, earth and 
plant emptied out and placed in the holet 
while the plot was taken away and kept for 
future use. 
They are expensive to make and cost a 
great deal in tr.ansport and I should strongly 
advise ''Planter" to use baskets as cheaper 
and more satisfactory generally.— Yours faith* 
fully, B. H. J. 
