Dec. 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUKIST. 
405 
The contractors on this planta tion are Philippinos, 
some of whom migrated to British North Borneo 
darinc: the late war with America. The coutractors 
are allowed to plant foodstuffs between the coconuts, 
such as potatoes, yarns, bananas, pineapplep. Thoy 
soon have a stock of poultry, and nearly all the contract 
money should be in hand at the expiration of thecoutract 
time, labour c»n be obtained in plenty for this kind of 
work, After the third year the chief work ia to keep 
down the jangle growlh, which should not cost more 
than $3 per acre per year, and in the fourth year 
cattle may be introduced, and the cost of clearing 
the jungle will become still less. The g:eat e lemy of 
young coconut trees is the wild pig, but this planta- 
tion has not, so far, suffered muoh. Under the present 
contract system the loss, if any, during the first 
three years will f»II on the contractors. Where 
wild pig are plentiful a barbed wire fence seems to 
be a safeguard against their depredations, which 
rarely continue after the third year. 
I visited the manager's house, situated on the edge 
of the sea beach, and under the shade of the coconut 
trees now in bearing — a pleasant, breezy spot. He 
told me the drinking water was good, fish cheap and 
plentiful, poultry in plenty, and pigeons of several 
kinds could be shot. Ment was scarce, &•} it had to 
be brought from Sandakan. The manager was 
leaving, as the heavy work connected wiih the opening 
of the new plantation was fiaished, and the present 
acreage is too small to afford a European superin- 
tendent. I estimated the acreage at 2n0 acres, 
allowing seventy-five trees to the acre. The trees 
were planted too close, and it would be better to pay 
the contractors a little more and only allow fifty 
trees to the acre. 
A smaller estate than 400 acres should not be 
attempted, as the living expenses of a European 
manager would be too hpavy on a small acreage. 
The total cost of planting 400 acres I estimate at £7 to 
£8 per acre, which expenditure would be extended over 
seven years. In this estimate I have allowed a very 
liberal sum for unforeseen contingencies, and I allow 
£120 to £150 sterling a year for living expenses cr 
salary of the propiietor lantil the trees come into 
bearing, after which the salary would prob.ibly be 
about £1 per acre. After the seventh year there 
should be an appreciable crop. One hears of coco- 
nuts bearing in five or six years, but it would be 
better not to rely on any appreciable crop until 
after the sixth year, and an average of 3, COO nuts 
per acre (allowing fifty trees to the acre) would prob- 
ably not be obtained over the whole plantation 
until the tenth year, after which a certain amount 
of manure would be required to maintain this output. 
I estimate the profit from 400 acres of coconuts at 
£2 to £2 10s per acre. The duration of a coconut 
estate seems to be unlimited. When the trees 
are worn out new ones are planted. The price of coco, 
nuts seems to have been well maintained for the last 
century. Mr. John Ferguson published in the Ceylon 
Observer about twenty years ago a list of prices obtained 
in Ceylon for coconuts from the beginning- of the 
century, which showed a steady rise in value, and since 
18S0 the price of coconuts has risen considerably, 
partly due to the increasing quantity of soap m ide 
from coconut oil, and partly to the demand for coconut 
kernel in sweetmeats. 
Young men with some capital who are willing to 
devote ten or twelve years to the task would find coco- 
nut planting in British North Borneo a very enjoyable 
out-of-door life, with plenty of leisure and a fairly 
certain income when the trees coine into bearing. 
Very little knowledge is required by the coconut 
planter, and that little can be acquired while the trees 
Bre growing. The only caution I would offer is as 
regards selection of land, The prospects of a planter 
are rendered more favourable if the soil is good, and if 
labour, communication, and food supplies are duly 
taken into consideration when selecting the land. A 
railway has lately been made seventy miles along the 
^98t «9aat 9{ firiUsU l^Qcth }3oi;aeo wbioh pa,3sei9 
through good land for coconuts, and id being extended 
thirtj-three miles into the interior. I should advise 
Innd being taken up in the vicinity of the railway. 
When ths interior line is completed it will be pleasunt 
to go to the hills for a change. Very fine deerstalking 
can be obtained on the higher level. On the lower 
levels near the sea snipe abound in season, also wild 
duck, and, for those who want big game, both wild 
rattle and rhinoceros are to be had in British North 
B irneo. Wild elephint exist on the east coast, but a 
somewhat prohibitive tax of $150 has to bo paid for 
each eleph.in'. 
From the foregoing it may be gxthered that a 
coconut planter's life does not entail much hard work. 
Before the plantation comes into bearing the amount 
of attention required is not sufficient to fill the time 
of an able-bodied European, and it would be as wtll 
if the proprietor could obtain some additional employ- 
ment ; but when the trees begin to crop, the supervision 
of the collection of the nuts and their sale, as well as 
the upkeep of the plantation, would afford a pleasant 
out-of-door employment, with plenty of leisure. 
H. W. 
-Field, Oct 18. 
THE PEARLING INDUSTRY OP NOR- 
THERN AUSTRALIA. 
According to "Australasian Hardware and 
Machinery" for September, a report on the 
pearl-shelling industry in Northern Australia has 
been furnished to the Federal Government by Judge 
Dashwood, the Commissioner specially appointed 
for that purpose some time ago. At Port Darwin, 
according to this report, the industry gives em- 
ployment to S9l persons, and at Thursday Island 
to 2,214, or 2,503 in all. Of the owners some 35 
are Europeans, but 13 are Torres Strait islanders, 
.vhile all the drivers are coloured — more or less. 
The Commissioner is of opinion that, given better 
wages and conditions of living, white men niighb 
be obtained to undertake the work, but he is 
sati-slie l that the industry could not be profitably 
carried on with the increase of expenditure which 
this would entail. Some time ago the transference 
of the head quarter.? froiu Thursday I.sland to 
iVIerauke, in l)atch New Guinea, was spoken of, 
bub the Coraniissiouer tliinks this port would be 
altogether unsuitable. In 1900 the pearl-shell 
raised at Thursday Island was valued at 116,697?. 
A report by Mr M S VVarton, the resident magis- 
trate at Broome, Western Australia, on the pearling 
industry in the north-west of that State, has since 
been laid before the House of Representatives. Iti 
confitrnis Oomiuissioner Dashwood's conclusion 
that the industry cannot be carried on by white 
labour alone. In Western Australia, says Mr 
Warton, 618 persons are engaged in pearl-shelling, 
of whom only 110 are white men. As indicating the 
value of the trade to the Commonwealth, it is shown 
that from the fleets engaged in collecting pearls 
20,000^ is paid yearly in Custom's duties. — Board 
of Trade Journal, Oct. 23. 
» - ■ 
MICA MINING IN INDIA. 
A very acceptable volume on the subject of the Mica 
Deposits of India, written by Mr T H Holland and 
published in continuation of the series of memoirs of 
the Geological Survey of India, has just been issued. 
It is of a far more entertaining character than have 
been many of its predecessors; and the writer ha; not 
scrupled in his descriptions of the mica mining in- 
dustry to ba as interesting as if the volume were not a 
acientiljc treatise, The primary object of the wcrk is (9 
