JftJNfi 2, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AaRICULTURIST. BlS 
TJGAR PLANTING IN THE STRAITS: 
AND THE STRAITS' GOVERNOR. 
We have had the pleasure of a call 
recently from Mr. J. Turner, administrator 
andattorney of the Penang Sugar Estates Co., 
who was homeward-bound with his fanjily 
on six months' leave. Mr. Turner visited 
Ceylon on his way out after his last furlough 
early in 1900 and had a looii at the country 
as far north as Anuradhapura. He did nob 
think it suitable for sugar-growing as far 
as he saw ; but, on hearing that further 
north paddy was plentifullj' grown, Mr. 
Turner agreed that sugar might there be 
profitably cultivated while the quantity of 
irrigation required (the same kind of soil 
being suitable for sugar that was used 
for paddy) would vary to a great ex- 
tent with the quality of the soil and the 
rainfall. The rainfall on the Penang Estates 
was on an average 90 to 100 inches per animni. 
Since Mr. Turner was in Colotnbo last, the 
land either planted or taken up for plant- 
ing by the Penang Sugar Estates Company 
has more than doubled the Company's pi'o- 
perty, no less than 9,000 acres being now 
opened. The estates are worked by a staff of 53 
Europeans— "mostly Scotchmen! " Mr. Turner 
told us— and, though these are compara- 
tively free from tropical affections, several 
qualified doctors are employed by the 
Company to keep the native workers in 
health as far as possible ; as many as 150 
natives have succumbed from cholera alone. 
Mr. Turner was able to renew acquai'i- 
tance today with Mr. im Thurn, calling upon 
him at the Colonial Secretary's Office— in a far 
more responsible post than when he knew 
the latter as the able and scientifically gifted 
curator of the Demerara Museum. 
From Mr. Turner we were further in- 
terested to hear of the impression Mr. Taylor 
had made at the Straits— ntimely that of an 
exceedingly hard-working and thorough 
official, almost too much so for that Colony, 
and determined to possess a complete ac- 
quaintance v/ith the details of all business 
in his hands. Upon Sir Prank Swettenhan), 
Mr. Turner was kmd in praise. He regards 
this Governor as one who will be "heard 
of" in years to come with a fame greater 
than any, based merelj' on his Colonial 
Governorships. Sir Prank has, says Mr. 
Turner, made the Malay States; he has opened 
railways and constructed roads out of re- 
venue derived from the country itself, in a 
most skilful manner. He has all the gifts and 
capacity of a progressive colonial statesman, 
who understands the conditions of growth 
in comparatively young settlements such as 
the Straits or Colonial intants-in-arms, nearly 
such as the Malay States. As such 
he has proved a welcome addition to the 
Straits, as one not bound to oppose anything 
in the nature of progress and even wise 
enough to overrule lociil conservatism in 
the larger and future interests of his charge, 
Mr. Turner regarded his advocacy of Mr. 
Matthews' scheme for the itnproved harbour 
accommodation at Singapore as a remark- 
ably powerful and intelligent piece of work, 
and the passing of it by the Legislative 
Council, in the face of strong mercantile 
103 
opposition, as an achievement that redounds 
to the credit of his personal force as well as 
governing sagacity. Long may Sir Frank 
be spared to rule the Straits — is the wish we 
may offer from a flourishing neighbouring 
Colony, equally blessed with an able Gov- 
ernor who should be "heard of " in days to 
come— as long as he continues to see and 
provide for its needs and development as he 
does today. 
LORD LAMINGTON ON QUEENSLAND, 
On Maicli llUi, 1902, the Ri^ht Hon. Lord 
Lamington, G.C.M.G., read a paper on " Notes 
on Queensland." 
The Right Hon. tlie Earl of Onslow, G.c.M.G., 
a Vice-President ot the Institute, presided. 
All friends of Queensland have cause for some 
satisfaction in the facilities which now exist for 
obtaining information, supported by statistics and 
hgures, relative to the country's progress, as well 
as interesting accounts of its early history and 
physical features. And if liiis circumstance has 
made it dillicult for me to produce in my " Notes 
on (Queensland " matter which is new to you, and, 
ac til.; same time, free from tlie embarrassment 
of political topics (just roceiitly so very much to 
the fore), it is, at ail evei.is, ideasant to k.o . w 
that l:l;e many gaps I have iefii may he tilled at 
larger sources of intormatiun. Among these 
sources I would especially ineniion General Sir 
Henry Norman's Paper read before the Manches- 
ter Geographical Society in 1896, Sir Horace 
Tozer's address of three years ago to the Fellows 
of this Institute' —an address, it will be agreed, 
that left scarcely a phase of human interest un- 
touched, arid publications issued under the auspices 
of tlie (Government, entitled "A Queen Col ony," 
and " The Otificial Ye-ir Book," giv a most 
complete account of the resources and history of 
Queensland. 
The point that first occurs to my mind is the 
distress tliat Queensland has suffered, and— accord- 
ing to the most recent news — is, unfortunately, 
still suffering, through the long period of 
DROUGHT. 
I liear it is especially severe in the Central and 
Western districts. According to most people, it is 
the longest on record. Yet it is somewhat mis- 
leading to speak of Queensland as being drought- 
stricken ; the country is one of large areas, 
and things are rarely ever so bad or ever so good 
as represented by a general statenienb. Thus, 
in October, 1900, I travelled in North-Wesb 
Queeiisland, and even in some of the worst of the 
drought-stricken coirntry I came across districts 
that fared well. This was owing to their being 
in the track of some thunderstorms, which, as a 
rule, follow one another over a particular line of 
country. But even these smiles of nature are 
often unreliable. For example, paddocks may be 
seen with good giass which remains uneaten 
through the absence of water for the stock 
to drink. And in is in these cases that 
artesian wells are of surdi benelii^. On tlie other 
hand, a creek may be flowing " a banker," and 
not a blade of grass in the vicinity. This may 
occur in the case of a regularly ilowing river, as 
the Gregory, but more often is simply due to 
thunderstorms that have fallen higher up the river 
* Proceedinga of the Royal Colonial Institute, vol, 
sss. p. 74. 
