THP- TROmCAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1892. 
*o investors— 1,000 coolies must be employed. Now 
the European employer -who can control a labour 
force of 1,000 ChineBe is rare in the Straits Settlements. 
Let us see what advantages the Peninsula has to 
offer to agriculturists. Rice grows well, and is cul- 
tivated by Malays for their own food. The rice of 
the country is preferred by Malays to imported rice, 
and coipmanda a slightly better price than the latter. 
But it cannot be cultivated on a large scale to com- 
pete in price with that of Burma and Siam, which is 
the staple article of diet of the Chinese population of 
the Straits Settlements Native and States. 
Coconuts and fruit-trees pay the native proprietor 
well, and at the various mining towns there is a steady 
demand for produce of this kind. In market garden- 
ing, However, the Msiays do not attempt to compete 
Witt the industrious Chinaman. 
Excellent pineapples can be grown, and in Singapore 
quite an important trade has sprung up in this fruit, 
large quantities being preserved in syrup and exported 
to Europe. 
Gambier {Uncaria ganibir, Koxb.), the shrub which 
produces the gambier of commerce, largely used in 
the tanning industry, grows to perfection in the Malay 
Peninsula, and Chinese have introduced it in Selangor 
on a obncession of 11,000 acres granted (or the pur- 
pose. It has long been grown extensively in Singa- 
pore and Johore, where the Chinese population em- 
ployed in this industry is very considerable. 
Coming now to products with which the English 
planter is more familiar, I must mention sugar, coffee 
(both Liberian and Arabian), tea, pepper and tapioca. 
In respect of all of these we are long past the stage 
of experiment. Sugar-cane cultivation has long been 
carried on in Province Wellesiey (Penang), and one 
important estate has been opened in Perair, under 
European management ; whiJe ia the same State there 
are21 Chinese-owned sugar estates with an area o£ 31,663 
acres which employ about 5,600 labourers, aud last 
year exported 84,382 pikuls of sugar, valued at 401,122. 
But here, as in other parts of the world, the competi- 
tion of beet-stigar is felt, and, with the Straits sugar- 
plantera appealing to Government for special assis- 
tance in respect of their labour supply, English capital 
for new estates may not be fortlicoming at present. 
Onr planters probably have much to learn from those 
of Java in regard to machinery and cultivation ; and 
M long as there are improvements not yet adopted 
by them for ch eapening the cost of producing oane- 
Bugar, they seem to have the alleviation of their diffl- 
oolties in their own hands. 
In Perak, the prospects of the only estate on which 
the cultivation of Arabian coffee is carried on are 
eaid to be excellent, and there are miles and miles 
of monntain ranges on which this product can be grown. 
It maybe hoped that the check which coffee-planting 
received in Ceylon will not for ever hinder the ex- 
tension of this indastry in the Malay Peninsula. 
Liberian coffee, however seems at present to be the 
favourite, becuuae the safer, article of cBltivation. Eng. 
lish and Scotch planters are hard at work in Perak, 
Selangor, aud Sungei Ujong, and the various Gorern- 
ments are jdeeply interested in their success. It has 
been proved in Selangor that a return of nine or ten 
owt. per acre may be expected. 
Now that Ceylon tea has achieved such a marvolloua 
suooess, it may be hoped that that Colony may send 
ns some experienced tea-plantersj lor there is little 
doubt that the Malay Peninsula is as well adapted as 
Oeylou for this particular cultivation. A sample of 
tea grown ou a Government plantation in Perak was 
sent to London in 1889 and favourably reported on, 
and we do not despair, of seeing " Malay tea," as well 
BB " Ceylon tea," an article of 'consumption in England. 
Pepper is doing well on a small scale in Perak and 
Selangor. This is an old industry which has been 
resuBoitated. It was one of the staple products 
o( the island of Penang before 1810, and at one time 
more than 3,000 pikuh were exported annually. But 
a seriouB fall in price led to the gradnol abandon- 
ment of the cultivation. The Chinese guiubier planters 
generally unite pepper cultivation with their main in- 
doBtry, as the refuse from the gambier vats makes 
ezoellut manure fox pepper planta. 
Tapioca is extensively grown in Sungei Ujong and 
Negri Sembilan, and there is one good estate in Selan- 
gor. The objection to this cultivation, on the syatem 
pursued by the Chinese, is that it involves the ex- 
haustion and abandonment of a great area of land. 
An interesting experiment in rearing silkworms has 
been made in Perak. The mulberry can be successfully 
grown in the Malay Peninsula, and already the pioneer 
Chinese cultivator has sent six cases of cocoonsjto China, 
where the silk is wound. It is officially stated that the 
silk produced is excellent and unusually white, and an 
extension of this industry may be looked for, as Chinese 
are already taking up land for mulberry cultivation. 
Fortunes have been made in tobacco cultivation ia 
Sumatra, and I wish that I could hold out to my 
countrymen a reasonable prospect of rivalling on the 
mainland the plantations of Deli and Langkat. The 
tobacco leaf produced there is of an attractive, light 
colour, and fine, eilky texture, and it is used almost 
exclusively for the outside leaf, or wrapper of cigars. 
There has hitherto been a great demand for it io America 
as well as in Europe, but it is said that the McKinley 
tariff is operating unfavourably on the trade in this 
product, which has been established between Amster- 
dam and New York. Apart from this, it has yet to be 
proved that in the Malay Peninsula there is any place 
where tobacco can be cultivated under the favourable 
conditions as to soil and climate which are offered on 
the East Coast of Snm&t>ra. I have seen splendid 
specimens of tobacco plants grown in Perak, bwt any 
successful experiment must satisfy commercial exigen- 
cies, both as to quality of leaf and weight to the acre. 
It is in the latter particular that a tobacco estate on the 
West Coast of the Peninsula is likely to be found wanting. 
Eeasoning from the analogy of situation, aspect, &c., 
I should feel disposed to expect greater success in to- 
bacco cultivation on the East Coast, and I should like 
to see a really business-like experiment tried by one of 
the numerous companies who hold lend in Pahang. 
As far, therefore, as the agricultural refources of the 
Penineula are concerned, I may say thit we have a 
climate suited to the production of all kinds of tro- 
pical produce, and soil fairly adapted to every sort of 
tropical cultivation. But, as I have already described 
the peninsula as being sparsely inhabited, it may be 
easily surmised that there is considerable difficulty 
about the supply of labour. 
The time at my disposal does not permit me to enter 
into a disquisitioD on the labour question, and indeed 
the details of the subject are foreign to the object of 
this paper. It is enough to say that as the indigenous 
population is neither sufficiently numerous nor suffi- 
cieutly industrious to furnish a permaneat and cheap 
supply of agricultural labour, recourse is had to 
the labour-markets of India and China. The 
supply of coolies is a trade, giving employment 
to recruiters, brokers, shipping-agents, depdt-keepers, 
and a ho»t of other people. An artificial system of 
this kind, dealing as it does with men's liberties, and 
perhaps lives, requires careful watching on the part 
of a Government. The coolio must be protected, but 
if the labour obtained is not cheap the planter says 
that it is of no use to him. The difficulty is to secure 
to the coolie ail that he is entitled to, and at the 
same time satisfy the employer. 
Intending planters can get any quantity of good 
Tamil coolies from India if they wi'l give the rate 
of wages which is given to men employed on Govern- 
ment works. The term of agreement is three year?, 
at the expiration of which the coolie is free to seek 
work where he likes. The planter must not expect, 
nor can I understand why he should wish, to keep on 
his labourers against their will after the expiration of 
their agreements. Chinese labour canalways be obtaiaed, 
though the competition of the Sumatra tobacco estates 
makes the bounty-money high. Javanese coolies are 
also used a gooi deal by planters. 
L»nd can be obtained on easy terms. The Perak 
Government is advertising spacial inducements to 
Engliuhmeu of capital and enterprise, and, as the States 
do not enter into competition with each other, I think 
that I may tay that these terms may be had in any 
of the Protected States of the FeuinBola. 
