834 
can be bought, $4 per acre, Of the equivalent of E9, is 
only ten per cfent. less than the upni t price, a'-, which 
the Oej'lon Goyerument pate up forest land for eale,witli 
all Ihe advantages of a previous survey, and acoeBB by 
rail audroad aheudy provided. When the land has been 
acquired, for a so-called premium, it is not he'd ly 
a freehold title but is still subie'.'t to a number of 
land regulations which prevent a man from sajing 
" May 1 not do as I will v/ith mine own," for vonly 
it is no', his own but still the prope rty of the Statt . 
When representaliou is made tliat there ie no meat s 
of access for prospecliug the jungle without the losi 
of time, end the expense iucurr^jd by hiricg Malays 
and tiibiug supplies into the jungle, which ii na- 
turally a difBcnlt prccetding for strangeis not oon- 
versaut with the language of tho natives or the 
nature of the country they wish to explore, we are 
told that eight or ten years ago a number of 
plaL'teis weut through the country and examined the 
jungle from end to etd, and at that time tbere were 
few or none of the present roads which intersect 
the S'ate in every direction. In addition to this, we 
are reminded that the first planters in Ceylon took 
np their lauds under similar conditions. Very true ! 
and see the result. In Perak, the examina- 
tion of the country, and substqueut coiice siouB 
of land, in inacaetsililo regions, was the sum 
total of what retuUed f omthe visit of most of the 
planters of that time. The very few who 
did lemaiu and open coffee estates either 
abandoned the attempt and went away, or el.e 
laid their bones in the country, eo that tbere can 
hardly be said (o be much encouragement held 
out to mrn who are cow told to go end ('o likewise. 
As regards the pionceis in Cejlon, who coromcrc' d 
operations before the era of roads and rails, I appie- 
hend that hardly a si: gle one of them made any- 
thii'g out of th« venture, the general smash up of 
1848 being a proof of tho astertio . If it is a fact 
that the GoverLment of PertU is finxious that tenor 
a dozen men should make a lot of money by way of 
encouraiug others to come into tha country, it is evi- 
dent that it must do fomething more ttan tell them 
to go and incur tte risk md trouble and expense 
which resulted in tho ruin or death of those who 
have previously made a similar venture. There isut 
prefenl but one valley of hill forist which viill be 
served by a csrt road for a short distance and (hen 
by a bridle path, which is under construction. And 
when, in accordance with directions from the Lsnd 
office, and permission granted to take up lend " any 
where youlibe^" as long as it has not befn airf ady tak<-n 
up and dt matcuted by some elte, we proceed to select in 
tbisvallej, wo find that other parties have a prior 
right of selection, hiuI thut until tlioy choose to come 
to some dolermination on the subject, nobody else 
can do anything — two years time being the shortest 
perio 1 named for tlie parpnse. 
Until measures are taken to enable visitors, inthe 
iirst plttoo 10 inepccfc the olevnted jungle land of the 
State, and in the second place to provide for the 
transport of supplies and produce when the Eatatos 
a.-e openK', there is not much chance of any lar(;e 
extens ou of the cuUivntion of coffee Arahica. These 
remarts do not apply to the same extent when we 
come to Libericui coffee, low lying tracts of .country 
suitable lor this variety lying adjuoent to many of 
roads already constructed. In this connection I wish 
to point out an extraordinary nnd vexatious regnla'ion 
iiffectitig land already plHuled, and more that has bteu 
taken up (or planting, in tho interior districts of the 
Stale. At £unlii Kangsar, a sort of custom house 
h»8 been cetablishod, and tho coffee grown in the 
district Ijhs to bo taken to this cuatorns- house 
and weighed before it is allowed to go on 
to Tiiiping, and tho privilege ('{) of doing 
tfiis has to be paid for at the rate of 
two and a half cents « picnl. K'jt us see ho* fhis 
works. At present the only estate giving a crop Ijing 
00 the Ipoh side of tho town, ban nnecssnrily to Fend 
its produce through the town, so that tlioro is no extra 
transport incurred; but suppose the estato lr>y eight or 
ten miles on the Tajpinj{ side, it would, in order to com- 
ply with tho prtiHout rcgulatidUH, bo noceBsary to soud | 
the coffee 16 or 20 miles out of its w ly to the port be- 
fore it is allowed to leave tlie district. Agaiu, this 
C' ffeo has to be weiglied at Kuala Kangtar to please 
the Government, weighed a second time ai Taiping to 
please the railway authorities, and finally weighed a 
third lime at Port Weld to phase both the Government 
and tho steamer agents. This is, of course, all by way of 
encouragement to planteis! Another difficulty resulte 
from ihe inability of the Lind Office to diueo tho imrae- 
didle survey of tho land taken up. We ero told to go 
and demarcate the land, and in due course ihe Lands 
Office will proceed to survey it, the cost of the two ope- 
ra tions coming to something like one and a half dollar 
an acre. The wl o'o question of survey in the State 
appears to be in a muddle — at any rate itHppears so to 
a stranger — and will j;roba'j|y remain so until the 
whole of the surveys are plac.'d uui3er one he-^d, instead 
of being as at present divi<ied between the Land Office, 
the Survey Office and private surviyor!;, each treading 
upon the oiher's heels — and toes (on, if credit is to bo 
given to general report. To fiicilitato the commence- 
ment of operations,permic.Bion has been given to employ 
certain private surveyors, whore woi k, when duly checked 
end approved, will be accepted by the Government, and 
this i4 the only concession obtainable at present. 
Clause No. 12 of tho General Land Rpgulations places 
the planter at a very terions disadvautoge ind< ed. "The 
right to take, and to atithorise others to tahe timber, 
charooal, gams, and all othir natural produce from uu- 
tVlIed fotest and unelettred land, is reserved by the Go- 
vernment." The planter is thus unable to reserve ony 
timber for building purposof, if he happens lobe near 
6 mining village, which may spring up at any moment 
and ho ie liable to have at auy time Chinese, und 
natives of all defcriptions, vvandcring about his land and 
destroying his propertv without the ability to check 
them in any way. This is by no means an imagi- 
nary possibili y. I can point out a tk ck of 500 acres 
of land selected siz months ago, with abum'auce 
cf fine timber npcn it, which in another six 
months time, at the present rsta of exbaustiin, will 
not have a stick worth felling left upon it. At Blaada 
Biabok thtrj are hundreOs of acres cf land entirely 
denuded of forest; which has betin used for the mines. 
Tracts of land taken up for agricultural purposes 
mu^t be protected from similar loss of timber. On 
pointing this out to the State Commifsiontr of Lands, 
we were told that in clearing the land the planter 
wastes the timber, for he burns it all up, and it comes 
to the Simo thing if the timber is tateu away by 
miners and others. This reply is worse tLan puerile ; 
for, it must bo evident that, as clearing the land 
necessitates the burning of tho timber upon it, it be- 
comes all the more important for the planter to pre- 
Btirve for estako purporos all the available timber on 
the uncleared land. If the Government wants to en- 
courage planters to purchase land, it should hold out 
as an inducement that the timber, charcoal, gums, 
attaps &o., &c , should be at their ab60iutodi'<posal,to 
sell, or reserve, or make use cf as circumstances might 
dictate. Such a concession would heip the planters 
and be but little appreciable loss to the Government. 
Another argument freely used in this connection 
is that the mining interest must he nursed, as it 
forms the main source of State revenue, and that 
the cultivation of coffee is an interest of a very 
indefinite value. Granted ; but the Government aseerts 
that it is endeavouring to further the coffee interest 
in every way it can, and it is very evident that being 
in its infancy, it requires nursing a great deal more 
than mining, which is hundreds of years old. 
I have made this letter too long already, and will 
not trespass further on your space. I may never set 
foot in Perak again, but ara convinced that encourage- 
ment to coffee planters must lake a different form 
than at present obtains, if auy important interest is 
to bo created within a short period of time. An 
inimenBC deal has boon done for Perak in fifteen 
years, but this ia not the time to halt on the road 
of progregs, — asking men to ceme to the country for 
a piirticnlar purpose, nnd then apparently grudging 
them any little concession tbey may ask for.— Yours 
faithfully, Edmund Woodhouse, 
Penang, March 10th. 
