September i, 1890O THE TR 0 PK 5 M- At3flRlt!Ul.TOni8T, 
219 
hurried np/by sea and land, the general vowing that 
he will now^xterminate the whole trihe and make 
a clear the east coast. The Chinese are said 
to be welt^rmed with modern weapons of precision 
as with rockets for jungle warfare, the latter 
of j^ch, however, they are unable to use. So far 
tne savages ” appear to be triumphant aU along the 
line from the south to the north-east ; their borders 
have of late been extended, and it has only been 
by means of heavy bribes that they have been 
induced to keep within them. It is quite impossible 
to predict the result of the campaign now proceeding 
in the south. To judge by the majority of recent 
efforts to subjugate the aborigines the quarrel will be 
patched up for a moment, the troops will be with- 
drawn, and then the imprudence and arrogance of 
some local official will cause the flame to burst out 
anew. — Times Weekly Edition, 
THE BEITISH NORTH-BOENEO COMPANY, 
Mr.W.D. Gibbon, the local agent for this company, 
sends us the annual report and balance sheet for 
1889, and also the report of the 15th half-yearly 
meeting held last month. Our London correspon- 
dent, in his letter of 11th July, mentioned several 
of the chief facts given by the chairman in his 
speech at that meeting ; but we make a few 
additional extracts, as follows: — 
From an ofBcial return of the tobacco sales in 
Holland last year, it would appear that no country 
produced tobacco which sold for more than 70 cents of 
a guilder per pound, with the exception of British 
North Borneo ; whilst the price of the whole of the 
1888 crop from our Territory averaged 125 guilder 
cents. Large sums of money have been spent in 
planting experiments in Zanzibar, Ceylon and other 
countries ; in most cases with disastrous results. In 
Deli land is getting scarcer, whilst the price of tobacco 
is getting dearer. The sales of Sumatra tobacco this 
year have realized in some cases over 4s per pound ; 
and I believe that a sample of Borneo tobacco has also 
been valued at this high figure. Under these circum- 
stances, in spite of the difficulties in the early days 
of planting, there is every reason to believe in a great 
future for British North Borneo. ... 
Next to tobacco, timber takes the second place in 
our list of products. This industry has greatly increased 
during the year. ... 
It may be further stated that negotiations are in 
progress with an influential syndicate which may lead 
to the formation of an Exploration Company, and 
possibly also to the establishment of a bank in North 
Borneo, so that there a prospect of the country being 
more thoroughly and rapidly exploited in the near future 
than has been possible in the past. ... 
The aggregate tonnage inwards was 67,623, and out- 
wards from Sandakan 70,343, and I am glad to say our 
ports have been frequently visited by Her Majesty’s 
ships of war, the influence of which is very acceptable, as 
evidence of the interest of Her Majesty’s Government 
in the progress of the protected State. ... 
As a further evidence of increasing business, the re- 
turns from the Treasurer-General show a large increase 
both in the note issue and in the demand for our copper 
coinage ; thus the value of notes issued on the 31st Dec. 
last was over SIOO.OOO, as against $53,494 at the end of 
1888. The Sandakan correspondence is returned for the 
year — in letters 17,998; papers and books, 14,677 
parcels, 105 ; showing a considerable increase in 1888 
under all the throe heads. 
VVe notice that a number of the shareholders at 
the meeting expressed dissatisfaction at not receiving 
any dividend, 12 voting that the report be not 
adopted, and 22 against this motion. 
> 
Notmkgs in Grknad.v. — A W est Indian plan- 
ter in ordering the Tropical Agriculturist and offering 
to send us an occasional letter — an offer we gladly 
accept — adds: — “The staple on this estate is nut- 
megs, and we have lots of trees from 70 to 80 years 
of age, line sturdy old fellows which bear enor- 
mously and look ‘good’ for another century,’’ 
PLANTERS’ ENEMIES IN THE (PAR EAST) 
THE STRAITS AND WEST (GUATEMALA). 
Mr. E. Woodhouae writing, from Penang on 22nd 
July, says ; — 
“Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the herewith- 
mentioned ‘ bug,’ which I guess is our old enemy 
(or new one perhaps I should say) green bug. The 
male, however, of the latter is a very minute little 
fellow, not more than half the length of a full-grown 
female. I regret to say I have renewed my acquaint- 
ance with the green bug during my travels lately ; and 
saw a remarkably fine specimen of helopeltis in Perak.’ 
A New Insect. — M. Adolf Vendrell, a member of 
the Agricultural Societies of Belgium and Spain, has 
at the order of the Government of Guatemala, pre* 
pared a report on a disease that attacks the coffee 
plantations of the department of Amatitlan, in that 
country. Coffee was planted in Amatitlan at the time 
of the decline of the cultivation of cochineal. Owing 
to the poverty, want of depth, and perhaps negleotj 
of the soil, the coffee disease in question made its 
appearance about ten years ago, and the farmers 
attribute to its ravages the annual loss of half their 
crops. M. Vendrell states that the disease is an 
insect, “ nothing more nor less than a new species 
if cochineal that has adapted itself to a different 
existence.” M. Vendrell, after carefully oonsidering 
the manner in which the insect should be clase d 
places it in the coooidos family named by Dr. Claus 
of Vienna University. To the individnal insect he 
gives the name of “ coocus coffe».” He describes 
the female as being “ of the shape of a coffee bean, 
with a central line across the length, three pair of 
feet, a sucker or spur at the thorax, very conspicuous 
small eyes, and two or three whitish lines on the 
body.” ' The male is similar, save that he sometimes, 
has wings, and is slightly larger. The insect settles 
upon the tender shoots of the coffee, and absorbs the 
nourishing juices as they flow towards their destina- 
tion in the tissues of the plant. M. Vendrell advises 
the nee of nitrate manures on the plantations, and 
recommends the intervention of the Government on 
account of the poverty of the cultivators. 
♦- 
CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT, 
THE NEW “ CEYLON HANDBOOK AND DIRECTORY” — A 
COMPLIMENT. 
Aug. 14th. 
The reoeption which your big book has received 
on all hands must have been very gratifying ; 
for from the Governor downwards testimonials to 
that work have been both hearty and numerous, 
if I may judge by what has appeared in the 
Observer columns. No one who has taken the 
trouble to study the book will think this praise 
has been misplaced. 
There is one remarkable feature in “Ferguson’s 
Ceylon Directory,” and that is that every succeeding 
issue seems to be an improvement on the preceeding 
one. It goes on too increasing in bulk. I had the 
curiosity to put the volume for 1887-8 into the 
scale as against 1890-91, and the latter comes out 
nine ounces heavier. This increase is all new matter, 
for it seems as far as I could make out that the 
advertisements in both books are pretty nearly equal; 
in fact the older volume rather has it. Of course 
a test of this kind is of no value, in judging the 
merits of the book as a book ; but when you begin 
to wander through its pages and note the wide 
range of the information therein contained, and 
more especially the practical nature of it ; also 
the marked absence of anything which might be 
classed as “ padding, ” it would appear that these 
nine ounces of new letterpress have a critical value, 
even when put in this avoirdupois way. The 
question is, if over half a pound weight of the 
book were to be out out, could an excision of this 
kind be made without very much impairing its worth ‘i 
