THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST: 
[October i, 1890 . 
258 
the Paoklings ? Decidedly No, and your contributor 
admits the inferiority of the Packlums and Panyongs, 
which latter figure for 128,000 chests out of the total 
of 312,000. 
Now for the remarks concerning India and Ceylon. 
Granted that the rise in exchange will prejudically 
affect returns from estates, but it will not do so to 
the extent hinted at in the question asked by your 
contributor, “ How about the Dividend Let us take 
the case he instances. An estate producing Tea to 
sell in London for £10,000, must yield some 220,000 
lb. weight. To give that, the estate should be say 
800 acres, the expenditure on which would be about 
Rupees 50,000 per annum. Take a loss of 15 per 
cent on that sum we have only Rupees 7,500 or say 
£650, which is about CJ per cent only on the sum 
realised for the Tea. So that, to go further, assu- 
ming that the capital required for the above estate to 
be £30,000 we have under 2J per cent as the actual 
loss in dividend arising from a rise in Exchange of 
15 per cent. As to your contributor’s remark that 
we have not much to fear from Ceylon in “ the long 
run,” I can afford to pass it over, facts being stubborn 
things, and proving that the decline in the China 
Tea Trade is due in a great measure to the increase 
of Ceylon Tea. Tea is a hardy plant, and one which 
nothing seems to injure, not even the utter neglect 
of the Chinese ; — why then when it is cared for 
scientifically should it, “ in the long run," meet dis- 
aster in Ceylon ? Touching on the drawbacks alluded 
to by your contributor as those which China Tea 
has to contend with, I notice he mentions a higher 
oate of freight. A glance at the Colombo papers 
would have shewn him that freights there are as 
often 30/- to 40/- per ton for tea, as in China- 
“ The Chinese are luonderful adepts at meeting 
the inevitable,” continues your contributor. Granted, 
but not in the spirit in which the article 
views the point, the inevitable means rather the 
decline of the Trade, witness the descent from 800,000 
chests, 12 years ago, to a probable 360,000 chests this 
season. This is indeed adapting themselves to the 
inevitable ! Again, the rate of wages paid to the 
pickers in this country, We are assured on good autho- 
rity, cannot well be lowered, it is paid on the amount 
plucked per day by the picker, and if the production 
of Tea continues to decrease it follows that fewer 
pickers will be needed. As it is, the plantations on 
which any labour but that of the owners family is 
used, are already few and far between. Only with 
the introduction of railways and the abolition of the 
Lekin tax will the cost of carriage to this port ever 
be reduced. I come now to a still more sweeping 
statement in the article under notice. It is that 
“ If we cannot beat India and Ceylon in the matter 
of the very peculiar flavours imparted to their Teas 
through the unsavoury manures they use, we shall at 
any rate be able to compete with them and perhaps 
outdo them, in the cost of production.” 
Your contributor evidently knows little of the sub- 
ject concerning which he makes such bold statements. 
Will he be surprised to hear that not one twentieth of 
the acreage under Tea in Ceylon, ever receives any 
manure, savoury or unsavoury, and that he must there- 
fore seek elsewhere for the reason of their peculiar 
flavours ? 
Might I ask him what unsavoury manures are used 
in China to produce the marked and peculiar flavours 
shown in the comparison of a Tong Foong Tong and a 
Fanyong, or a Saryune and a Packlum ? 
From all one can learn, and it is at best perhaps, 
somewhat unrealiable, the reduction of the cost of pro- 
ducing tea in this country, has, excluding the subject of 
Lekin and taxes, reached its limit. 
I will conclude by disclaiming any desire to injure 
the trade of this port, but rather assort that it is only 
by baring our wounds and endeavouring to find their 
remedies that we can hope ever to see a healthier state 
of business. 
Apologising for trespassing so much on your valu- 
able space. — Yours faithfully, 
FUT JUSTITIA, liUAT OOSLUM. 
THE FINANCIAL AND GENERAL 
POSITION OF PERAK, 
as exhibited in the report of the British Resident 
for 1890 shows that 
The Revenue of the State amounted to $2,776,583, a 
sum $236,876 in excess of the Estimates and $766,343 
over the actual revenue received in the previous year. 
The expenditure for the year amounted to $2,090,116, 
a sum $223,634 less than that voted in the Estimates. 
The year’s expenditure was $686,406 under the year’s 
revenue. 
The trade returns for the year give the following 
result : $ c. 
Value of Imports ... ... 7.048,045 78 
Do. Exports ... ... 10,812,673 00 
Total ... 17,860,718 78 
Decrease over value of Trade in previous 
year... ... ... 1,937,298 51 
The decrease is more apparent than real, for there is 
reason to believe that the statistics of previous years 
were not thoroughly reliable and, owing to the price at 
which tin (the chief export) is oflScially valued, the 
returns of 1889 show a decrease of $850,000 on this 
item while the actual export exceeded that of the pre- 
vious year by 16,812 piculs. There is also a decrease of 
$850,000 on the import of specie. 
The excess value of Exports over Imports is note- 
worthy. 
From the 1st September Mr. Spence Moss was 
appointed Government Engineer for Railways in Perak 
as well as Selangor, and gave his attention to the sur- 
veys for the proposed Einta Valley Railway. 
The total area of land alienated to the 31st Decem- 
ber last was — 
Mining Land .. 11,995 acres. 
Agricultural . . 145,674 acres. 
Town Lots 4,829 lots. 
During the year 6,500 acres of land were demar- 
cated, against 2,600 acres in the previous year ; 10,000 
acres were surveyed against 8,000 acres ic 1888. 
In all districts of the State, except Krian, the dif- 
ficulty is to keep pace with applications for land so 
that even temporary titles may not be issued until the 
ground applied for has at least been demarcated. It 
is by no means possible to do this, for in the Kuala 
Kangsa District 2,982 lots of new land were alienated 
during the year, and in Batang Padang 1,326 acres of 
mining land were given out, though undemarcated. 
The most notable features of the year are that the 
experiment of pepper cultivation, begun in 1885, with 
the sanction and approval of His Excellency the pre- 
sent Governor, has proved so suecessful that there is 
a general desire, not only in the Kuala Kangsa Dis- 
trict but elsewhere, to take up large quantities of land 
for this purpose. The danger is rather that some who 
have undertaken this cultivation without much know- 
ledge should be discouraged by the time which must 
elapse and the trouble that must be taken to nurse 
the vines before any return can be gained. There 
are many thousands of acres in Perak admirably suited 
for pepper, and it is difficult to over estimate the 
advantages of making this cultivation generally popular 
with our large Malay population. 
The success of Liberian coffee has been demons- 
trated by Messrs. Hill and Rathborne, who have done so 
much for agriculture in the Native States. Their Kamu- 
ning Estate, in the Kuala Kangsa District, promises to be 
finest Liberian Coffee Estate yet opened. An experi- 
ment in tobacco proved that a leaf of excellent quality 
could be grown in Perak, and I trust that efforts will 
not he relaxed till it is also shown that the cultivation 
of this plant can be made a financial success. 
A Chinese has taken up a block of land in Larut on 
which he proposes to grow mulberry and rear silk- 
worms. The mulberry trees grows here like a weed 
and the experiment is one of much interest ; if success- 
ful, the Malays, who are skilful weavers, would probably 
take to it as a congenial industry. 
A sample of tea grown in the Government Planta- 
tions was sent to London, and very favourably reported 
upon, while the future of Arabian ooSee ia ao far aa- 
