520 
THE  TROPICAL  AGEICULTCRIST. 
[Feb.  f,  i8g6. 
the  sales  come  off.  The  land  spccnlator  attends 
the  auction  (luite  content  to  buy  land  that  he  knows 
must  be  worth  acquirinp,  inasmuch  as  it  is  auctioned 
at  the  instance  of  the  man  of  experience,  and  he  can 
afford  to  bid  higher  than  the  other  as  ho  has  in- 
curred no  preliminary  outlay. 
Again,  it  a planter  desires  to  buy  three  con- 
tiguous blocks,  Ure  spccuhttor  may  purchase  the  central 
one  at  a prohioitivo  figure  and  compel  the  planter 
eventually  to  buy  him  out  at  a price  which  leaves 
a substantial  margin  of  prollt  for  hisnself.  Such 
abuses  are  inevitable  in  connection  with  sales  by 
auction. 
We  would  further  ask  that  the  dela}'  in  survey- 
ing blocks  in  the  Kuala  Lumpur  District  within  the 
radius  gazetted  as  subject  to  auction  sales  be  recti- 
fied, and  that  blocks  applied  for  in  the  above  and 
other  districts  should  be  attended  to  and  put  up 
for  sale  with  the  same  despatch  as  they  are  in 
Klaug  and  Kuala  Selangor.  We  would  point  out  to 
Your  Excellency  that  competition  of  these  sales 
mea.ns  the  disappointment  of  at  least  one  party,  and 
that  unless  there  is  abundant  land  on  olTor,  which 
there  has  not  been  hitherto,  the  result  is  one  settler 
the  less  in  the  State. 
Wo  believe  that  general  sati.sf'action  would  be  given 
to  the  public  if  the  Government  w^ould 
(1)  Construct  rough  service  paths,  of  a width  of 
six  feet  or  so  to  commence  with,  through  rich  districts  ; 
(2)  Cut  up  and  survey  blocks  of  5U0  and  1,00U 
acres  in  advance  of  aiiplicatiomi ; 
(3)  Price  this  land  at  a rate  which  the  demand 
at  the  time  being  and  completed  sales  would  seem 
to  warrant ; and 
(4)  Dispose  of  the  blocks  to  applicants  in  order 
as  they  come  forward. 
If  such  measures  were  adop'ed  an  intending  settler 
would  be  able  to  make  his  selection,  buy  his  land 
and  commence  operations  at  once,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  wide  circulation  of  this  fact 
would  tend  to  bring  numbers  of  investors  into  the 
country  who  are  now  holding  off  owing  to  the  at 
present  existing  uncertainty  connected  with  the  ac- 
quisition of  land. 
It  is  of  course  of  the  highest  importance  that 
no  such  attempt  to  oixm  up  a district  on  the  lines 
suggested  above  should  be  made  without  the  soundest 
expert  advice  upon  the  suitability  of  the  soil  and 
locality  for  growing  colTee. 
Our  Association  hopes  that  the  time  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  your  Excellency  will  concede  to  the  planter 
the  prior  right  to  mine  his  own  land  liimself,  ortoniake 
arrangements  for  its  being  rained,  as  we  aro  of  opinion 
that  it  is  an  essential  point  that  the  holder  of  a 
lease  in  perpetuity  should  neither  bo  deprived  of 
any  of  the  land  comprising  that  lease,  nor  of  the 
power  to  exercise  control  over  such  miners  as,  by- 
virtue  of  the  mineral  rights  retained  by  H.  H.  The 
Sultan,  might  at  any  period  be  empowered  by  the 
Government  to  prosecute  the  mining  industry  in 
the  planter’s  land. 
In  cases  of  resumption  of  land  by  the  Govern- 
ment for  public  purposes,  we  would  again  point 
out  to  Your  Excellency  that  the  existing  terms  of 
settlement  by  arbitration  are,  if  not  inequitable, 
at  any  rate  not  at  all  calculated  to  givo  satis- 
faction to  proprietors.  We  maintain  that  the  Court 
of  final  reference  should  in  all  oases  of  arbitration  be 
composed  of  adjudicators  without  any  interest  what- 
ever in  the  question  at  issue. 
We  do  not  at  the  present  juncture  desire  to  again 
urge  upon  Your  Excellency  tlie  necessity  for  jicrmit- 
ting  lawv  ers  to  ]iraotise  in  the  Law  Courts,  but  wo 
hope  th.at  the  Administi  at  ion  of  jiistico  in  Selangor 
will  be  one  of  the  first  iioiiii  ; which  w ill  ongugo  the 
attention  of  Iho  l.iesidont-Goiioi-al  of  the  amalga- 
mated Native  States.  We  commend  the  foi'cgoing 
suggestions  and  recommendations  to  Tour  Excellency’s 
notice,  feeling  assured  that  Tour  J'.xcellency  will 
honour  the  views  which  we  have  advanced,  and  which 
we  claim  to  be  reprc'sentativc,  with  your  kind  con- 
sideration. 
We  beg  to  subscribe  ourselves,  lour  Excellency’s 
obedient  humble  servants,— J'k  V.  Carey.  Tom  Gibson, 
G.  Meiklc,  E.  15.  Skinner,  II-  Uuttcubach,  Com- 
paittee,  S.  P.  A..  DugeiubeL 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
The  Proguess  of  Buitisii  Guowx  Te.\. — In  our  last 
week’s  issue  we  quoted  a eiicular  from  Messrs.  Gow, 
AVilson,  and  Sia-Rton,  in  which  figures  were  given 
or  data  supplied  by  Jler  Majesty's  Customs,  chowing 
the  growDii  of  the  tea  trade,  and  how  Eritish- 
grov.n  tea  is  gr.idually,  but  surely,  pushing  Chinese 
loaf  out  of  the  home  market.  Tire  eclipse  of  China 
tea  has  continued  steadily,  as  the  following  figures 
for  tile  past  six  mouths  testify  : 
1832.  183.5. 
India  ..  52,170,' Of).  .51  p.c.  58,285,000.  .51  p.c. 
Ceylon..  31,735,000.  .33  p c.  41,125,030.  .30  p.c. 
China  ..  10,027,000. . 10  p.c.  14,438,00'J.  .13  p.c. 
In  1877 — not  twenty  years  ago— China  shi]iped  123 
million  pounds  to  the  United  Kingdom,  India  28 
million  pounds,  and  Ceylon  nil,  a to'al  of  151  million 
pounds.  A reference  to  the  figures  given  in  our  last 
iisue  will  show  the  strides  made  since  then. 
Dust  Tea  ano  Pekoe  Faxnixgs. — Messrs.  Stenning, 
Inskipp  A Co.  in  their  Ilcport  state  : — “ Complaints 
have  come  to  our  notice  of  licavy  loss  in  weight 
arising  from  the  broken  condition  of  tlie  leads  and 
packages  and  the  subsequent  leakage  ; we  would 
recommend  that  half-cbests,  either  of  strong  wood, 
iron  hooped,  or  of  metai,  be  usd  for  such  de- 
Fcriptions.'' 
•‘Pj,.v\r  Many  TiirxGS.” — Tiie  cultivation  of  tea  and 
other  products  will  no  doubt  be  tried,  at  any  rate 
experiiuentally.  in  countries  in  which  until  recently 
sugar-growing  has  been  the  leading  industry.  In  his 
piper,  read  at  the  Royal  Colonial  Institute,  on  “The 
Future  of  our  Sugar-Producing  Colonies,”  to  which 
rva  referred  last  week,  51  r.  .Tustico  Condii  Williams 
made  reference  to  the  pnssibilitj'  of  further  develop- 
m.nts  of  tea-growing  experiments,  lie  mged  upon 
the  colonial  planters  the  necessity  of  turning  attention 
to  tlie  cultivation  of  tea  and  other  products  suitable 
to  the  soil.  Of  Mauritius  he  said,  speaking  of  the  diffi- 
culties attending  sugar  planting ; “But  where,  as  in 
this  interesting  and  beautiful  island,  thei-e  re- 
mains to  a community  the  possession,  in  addition  to 
great  natural  resources,  of  a fund  of  unexhausted 
iutclligcnce,  pluck  and  spirit,  as  was  abundainly 
manifested  after  the  terrific  InuricanG  in  the  island 
of  1831,  and  the  fire  of  the  following  year,  there  is 
no  room  for  absolute  despair  of  the  future.  And 
Mauritiu-s  possesses  certain  resources  which  are  still 
largely  undeveloped.  Not  the  mineral  resources  of 
Britisli  Guiana  and  Queensland,  which  add  to  the 
prosperity  of  a colony  by  leaps  and  bounds,  but 
such  as  consist  in  new  and  varied  species  of  agri- 
cultural production — vanilla,  tobacco,  fibre,  and  tea 
— -.suitod  to  development  by  small  cultivators,  such  as 
aro  foiinil  among  the  rapidly  increasing  body  of 
Indian  ‘ ryots  ’ of  the  island,  who,  so  far,  have 
devoted  their  energies  mainly  to  the  production  of 
vegetables  for  the  insular  market,  and  of  sugar 
canes.”  Beferi-ing  to  Natal,  Mr.  Justice  Williams 
said  : “ Natal,  in  past  days  was  called  the  Colony  of 
Samples.’  And  if  that  were  scarcely  a respectful 
title  to  confer  upon  this  plucky  and  salubrious  little 
colony  of  South  Africa,  still  less  would  it  behove  us, 
in  view  of  today’s  three  principal  staple  exports  of 
Natal,  to  pronounce  her  the  Old  Lady’s  Colony  of 
the  future.  Yet  tea,  sugar,  and  coal  arc  fireside  e.s- 
sentials  of  the  first  order.  And  of  tea,  the  latest  an- 
nual output  in  Natal  is  said  to  be  of  700,u00  lb. 
from  2, -500  acres  under  cultivation.’  I’binters 
everywhere  aro  learning  the  lesson  which 
5Ir.  D.  Morris,  of  Keu',  lias  ti-ied  to  teach — viz.,  that 
“ tliP  history  of  nil  e-sentially  .agricultui'al  coinum- 
nitics  teaches  u ; that  there  is  .eilet)'  only  ,vhi»  n:< 
plant  .nantj  thuKjt;  ; oi-,  in  plain  woids,  in  agricidtural 
as  well  as  in  commercial  enloiprisc,  it  is  'not  well  to 
place  all  onr  eggs  in  one  basket.” 
AGmeui/ruuF.  and  Cuuuf.ncy. — A paper  was  read  at 
the  Imperial  Institute,  last  woclc  by  Mr.  \V.  E.  Bear  on 
“ Agriculture  and  Currency.”  The  reading  of  tho 
)).'ipei'  w.x.s  to  show  the  ailvantagi's  at  pi'e.sent  enjoyed 
by  the  Argentine  over  (ndia  and  other  countries  in  tho 
pioductimi  of  wheat.  The  paper  ]H)iutod  out  tliat  the 
lall  in  juices  since  silver  was  demonetised  m cer> 
fain  important  countries  was  too  well  known.  A 
