666 
I HE  IROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  i,  1S97. 
cipal  tin  producing  province  (exporting  something 
like  120,00)  cwts,  annually),  where  you  meet  the 
Kiuta  Valley  Railway  at  Cheemor,  22  miles  from 
K.  K.  and  Go  miles  from  Telok  Auson— tlie  present 
outlet  of  Kinta  and  Lower  Perak  on  the  Straits 
of  ^lalaoca.  To  take  you  to  the  Southeni  border 
of  Perak  and  the  Northern  of  Selangor  at  Tanjong 
Malim,  some  50  miles  from  Ihipah  on  the  K-  V. 
Railway,  there  is  only  a bridle-road  and  in- 
different bridges.  Such  is  the  state  of  existing 
communications,  which,  taken  as  a whole,  may  be 
called  “ good’’.  We  will  say  noihing  about 
the  steamers  which  carry  you  from  Penang  to 
Port  Weld  and  Telok  Anson,  because  they  belong 
to  a private  firm  and  are  not  subsioisjd.  It  they 
were,  perhaps  they  wmuld  be  moie  comfortable 
and  the  Government  of  Perak  might  see  more 
visitors,  and  secure  some  of  them  as  investors 
in  the  land  w'hich  is  so  abundant. 
METKE  GAUGE  U.AILWAY3  EVEUYWnERE. 
There  is,  however,  a near  prospect  of  the  quali" 
fication  “good”  being  converted  into  “better” 
as  20  miles  of  the  break  between  Larut  and  Kinta 
in  railway  communication  are  under  construction, 
and  25  miles  under  survey.  Between  Taipiug  and 
Pra',  opposite  Penang,  at  about  50  miles’  distance, 
the  railway  survey  is  in  progress,  as  it  i.s  between 
Tapah  and  Tanjong  Malim,  another  50  miles. 
The  completion  of  this  through  line  of  railway 
communication  in  Perak  may  be  looked  for  before 
the  year  lOOO  is  ended,  for  they  don’t  take  up 
years*  of  time  there  in  talking  about  their  pro- 
posed lines  and  they  don’t  w'orry  t'lemelves  over- 
gauge.  They  have  adopted  the  metre,  and  thej"^ 
are  content  to  keep  it  to  the  end,  as  the  best 
suited  in  cost  and  capicity  for  a country  of  short 
distances,  though  with  a large  traffic  in  the  pre- 
sent, and  a still  larger  in  prospect  the  near  futu  e. 
What  the  speedy  completion  of  this  “ better”  — 
1 may  say  “ best’  line  of  communication  when 
Selangor,  with  IG  miles,  links  up  from  Kuala  Kubu 
— may  be  judged  from  the  small  “ boom”  that  set 
in  a year  ago  in  coffee  planting,  cosequent.  in  a 
measure,  on  the  steadily-pursued  railway  policy  of 
the  Government  of  going  ahead  until  their  trunk 
line  is  an  accomplished  fact. 
THE  LABOUR  ANE  ADVANCES  ROBBERS. 
Prior  to  the  last  year  or  two  j ou  could  not  point 
to  any  considerable  evidences  of  the  doings  ot  coffee 
beyond  Waterloo  (,\rabian)  and  Kamuning  estate 
(Liberian),  both  the  result  of  European  c.ipital 
and  enterprise.  Now  you  can  point  to  recent  de- 
velopment of  ab  )ut  a thousand  acres  in  coffee  in 
the  Kuala  Kangsar,  and  a great  deal  more  in  the 
Kiuta  district;  and  a feature  in  this  fresh  departure 
is  the  investment  of  Chinese  capital.  Whichever 
way  it  is,  from  a belief  in  coffee  or  a disbelief  in 
mining,  the  fact  remains  that  the  Chinaman  is 
putting  his  money  into  coffee,  and,  when  he  joins 
with  the  European  in  the  race,  we  can  come  to  no 
other  conclusion  than  that,  for  better  or  worse, 
there  is  to  be  a run  on  the  coffee  lands  of  the 
Perak  State.  That  it  will  be  for  the  better  all 
the  evidences  go  to  shew;  where  it  mry  be  for 
the  worse  I am  inclined  to  say  it  will  be  from 
fauKs  that  could  be  avoided,  and  not  from  any 
drawbacks  of  soil,  climate,  labour,  or  communi- 
cations. This  leads  me  to  speak  of  the  labour 
problem  in  Perak.  Until  within  a recent  period 
it  was  a difficult  problem  and  a deterrent  to 
planting  progress,  I think  it  is  n rt  so  any  longer. 
’The  Cninese  are  as  apt  at  most  of  the  planting 
work  as  the  Tamils,  and  will  do  it  as  cheaply  and 
well.  Both  these  races  can  now  be  got  in  suffici- 
ent numbers  and  without  advances,  and,  so  long 
as  tin  is  at  its  present  price,  there  need  be  no 
fear  as  regards  labour,  even  should  the  “ boom  ” 
to  which  I have  referred  extend  in  volume  a id 
make  a larger  demand  than  hitherto  on  tne  labour 
supply.  We  in  Perak  are,  of  course,  at  a dis- 
advantage compared  with  Ceylon  as  regards  rate 
of  wages,  but  we  have,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
advantage  in  freedom  fro  n advances  and  necessity 
of  supplying  rice  The  cooly  gets  his  pay  every 
mouth  regularly,  and  all  that  has  lo  be  done  for 
him  is  to  provide  good  lines  and  give  him  medi- 
cine when  necessary  ; his  rice  and  fish  he  gets  as 
cheap  as  in  Ceylon,  and  such  things  as  2^1‘tutains 
he  gets  for  nothing  or  next  to  it.  With  all  these 
inducements  to  the  cooly  I dont  think  the  planter 
in  Perak  has  anyth  ng  to  fear  a<  regards  la  our 
any  more  than  he  has  with  regard  to  the  good 
growth  and  plentiful  cropping  of  Liberian.  I see 
1 0 hiiig  else  to  that  ths  market,  which  m ly 
become  glutted  with  coll  e as  it  is  sometimes  iu 
danger  of  being  with  tea.  Sir  Graeme  Elphinstoae 
last  year  cleared  500  acros  of  land,  which  he 
planced  mostly  with  L beriau  Coffee,  and  at  the 
be.inn  ng  of  this  year  he  had  n -xt  to  nothing  on 
his  books  in  outstanding  a.ivances.  I believe  this 
experience  of  on  3,  vvhioh  I qujt-o,  is  the  experience 
of  the  many  u Persk.  If  ft  we-e  not  so  there 
would  not  hi  I he  advance  there  has  recently  been 
for  Chinese  would  not  hang  on  to  a place  under 
advances  the  sa  ne  as  the  Tanils  in  Cey.on,  any 
more  than  the  Ta  nils  iu  Perak  would  do ; aud 
there  would  be  much  greater  loss  in  recovery, 
as  I had  good  cause  to  know  in  connectioa  witu 
railway  work  there. 
THE  TAMILS  IN  PERAK. 
AdJitiomal  and  cheapened  facilities  in  the  steam- 
boat communication  between  Penang  or  the  Straits 
and  Southern  India,  coupled,  with  the  increasing 
poioubanty  of  Perak  with  the  India  coolie,  wdl 
lu-mg  Tamil  f ee  labour  over  iu  greater  uu  iibsrs 
year  by  )eir,  aud  t ie  planter  tliere  will  before 
long  have  the  advantage  of  two  races  compe-ing 
for  his  wo  k;  aud  he  can  1 lok  forward  to  geatuig 
more  work  out  of  the  individual  than  hitierto. 
T’nat  this  will  be  a blessing  to  the  coolie  nimself 
tnere  cannot  be  a d mbt,  for  it  was  the  a.iort 
hours  aud  high  pay  that  teiideii  to  demoralize  the 
Perak  I’amil  aud  lu  ike  him  s>  inferior  in  quan- 
tity aud  quality  of  work  to  his  brother  in  Ceylon. 
YIELD  OF  LIBERIAN  COFFEE. 
As  already  mentioned’  coffee  planting  iu  Perak 
is  so  much  in  its  infancy  that  not  in  icrj  can  be 
looked  lor,  so  far,  in  crop  results,  but  what  can 
be  mentioned  of  the  yield  iu  1895  of  clean  coffee 
from  one  e-tate  hiving  257  acres  more  or  less  in 
full  bearing,  G to  7 years  old,  is  encouraging 
enongii  for  those  later  in  the  field.  The  acreage 
mentioned,  with  so.nething  like  400  trees  to  tne 
acre  of  Liberian,  some  of  it  topped  at  G feet,  and 
some  at  10  and  12  feet,  gave  G4  cwts.  per  acre  of 
clean  berry,  which  fetenei  tne  highest  price  in 
the  Singapore  market.  This  result  was  attained 
without  tile  aid  of  any  mannre  ; with  that  aid  it 
is  quite  likely  the  crop  return  might  nave  been 
increased  by  fifty  per  cent. 
COCONUTS. 
Regarding  coconuts  I am  inclined  to  think  that 
on  a large  scale  the  returns  will  ba  much  greater 
tliau  ill  Ceylon.  Going  into  a native  garden  whore 
there  were  some  very  tine  trees,  I asked  how  many 
lints  were  got  from  a tree  in  a year,  and  wss 
told  200.  Tnis  may  be  right  or  wrong,  but  there 
is  no  doubt  of  the  heavy  bearing  capacities  of  the 
trees  generally, 
I say  nothing  about  Selangor,  for  I have  uot 
heeu  bear  this  tiino,  neither  do  I say  anything 
about  planting  Liberian,  in  imitation  of  Selangor, 
on  the  low,  ll  it,  more  or  loss  swampy,  peaty 
linds  by  the  sea,  for  time  will  tell  if  tiie  venture 
be  right  or  avrong. — Local  “ 'Times.” 
THli  WOODS  OF  SAMOA. 
Much  has  boon  written  about  Samoan  wools, 
their  beauty,  abuiidauoe,  aud  variety,  but,  s.iya  the 
United  States  Consul-Geueral  at  Apia,  there  is  bat 
little  foundation  for  the  statement  tiuat  tiiese  woj.l.s 
are  likely  to  Oecome  a source  ot  marvellous  wcialtli. 
There  can  be  no  question  but  th  at  ihe  variety  of 
woods  is  very  extensive,  and  that  a limited  pro- 
