JUNTR  I,  1897.) 
AGRicui/n;Risr. 
849 
THE  I'KOPICAI. 
BUETI8II  NORTH  BORNEO. 
A special  mjefcin.(  of  meiibec.^  of  tho  London 
Ch.amloai'  of  Uomnier  :o  was  held  on  7th  iiist.  at  Botolph 
House,  when  IMi-.  \V.  13.  Pt-yer,  fonnoidy  seniou  re- 
sident, British  North  Borneo  Gompan^/’s  service,  and 
recently  manager  of  tho  North  Borneo  Develop- 
ment Compiny,  delivered  an  address  on  “ Prospects 
of  Gonimrtcial  Development  and  Planting  in  British 
North  Borneo.'’  Mi'.  Jamas  Chambers  (vioe-pre.si.lent 
of  the  Chamber)  took  the  chair. 
Mr.  Pryer,  having  described  the  geographic  il  features 
of  the  isian  land  climate,  particularly  in  it.s  northern 
part,  said  that,  owing  to  immigration  of  different 
n.ationalitiss,  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  popu- 
lation would  be  .a  very  mi.vod  and  contusing  one, 
but  also  withant  mucli  doubt  that  the  Hakk  is  from 
South  China  would  form  tlie  m in  bulk  of  it.  ,San- 
d.ikaiiBiy  claimel  to  be  one  of  the  finest  harbonrs 
in  the  worl  1,  rivalling  llio  and  Sydney  ; several  rivers, 
cr.;oks  and  water.vays  ran  into  it,  giving  acces?  to  a 
la'i'ge  area  of  fertile  link  As  the  river.s  wliieh  ran 
to  the  north  an  1 sonth  of  Sandikan  all  had  Ijar.s  .at 
their  m mtas,  their  tralo  and  produce  had  to 
be  caried  in  shallow  draught  steamers,  and  transhipped 
at  Siiiclikin,  which,  therefore,  had  a large  future 
before  it.  Porest  pro  luce  iuohi  led  iadi.irubber,  gutti- 
pcrcha,  bir  D’-narts,  heasw.ix,  camp'ij-,  cl.immir, 
rattans  a'ul  timber.  In  liarubbar,  guttaperoh  i and 
r.attins  hid  been  largely  exterminated  in  many  of 
the  districts  where  once  they  were  abundant,  so  tint 
now  there  was  even  difficulty  in  getting  seeds  for 
their  proper  cultivation,  which  was  to  be  regretted,  as, 
if  plant  3d  and  looked  after  in  a proper  way,  they 
were  an  extremely  remunerative  and  very  inexpen- 
sive crop  to  raise.  Every  dollar  invested  in  doing 
this  a few  years  ag 3 would  have  been  worth  twenty 
now.  Timber  was  more  likely  to  attract  the  atteu* 
tion  of  capitalists.  The  greater  part  of  North  Borneo 
was  virgin  forest,  and  it  has  been  calculated  that  tlao 
amount  of  good'timber  per  acre  averaged  about  200 
tons.  The  best  kind  was  known  as  billian  or  iron- 
wood,  which  was  in  considerable  request  in  China 
for  piles  and  beams,  whrst  it  was  said  to  be  un- 
surpassed for  railway  sleepers,  and  there  was  likely 
to  be  a huge  demand  for  it  when  railway  making 
coratneuced  in  China  in  earnest.  In  the  south-east 
part  of  tho  country  there  were  very  extensive  coal 
fields,  and  outcrops  of  coal  occurred  in  several  other 
places  right  across  to  Sindakin  Bay.  Grold  existed 
over  a considerable  area  up  the  Segama  River  and 
inland  ffoin  Darval  Biy,  but,  so  far,  the  quantity 
obtained  load  been  smill.  Diamonds  and  other  pre- 
cious stones  had  been  found  two  or  three  times  in 
different  parts  of  the  territory,  as  well  as  specimens 
of  cinnabar,  copper,  antimon3’^,  arsenical  silver,  and 
other  metals.  A hill  of  mica  had  been  discovered  up 
the  Labuk,  and  it  was  iinpos-sible  to  say  what  thn 
real  mineral  woilth  of  the  country  was  until  its 
centre  part  h:id  been  more  thorongbly  explored  In- 
dications of  petroleum  oil  occurred  in  two  or  throe 
places,  and  exploring  rights  had  recently  been  granted. 
Should  oil  be  found  it  would  give  a tremendous  fillip 
to  the  country.  It  had  been  said  by  people  who 
knew  the  country  and  its  resources  best  that  North 
B 3i'ne3  was  the  least  crowded  and  mo.st  promising  of 
any  British  possession  that  now  offered  a field  for 
the  employment  of  British  youth  and  British  capital, 
and  it  was  without  question  in  its  soil  that  the  future 
prosperity  of  the  country  and  of  all  connected  with  it 
cliiefly  laid.  As  many  of  the  country's  products 
specially  lent  tliemselves  to  manufacture,  they  would, 
no  doubt,  soon  see  springing  up,  in  tho  most  ad- 
vantageous positions,  sugar-mills,  coconut  and  cotton- 
seed oil  mills,  cotton  ginning  works,  additional 
sawmills,  papei-making  works,  fruit  canning  works, 
and  many  others.  There  was  no  reason  why 
North  Borneo  ahoiiid  not  have  as  many  people  to 
the  square  mile  as  Java,  with  it.s  22,000.000  inhabit- 
ants. To  .sliow  what  could  bo  done,  he  mentioned 
an  estate  tivelvo  miles  nortli  of  S.indakan,  started  five 
years  ag.',  whoi'e  there  was  at  that  time  nothing 
but  virgin  forest.  Toflay  there  were  over  1,000  people 
there,  some  of  them  getting  their  livelihood  from 
lOH 
wages,  others  cultivating  the  soil  on  their  O'wn  ac- 
count, wiiile  over  a spaco  of  some  I, .'>00  acres  the 
forest  trees  fia  1 been  replaced  by  valuable  produce- 
yielding  plants.  What  had  been  done  on  the  1,.')00 
acres  could  b3  done,  and  would  be  done,  sooner  or 
later,  on  an  indefinite  number  of  similar  areas  in  the 
country.  In  time  Borneo  would  be  the  chief  supplier 
of  cotton  to  China  and  Japan  and  of  sugar  to  the 
Hongkong  refineries  ; would  supplant  the  Philippines 
as  the  chief  pi  o.lticers  of  Manila  hemp ; run  Singapore 
ha.d  in  the  ex  jiort  of  copra,  sago,  tapioca,  and  g imbier, 
and  lie  also  h.oped  that  North  Borneo  would  be  one  of 
the  main  contributors  to  the  world’s  supply  of  india- 
rubber.  The  cultivation  of  these  articles  offered,  as 
far  as  human  foresight  could  go,  the  safest  and  best 
of  investments.  The  main  need  in  connection  with 
the  counLiy,  it  seemed  to  him,  was  actual  proof  that 
such  was  the  case,  and  when  w,as  made  clear  from 
actual  demonstratio.i  that  coffee,  copra,  land  and  other 
things,  nn  ler  proper  management,  were  almost  as 
safe  as  Consols,  au'l  out  and  awiv  m 'U'e  reinuncr.itive, 
there  would  ho  no  lack  of  capit  i!  fimhooniing. 
A di.scussiou  took  place  on  Mr.  Pryor’s  iiiterosling 
paper,  and  the  meeting  closed  with  a vote  of  thauks 
for  the  same, --A.  ft'  C,  Erpress,  April 
“H.UtU  TIMES  AND  DRINK.'’ 
Under  this  heailiiig,  the  American  Grocer  of 
March  24th  lias  the  following  interesting  re- 
view : — 
COFI’KIO. 
Measured  by  the  number  of  gallons  of  the  bever- 
age consumed,  coffee  ranks  next  to  beer  as  a popular 
beverage.  The  net  importations  for  ten  yeara  and 
per  capita,  consumption  has  been  as  follows  : — 
Year. 
Pounds. 
Av.  import 
cost — cents 
^ capita. 
Pounds. 
1887 
500,819,587 
10-7 
8'53 
1883 
408,562,775 
14-0 
6.81 
1889 
561,132,100 
13  0 
9-16 
1890 
490,161,900 
16  0 
7.83 
1891 
511,011,459 
ngo 
7 99 
1.392 
629,671,748 
*20'0 
9.61 
1893 
• • • • 
551,395.2.50 
14.0 
8'24 
8894 
• • • • 
517,068,994 
16-4 
8-01 
1895 
• • • • 
643,234,766 
14'7 
9'22 
1196 
572,671,840 
14'6 
8-04 
- Overvalued  by 
paper  currency. 
rea.son  of 
(lepreci.atioii  of 
Brazilian 
All  coffee  is  imported  in  the  raw  beau,  and  on 
the  average  loss  16  per  cent  in  roa.sting,  and  allow- 
ing for  which  leaves  a net  consumption  in  1896  of 
481,044,346  pounds.  The  Import  coat  was  $83,534,366, 
or  14'6  per  pound.  Coffee  retailed  in  1896  from  20 
to  36  cents  per  pound,  and  averaged  about  25  cents, 
Assuming  that  one  pound  of  coffee  makes  two  gallons 
of  infusion,  we  have  a year's  consumption  of  962,088,692 
gallons  at  a cost  of  $120,261,086. 
TE  \. 
The  per  capita  consumption  of  tea  does  not  in- 
crease; in  fact,  is  less  than  it  was  twenty-five  years 
ago,  when  it  averaged  one  and  one-half  pounds,  against 
one  and  three-tenths  pounds  in  1896.  Tlie  net  im- 
ports, assumed  to  represent  consumption  have  for  ten 
years  past  been  as  follows: — 
Year. 
Net  imports. 
Pounds. 
Av.  import 
cost,  lb. 
cents. 
1SS7  . . 
..  87,481,186 
18.7 
1838  . . 
. . 83,9-14,.547 
15.8 
1889  . . 
. . 79,192,253 
16.0 
1890  . . 
. . 83,494,956 
15,0 
1891  . . 
. . 82,395.924 
17.0 
1892  . . 
. . 89,610,741 
16.0 
1893  . . 
..  88,131,088 
16.0 
1894  . . 
..  91,801,565 
15.1 
1895  . . 
. . 96,437,042 
13.5 
1896  . . 
. . 93,340,248 
13,5 
Consnmp’u 
capita 
Pounds. 
1.49 
1.40 
1.29 
1.33 
1.29 
1.37 
1.32 
1.34 
1.38 
1.31 
