THP TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
fjANUARY I, 1899. 
468 
\q inveBtoTB— 1,000 coolies must be employed. Now 
the European employer who can control a labour 
force of 1,000 Chinese is rare in the Straits Settlements. 
Let ns see what advantages the I’eninsula has to 
offer to agrioulturista. Rice grows well, and is oul. 
tivated by Malays for their own food. The nco of 
the country is preferred by Malays to imported rice, 
and commands a slightly bettor price than the latter. 
But it esunot be oultirated on a large scale to com. 
note in price with that of Burma and Siam, which la . 
the staple article of diet of the Chinese population of 
the Straits Settlements Native and Slates. 
Coconuts and fruit-trees pay the native proprietor 
well, and at the various mining towns there is a steady 
demand for produce of this kind. In market garden- 
ing, however, the MsUys do not attempt to compete 
with the industrious Chinamau. . 
Excellent pineapples can be grow n, ana m ^ugaporo 
quite an important trade has sprung up in this fruit, 
lar^e quantities being preserved in syrup and exported 
*°Gambier (I’ncaria gamiir, Koxb.), the shrub wliioh 
produces the gambler of commerce, largely used m 
the tanning industry, grows to peifeotion in the Malay 
Feninsnla, and Chinese have introduced it in Selangor 
on a ooncesaion of 11,000 acres granted lor the pur- 
pose. It baa long been grown extensively in Singa- 
pore and Johore, where the Chinese population era- 
pitted in this Industry is very considerable. 
doming DOW to products with which the English 
planter is more familiar, I must mention sugar, ootlee 
(both Liberian and Arabian), tea, pepper and tapioca. 
In respect of sll of those we are long past the stage 
of experiment. Sugar-cane cultivation has long boon 
carried on in Province Wellesloy (Penang), and ono 
important estate has been opened in Perak, under 
European maiiagemout ; while in the same State there 
are 21 Chinese-owned sugar estates with an area of 21,663 
acres which employ about 5,600 labourers, and last 
year exported 84,382 pikiUii of siigiir, valued at 401,122. 
But here, as in other parts of the world, the competi- 
tion of beot-sngar is felt, and, with the Straits sugar- 
planters appealing to Goveiomont lor special iissis- 
tanco in respect of their labour supply, English capital 
for new estates may not be fortl.coming at present. 
Onr planters probably have much to lesrn from those 
of Java in regard to maobinery and cultivation ; and 
as long as there are improvements not yet adopted 
by them for ch eapeniog the oost of produoiug cane- 
sugar, they seem to have the alleviation of their diffi- 
onltiea in their own hands. 
in Persk, the prospects of the only estate on which 
the onltivatioo of Arabian coffee is ostried on are 
said to he excellent, and there are miles and miles 
of monnlsin ranges on which this product can bo grown. 
It maybe hoped that tku check which oofleo-planliiig 
reoeivsd in Ceylon will not for ever binder the ex- 
tension of this indnsiry In the Malay Pouiiiaula, 
Liberian coffee, however seems at present to be the 
favourite, becuuse the safer, article of caltivation. Eng- 
lish and Bootob planters ace bard at work in Perak, 
Selangor, and Sungei Ujnng, and the various Govetii- 
meuts ara Ideeply interested in their sucoees. It has 
been proved in Selsugor that a rotnrn of nine or ton 
owt. per acre may he expected. 
Now that Ceylon tea has aobiovod such a matvellons 
■uooess, it may be hoped that that Colony naay send 
08 Bome eiperieuoed tbero la litue 
doubt thftt Ibo Malay PeuinsuU is ofl woU ndapted as 
Oeylou for tbia parUouUr ou’tivanous A ^mple of 
tea gtowu ou a Qoveromeut plantation m was 
sent to Loudon in 1889 and favourably reported ou, 
and we do not despair of seeing “ Malay tea, as well 
as " Ceylon tea,” an article of 'consumption 111 Englano. 
Pepper is doing well on a small scale in Perok ana 
aelanmir. Tbia is an old industry which his heeu 
resuscitated. It was one of the staple products 
of the island of Penang belore 1810, and at one time 
more than 8,000 pikuli were exported sunually. But 
a serious fall in price led to the gradual abandon- 
ment of the cultivation. The Chinese gambier planters 
generally unite pepper oultivation with their mam in- 
dustry, as the refuse from the gambler vats maxes 
exoelUut monuie lor pepper plants. 
Tapioca is extensively grown in Sungei Ujong and 
Negri Sembilan, and there is one good estate in Selan- 
gor. The objection to this oultivation, ou the system 
pursned by the Chinese, is lhat it involvos the ex- 
haustion and abandonment of a great area of land. 
An interesting experiment in resring silkworms has 
been made in Perak. The mulberry can he successfully 
grown in the Malay Peuiosula, and already the pioneer 
Chinese cultivator has sent six cases of cocoona'.to Chins, 
where the silk is wound. It is officially staled that the 
silk produced is excellent and nnuaually white, and an 
extension of this industry may be looked for, as Chinese 
are already taking up land for mulberry cultivation. 
Fortunea have been made in tobacco oultivation in 
Sumatra, and 1 wish that I could hold out to my 
countrymen a reasonable prospect of rivalling on the 
mainland the plantations of Deli and Laugkat. The 
tobacco leaf produced there is of an attractive, light 
colour, and fine, silky texture, and it is u«ed almost 
exolusively for the outside leaf, or wrapper of cigars. 
There has hitherto been n great demand for it in America 
as well as in Europe, but it is said that the McKinley 
tariff is operating uufavonrably on the trade in this 
product, which has been established between Amster- 
dam and New York. Apart from this, it hss yet to be 
proved that in the Malay Peninsula there is any place 
where tobacco can be cultivated under the favuurable 
coeditions as to soil and olimato which are offered on 
the East Const of Snmstra. I have seen splendid 
specimens of tobacco plants grown in Fei ak, but any 
suoccssfal experiment must satisfy commercial exigen- 
cies, both as to quality of leaf and weight to (he acre. 
It is in the latter partionlar that a toliaoco estate on the 
West Coast ol the Peninsula is likely to be found wanting. 
Itcaaoning from the analogy of situation, aspect, Ac,, 
I should feel disposed to expect greater sucocssiu to- 
bacco cultivation on the East Coast, and I should like 
to see a really biiainoas-Iiko experiment tried by oco of 
the numerous companies who hold land in Pahang. 
As far, therefore, as the agrioullursl resourcos of the 
Peninsula are concerned, I may say tliat we have a 
olimato suited to the proilnction of all kinds of tro- 
pical produce, and soil fairly adapted to every sort of 
tropical cultivation. But, as I have already described 
the peninsula as being sparsely inbabileil, it may be 
easily surmised that there is considerable difficulty 
about the supply of labour. 
The time at my disposal does cot permit me to enter 
into a disquisitioD ou the labour question, and indeed 
the details of the subject are foreign to the object of 
this paper. It is enough to say that as the iodigenuus 
popnIatioD is neither sufficiently numerous nor suffi- 
ciently iudostrious to furnish a permanent and cheap 
supply of agricultural labour, recourse is had to 
the labour-markets of India and Chins. The 
supply of coolies is a trade, giving employment 
to recruiters, brokers, shipping-sgeiita, depit-keepers, 
and a host of other people. An artifloial system of 
this kind, dealing as it does with men’s liberties, and 
perhaps lives, requires careful watching on the part 
of a Government. The coolie innst be protected, hut 
if the labour obtained is not cheap the planter says 
that it is of no uao to him. The difficulty is to secure 
to the coolie all that he is entitled to, and at the 
same lime satisfy the employer. 
Intending planters can got any quantity of good 
Tamil coolies Irom India if they will give the rate 
of wages which is given to men employed on Oovoru- 
ment works. The term of agreement is three years, 
at the expiration of whicli the eoolie is free to seek 
work where he likes. The planter mutt not expect, 
nor can I understand why be sbould wish, to keep on 
bis Ishourora against their will alter the expiration of 
their agreements. Chinese labour can always be obtained, 
though the competition of the Sumatra tobacco estates 
makes the bounty-money high, Javanese coolies are 
also used a gcud deal by planters. 
L*iid can be obtained on easy terras. The Perak 
Ooverumeut is advertising special inducements to 
Englishmen of capital and enterprise, and, as tlie States 
do not enter into competition with each other, I ihink 
that 1 may lay lliat these terms msy be had in any 
of the Protected States of the Peninsula. 
