January i, 1892.] 
THE TROH^CAL AGRICULTURIST. 
469 
The first ten approved applicants may select blocks 
of 1,000 acres, or two blocks of 500 acres each, which 
will be given free. After the end of the second year 
of occupation, a tent of 20 cents an acre will be 
payable ; or. if desired, this may bo commuted by 
one payment of $3 an acre. If the block selected bss 
road frontage, the depth mnst bo throe times the 
frontage. A lionA Me oomusencoment of cultivati^m 
must bo made within twelve months after selection. 
Cost of demarcation, sorvey, etc-, must be bnmo by 
the lessee. The Goveinment reserve the right to levy 
an export duty not exceeding 2^ per cent. 
Applications addressed to the Ucsident of any one 
of the Protected States, or to the Oolouial Secretary, 
Singapore, Straits Settlements, will receive immediate 
attention. 
Finally, by way of summing up, I mark a few 
passages : — 
Unr hopes, of conrsc, rest almost entirely on the 
tin-industry. Tin is the factor which governs every- 
thing in these States. We cannot expect to establish 
in the Straits of Malacca another sea-port for ocean- 
borne trade, when we already have Penang on the 
north and Singapore on the south. And in the absence 
of an iudigenous agricnltnral population like that 
which any dutrict in Java possesses, the progress of 
cnitivation must be slow. Even if wa could hope fur 
the conspicuous sneoess attending a particular oultiva- 
tion which wo have seen illnstratcd in Deli (Sumatra) 
in the case of tobacco, and in Ceylon in coffee and 
tea, it would not compare in immediate results with 
a aiiooessful mining rnsh. When the pr'oe of tin Is 
high, fresh mines are opened, and coolies and capital 
pour in from China ; wi|b the increase in population 
the excise revenue goes up, lands and houses inert a"-e 
in value, and a general impulse is given to every- 
tbiiig. And so, on the other band, if low prices 
rule persistently for some time, inferior mines have lo 
stop work, coolies Itavo the Stete, the excise farmers 
are rninned, and there is general depression. 
Sapported by splendid mineral rosonrees, the princi- 
pal States have, nnlike the liritish Settlements in the 
Straits of Malacca, been able to establish their finan- 
cial independence within a few years of their first 
start under liritish guidance. They can thus construct 
their roads and railways now ont of revenoa, acting 
as if tin might some day fail thorn. Mot that I think 
that there is any reason to fear that the tin deposits 
of Perak and Selangor will be cxbanstod within any 
period that ean prsotioslly concern ns. We may, I 
trust, look forward to fresh discoveries in these States 
when the tin-fields, only partially open ont as 
yet, show signs of diminished production. And, ss 
in the case ot gold-mining in aVnstralia, we may hope 
that when the alluvial deposits are exhausted, lode- 
mining may take its place- In the Perak Adminis- 
tration Ueport for 1890, discoveries are mentioned, 
bat lode-mining, which teems to offer to European 
enterprise a bettey field than alluvial mining, bus not 
yet taken n foremost place in the industries of the 
Pcuiiisnla, 
This briugs me to tbo subject of railway oonstruu- 
tion in the Peninsula generally. There are advocates 
for a trnuk-line, or inter-Staic line, which would run 
north and south, connecting all the Slates bulwooii 
Singapore and Pontng, and which conld at some fntore 
time DO extended northwards throngli Siamese terri- 
tory to meet an Indian lino at Teiiasaerim, This is a 
favourite idea of those who iudnlge in visioas of a 
short route from India to Australia. It ia combated 
by others who concur in the views expressed by Sir 
F. Diokst ii, when administering tlie Government of 
the Straits Setllemenls last year, that, “with so fine 
a highway as the Straits of Malacca, ready made and 
coating notbiug for maintenance, no such line is 
required, or can be required, for many years to come.” 
Leaving engineering diUicultUs out ot the question, we 
may probably sssuine that neither India nor the 
Straits Sottlemenis will find the money to carry ont at 
one time an underlakiog of this magnitude, and that 
if ever onr Anstralian fellow-colonists find it absolutely 
necessary to shortou their s.-a-voyago to England to this 
extent, tbo lino must be built with Australian capital. 
But the extension of inter State railway oommnni- 
cation is much to be desired, and it seems to be not 
only reasonablo but politic to keep in view in all 
railway extension now projected the possibility of 
through-communication being ostablishud at some time 
or other. Laud-communication by rail with the foud- 
produoing districts (Siamese) in the north-eastern part 
of tbo Peniutu'a would be of iiicalcusble benefit in 
time of war to the Straits Soltlements and to the 
Empire, of which the coaling-station of Singapore is 
an outpost. 
I have often regretted that tbo studies of learned 
Dutchmen in the field of Malayan literature, ethnology, 
&o., are so Utile known to us, owing to the general 
want of acquaintance, on the part of EogUsbmen, with 
tbo Dutch language. Among the subjeota which 
candidates for cadetships in the Straits Settlements 
may take np ia Italian. But Dutch has no place, an 
omission which might well be brought lo the notioo 
of the Civil Service Commissiontrs. I thould like to 
see Dutch made an obligatory snbjeot. 
An ample revenue is being realised in Perak and 
Selangor, even though a tempurary check is being ex- 
perienced in fliianoial progress. Let mo say in oonolu- 
sion that a Resident aims at being nothing more than a 
faitbfni agent of the Governor of tbo Straits Settle- 
ments, and faithful friend and adviser of the Malay 
Sultan whom he advises, ant whose government he car- 
ries on. A distinguished Oovernor once quoted to me 
tlie candid admission of the chief official member of a 
Oolunial Oounoil Ibat, “when a Oulonial Secretary 
begins to think that be ia a statesman, it is time for 
him to go on leavo.” Statesmanship the Resident is 
content lo leave to the Governor, ooonpying himself 
with the busy post of Administrator, supported and 
fortified, if he deserves it, by the oonfidonoe aud good- 
will of his chief. I shunld deprive myself of a plea- 
sure, and should deem myself ungratefnl if 1 did not 
lake this opportunity of acknowledging the lessons 
learnt and oncouragornent receive! from such men as 
Sir Andrew Clarke, Sir William Jervois, Sir William 
C. F. Robinson, Sir Frederick Weld, and Sir Cecil 
Oiementi Smith, who have successively governed the 
Straits Settlemeuts dating the last aixteca years — a 
period notable for steady advance in the strength of 
our administration in llie oolony proper, and in the 
organisation of civilised government in the Malay 
Peninsula. 
The paper was read after a business-like fashion 
rather than with elocutionary graoe, and then the 
Chairman called on Sir Wu. Jebvois, as an ex- 
Governor of the Straits, to open the disoussion, which 
he did in a oommondalory spceoh with interesting 
reminisoenoes of his experienoes in the early daya 
of the Residencies, where he used to be in mortal 
dread of the Selangor salute, knowing the orazy 
old gun which was being utilised, and how when 
he had given an ollband invitation to a Sultan 
to visit him at Singapore, it resulted in 100 men 
and 60 women ooming down for eutertaintment in 
one of Her Majesty's vessels I Sir Wm. Robinson, 
also an ex-Governor, followed, pleading however that 
bis single year's experienoo ot the Straits, did hot 
enable him to say much. Ha oontented himself 
ohicfly with reading some appropriate and amusing 
extracts from a leoturo delivered in Australia on 
“Social Life among tbo Malaya.” The white-haired 
and bearded veteran Sir Huou Low followed with 
much that was interesting, showing how hii heart 
was still in bis old work if only the doctors 
would permit him to return, and urging that the 
authorities might adopt a more liberal policy^ in 
reforonoe to the planters and their labour require- 
menta, by importing direct all the oooliea required 
tor public works, *o. Sir Hugh believes that there 
ia no ohanco of the tin mines being worked out 
for many years to come. 
I was next, unexpectedly called on by Lord BaasaKv 
to speak— I have been asked to take part, but 
ozpeeted somewhat more of a general discussion 
first, with one or more Straits Colonists leading ofl— 
