Secretary of 
State’s Des- 
patch. 
No serious 
damage done 
to timber. 
Mr. Fleming’s 
opinion. 
Mr. Town- 
ley’s opinion. 
No damage 
by hill padi 
grown in 
secondary 
jungle. 
effected in this direction by inducing the people of the various 
districts of the State to exchange seed padi ^ through their head- 
men, and I will give instructions to the District Officers on the 
subject. 
2 6. In your letter under reply you asked for a report on the 
system of rice cultivation practised in Pahang, and as the late 
Resident, Mr. Butler, had called for lull information from the 
District Officers on this subject, I have attempted with the help 
of their reports to furnish the information required. I gather, 
however, from the extract from the despatch which you enclosed 
that the information specially desired by the Secretary of State 
had reference to the statement made by Mr. CLIFFORD that great 
waste of valuable timber was taking place owing to the cultivation 
of hill padi by Malays. 
27. This is a matter which has often been discussed in Perak 
and elsewhere ; and, after enquiry and careful personal observa- 
tion, both in Perak and Pahang, I am glad to state that I cannot 
find sufficient reason for the apprehension to which the statement 
in question has given rise. In support of my opinion I will quote 
the following passages from the reports of the District Officers of 
Pekan and Temerloh, who have served for many years in Pahang 
and have had special opportunities of studying the subject, Mr. 
FLEMING having been on different occasions in charge of each of 
the four districts of the State. 
28. Mr. F. C. Fleming, District Officer, Pekan, writes : — “ I do 
“not consider that much valuable timber is destroyed in the dis- 
trict by the cultivation of hill padi . The natives usually prefer 
“to clear secondary jungle for the purpose, and as this form of 
“cultivation has probably existed since Malays first came to the 
“State there is plenty of secondary jungle available along the 
“banks of the main rivers and streams. The practice of clearing 
“virgin jungle for the cultivation of hill padi has been discouraged 
“in this district as far as possible/’ 
Mr. E. F. TOWNLEY, the District Officer at Temerloh, writes as 
follows : — “ There is no doubt that a large quantity of valuable 
“timber has been and is destroyed every year, more especially by 
“Sakais, who very rarely cultivate the same piece of ground twice, 
“but prefer to make new clearings in virgin jungle. The Malays 
“on the other hand prefer to clear secondary jungle.” 
With reference to the first part of this statement I w'ould refer 
you to my paragraph 32 below. 
29 I have long held the view that so long as the cultivation 
of hill padi is restricted to s condary jungle it does no harm, pro- 
vided that where wet padi or plough land is available the Malays 
are not allowed to shirk the labour of cultivating it in favour of 
hill clearings. This was the rule in the Kuala Kangsar district 
of Perak in 1887 and 1888, when I was in charge of the Land 
Department there and went fully into the question. 
